Configuration Options
Properties and Preferences
Windchill provides an extensive set of options that control how the system behaves, how the user interacts with the system, or how the system presents itself to the user. These options are either properties or preferences.
Properties
Properties are created in text files in the Windchill codebase and control overall system configuration. For example, the wt.home property contains the path to the installation directory. Properties are stored in files with the .properties extension. Changing most properties requires a restart of the Windchill method server.
See
Property Files for some additional information on property files. A complete set of properties and descriptions for the
wt.properties,
tools.properties, and
db.properties files can be found in the
properties.html file in the
Windchill codebase directory.
Preferences
Preferences are set through the Windchill user interface and do not require a server restart. They control application behavior (for legacy reasons, some Properties also control application behavior). Preferences can be implemented on different levels of detail. Preferences can be configured to control the whole Windchill installation, or can be used more narrowly to control an organization’s or an application container’s (e.g. Product, Library), or a specific user’s setup.
See
Preference Framework for some additional information on preferences.
The table below provides just a few of the available preferences:
|
Preference
|
Description
|
|
Change Notice without Change Request
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Allows creating a change notice without a change request.
|
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Enable Structure Propagation
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Enables propagation of effectivity statements down a product structure.
|
|
Digest Notification Schedule
|
Set up a schedule for Digest Notification. That is, instead of sending individual notification of as events of interest to a user happen, the system will collect and send all notifications in one email according to the administrator-setup schedule.
|
|
Display Thumbnails
|
Controls whether the thumbnail action available in tables.
|
Object Initialization Rules
A business analyst can set up rules that tell the system how to initialize newly created objects.
For example, the business analyst can set the system up to number parts according to the company’s part numbering policies (e.g. auto-number). The business analyst may also set the system up to require the user to enter a manual number, or alternatively, set the system up so that if the user does not enter a number, the system will assign one.
As another example, the business analyst can set the system up to automatically assign objects of certain types to certain workflows; or, alternatively, the business analyst can configure the system with appropriate workflows by object types and it will be up to the end user to select the appropriate workflow to use. For more sophisticated needs, the business analyst can set the system up to route an object appropriately based on the values of meta-data attributes provided by the end user.
Object initialization rules provide significant flexibility in adapting a
Windchill system to a specific customer’s environment and business process needs. For additional information, see
Understanding Object Initialization Rules.
Workflow Templates
Windchill provides a very powerful workflow configuration and execution engine. The workflow engine of Windchill can model virtually any business process which can be modeled via an easy-to-use drag-and-drop tool.
The workflow engine has an embedded java virtual machine which allows a business analyst to embed java expressions and process logic where appropriate.
For more information on workflow templates see
Customizing Workflow Administration.
Soft Typing
• Soft Typing is the name of the set of Windchill capabilities that allows a customer to, at runtime, add additional types and attributes to the out-of-the-box Windchill Schema. This is done without having adding additional tables to the database, without restarting the database, and without restarting the system.
• With the Soft Typing capabilities, customers can add data types and meta data attributes that are meaningful to them and which are necessary for their business processes. For all intents and purposes, these customer-defined types are no different than any other out-of-the-box object in the system: Types can assigned access control rules, can be assigned workflows and lifecycles, can be assigned custom UIs, can have Object Initialization Rules assigned to them, are accessible via APIs, etc.
No user interface modifications are necessary as the Windchill user interfaces automatically accommodate (e.g. adapt to) these additional Types and Attributes.
The general guideline to be followed is this: If a need can be satisfied by soft typing, then it should. That is, do not customize (i.e. create modeled extensions) to the out-of-the-box schema. The reason for this rule is to minimize the total cost of ownership of Windchill and minimize upgrade costs and burdens. This, in no way, is a limitation on the customizability of Windchill; but, rather, the intent of the rule is to reduce the cost of ownership.
Organization and Container Templates
Creating an organization or an application container (e.g. Product/Library/Project/Program) requires that you provide a template to initialize the container with. A template allows you to configure the business rules of the created container. For example, you can specify what approval processes are to be followed, who has access to create and/or view information, what roles are required and who the role players are, what numbering and versioning rules should be followed, etc.
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