Windchill ESI Services Customization Scenarios

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Functional Overview

Windchill ESI services provide getXXX() APIs that allow enterprise applications access to CNs, BOMs, Parts, Promotion Requests, Process Plans, Resources, standalone Documents and Documents related to Parts, Process Plans, Sequences, Operations and Resources. The APIs are coded to extract data describing specific Windchill objects by reading the objects’ attributes and mapping them to XML. The XML format is described in the Windchill Enterprise Systems Integration Open Application Programming Interface Guide .

Object attribute types supported by Windchill ESI services include modeled attributes, instance based attributes (IBAs), and soft-typed attributes. Typically, a modeled attribute is local to the object and can be obtained by a "getter" method that is created by the Windchill code generation process. Sometimes, though, the API code must derive the attribute value by calculation or navigating object relationships. In those cases, the getter method is not provided by code generation. Relevant methods must be coded explicitly to navigate relationships and obtain the attribute value.

Generally when custom attributes are modeled, they can be mapped in Windchill ESI by performing a configuration procedure. But for non-local custom attributes, a customization procedure is required. (See Glossary for a definition of non-local custom attributes).

The following table describes how customized Windchill Objects are supported in ESI Services:

ESI Support of Customized Windchill Objects

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish aWTPart	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster	None, works as is
Publish a WTPart with documents; documents requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	None, works as is
Publish aWTPart; documents modified, but documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster	None, works as is
Publish a WTPart with custom additional modeled2 attributes not mapped3; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	None, works as is

1. WTDocument, WTDocumentMaster, and EPMDocument are only affected if the relevant Windchill ESI RPC supports documents and if the Windchill ESI RPC invocation requests that documents be included. Windchill ESI RPCs GetPart, GetBOM and GetECN do support documents.

2. Attributes described in the table as “modeled” attributes are presumed to have public getter methods.

3. Non-mapped attributes are not included in the Windchill ESI Open API RPC responses.

4. Windchill ESI uses the Windchill Adapter Query-Object webject to obtain all the attributes of parts and part master objects. As long as the Query-Object webject returns the attribute, that attribute is available to Windchill ESI mapping logic.

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a WTPart with custom additional modeled attributes on a part usage link, substitute link, reference designator link, and/or alternate link that are not mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	None, works as is
Publish a WTPart with custom additional modeled attributes that are mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify map file(s) • Modify XML schema1
Publish a WTPart with custom additional modeled attributes on a substitute, alternate, or reference designator links that are mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify map file(s) • Modify XML schema

1 Although it is possible to change the XML schema by customization, it is safer to create a custom RPC so that future Windchill ESI maintenance will not overlay customizations.

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a WTPart with extensions of substitute, reference designator, or alternate links, additional modeled attributes on the extensions that are not mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify ESI properties
Publish a WTPart with extensions of substitute, reference designator, or alternate links, additional modeled attributes on the extensions that are mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify map file(s) • Modify XML schema • Modify ESI properties
Publish a WTPart with custom additional modeled attributes on a part usage link that are mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Customization: • Extend java code1 • Modify map file(s) • Modify ESI properties

1 The Windchill BOM difference logic does not expose the part usage links directly. Instead it returns a set of wrapper objects of class, PartUsageInfo. If attributes are to be available to Windchill ESI mapping logic, PartUsageInfo must be modified. Otherwise, Windchill ESI java code must be modified to obtain the required attribute value(s).

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a WTPart after modifying the master relationship between WTPart and WTPartMaster1	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Customization: • Extend ESI java code • Modify ESI properties
Publish a custom object, MyPart, extended from WTPart and/or a custom object, MyPartMaster, extended from WTPartMaster with additional modeled or non-modeled attributes which are not mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	MyPart and/or MyPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify ESI properties2

1 Windchill WTPart objects are related to WTPartMaster objects by a complex relationship that is defined by the Windchill code generation tool. The relationship is central to product structure navigation and to the release of parts by Windchill ESI. Changing the relationships will disrupt Windchill ESI logic. These are the kinds of modifications that require java coding to repair the disruption of Windchill ESI logic:

• Replacing the existing relationship implementation with a link class

• Creating a new object, extending WTPart, that disrupts the inherited relationship to WTPartMaster

• Creating a new object, extending WTPartMaster, that disrupts the inherited relationship to WTPart

2 The properties define the name of the part class and the part master class. If these property values are changed, then it will only be possible to release the extension objects identified by the values. The GetPart RPC will no longer support WTPart and/or WTPartMaster.

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a custom object, MyPart, extended from WTPart and/or a custom object, MyPartMaster, extended from WTPartMaster with additional modeled or non-modeled attributes which are mapped; documents not modified or documents not requested	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	MyPart and/or MyPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify ESI properties1 • Modify map files • Modify XML schema
Publish a WTPart with documents requested and modeled attribute or IBA or soft-type has been added to WTDocument, WTDocumentMaster, and/or EPMDocument	GetPart GetBOM GetECN	Part or change ready to publish	MyPart and/or MyPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify map files • Modify ESI properties • Define XML schema
Publish a custom object, MyPart, extended from WTPart and/or a custom object, MyPartMaster, extended from WTPartMaster with additional modeled or non-modeled attributes which are mapped	Custom	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart	Windchill ESI Customization: • Author a custom RPC • Define XML schema

1 The properties define the name of the part class and the part master class. If these property values are changed, then it will only be possible to release the extension objects identified by the values. The GetPart RPC will no longer support WTPart and/or WTPartMaster.

2 Declare the document soft type.

3 The Windchill ESI GetPart RPC will still support for WTPart and WTPartMaster in this case.

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a WTPart with documents requested and: • Document class (es) extended1 or • Document links modified	Custom	Part or change ready to publish	MyPart and/or MyPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Customization: • Customize Document Difference API • Extend ESI java code • Author a custom RPC • Define XML Schema
Publish a WTPart with modified linkages to (or services supporting) non-local mapped attributes or modified services supporting non-local mapped attributes3	Custom	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart	Windchill ESI Customization: • Author a custom RPC • Modify XML Schema
Publish a WTPart with modified linkages (uses, substitute, or references)	Custom	Part or change ready to publish	WTPart	ESI Customization: • Author a custom RPC based on GetBOM and/or GetECN • Customize BOM Difference API • Modify XML Schema
Publish a WTChangeOrder	GetECN	Change ready to publish	WTChangeOrder WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	None, works as is

1 In this category extensions do not include soft types. Adding a new soft type document is a configuration option. See above

2 GetPart, GetBOM and GetECN could be customized in this case, but such a customization would be vulnerable to future ESI DSU maintenance. A custom RPC is a safer choice.

3 For example, modifying the part alternate relationship.

Specific Use	RPC	Relevant Event	Windchill Objects	Procedure Applied
Publish a WTChangeOrder2 with additional attributes not mapped	GetECN	Change ready to publish	WTChangeOrder2 WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	None, works as is
Publish a WTChangeOrder2 with additional attributes mapped	GetECN	Change ready to publish	WTChangeOrder2 WTPart WTPartMaster WTDocument WTDocumentMaster EPMDocument	Windchill ESI Configuration: • Modify map files • Modify XML schema
Publish a custom object, MyObject, not extended from WTPart	Custom	MyObject ready to publish	MyObject	Windchill ESI Customization: • Author a custom RPC • Modify XML Schema
Modify ESITarget	Custom	Any	Any	See Distribution Targets for details.

As noted in an earlier section, documents associated to RevisionControlled objects are sent with the ESI response, but are ignored by the middleware business logic. Associated documents are obtained by Windchill ESI Services from the Windchill document- difference logic. See Document Attachment Differences for information about customizing the Windchill document-difference logic.

1. Although the above table lists only use cases pertaining to parts, BOMs, change notices and associated documents, use cases on exactly similar lines are also possible with standalone documents (in both object-centric and CN-centric modes), promotion requests and all of the MPMLink objects that are supported – viz., process plans and resources such as tooling, process materials and skills. The relevant RPCs for these objects would be GetDocument, GetPromotionRequest, GetProcessPlan and GetResource, and the affected objects would be WTDocument, EPMDocument, PromotionNotice, MPMProcessPlan, MPMSequence, MPMOperation, MPMTooling, MPMProcessMaterial and MPMSkill among others.

2. By GetXXX PRC is meant the getXXX() API of the concrete implementation of ESIService (StandardESIService by default).

3. The contents of the Relevant Event column in the table simply refer to the user action that triggers the publication (for example, setting the lifecycle state of an object to Released). It is important to be aware that no event is emitted by ESI services and passed to the EAI software components upon triggering the publication of an object; instead, ESI services proceed to generate the ESI response directly and hand it over to the EAI software components.

Advantages

• Provides greater solution flexibility without coding. This in turn reduces deployment cost and time.

• Provides a supported customization path for situations not covered by OOTB code. This is an enhancement over RTP.

Constraints

• Windchill ESI uses the Windchill Adapter Query-Object webject to obtain all the attributes of parts and part master objects, as well as the attributes of supported documents types. If the Query-Object webject does not return the attribute, that attribute is not available to the ESI mapping logic.

• Windchill ESI BOM processing uses the Windchill Standard WTPart Service BOM difference calculation. BOM difference customizations are required if:

◦ New object types are included on a BOM.

◦ New relationships are relevant to a BOM structure.

◦ Additional data elements are to be considered when determining whether a change has been made.

• ESI document processing uses the Windchill Standard WTPart Service part document difference calculation. Part document difference customizations are required if:

◦ New links are relevant to the part/document relationship.

◦ Additional data elements are to be considered when determining whether a change has been made.

• Changing the existing relationships (associations) between existing Windchill objects always requires customization of Windchill ESI.

• Adding relationships between existing Windchill objects requires customization of ESI if the relationships, relationship attributes, or objects participating in the relationship are to be included in the data that is published by Windchill ESI.

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