Creating Multiple New Parts
A part in Windchill is a logical database representation of a physical item used to build a product. Physical components can include packaging, product manuals, and software as well as electronic and mechanical components. For more information about parts and their role in configuration management, see Parts and Part Versions.
Multiple new parts can be created in a folder browser or created and inserted into a product structure in a single operation. You can also create and insert multiple new parts into a product family structure from the Matrix Editor toolbar using the 
Insert multiple new action.
Insert multiple new action.Use the following procedure to create multiple parts in a single operation:
 | If your site has security labels enabled, you may see the Set Security Labels step. For more information about setting security labels, see Setting Security Labels while Creating Objects. |
Creating Multiple Parts in a Folder
1. Select > in the Actions menu at the top of the Folder Contents table.
2. In the Define Part step, select the part Type from the drop-down list. The window is refreshed to display attributes that are unique to the part type.
3. Provide values for the displayed attributes. For descriptions of part attributes, see Part Attributes. Click Next to continue.
| | You must choose to create all parts with the same Type, Configurable Module, End Item, and where applicable, Organization. |
4. The table in the Set Identity Attributes step provides the ability to specify how many new parts will be created and enter attribute information. The icons at the top of this table provides the following additional actions:
Action | Description |
|---|---|
 Add Row | Adds a single blank part creation row to the bottom of the table. |
 Add 5 Rows | Adds 5 blank part creation rows to the bottom of the table. |
 Remove Selected Row | Removes the selected part creation row from the table. |
 Edit Attribute Value | Edits the attributes of a group of selected rows in the table. The changes apply to all selected parts. For more information on setting cascading attribute values from the Edit Attribute Value window, see the “Setting Cascading Attribute Values” section in the topic. |
 Set Classification Attributes | Click this icon to classify the newly created parts using the Set Classification window. All parts receive the same classification. This action is only available if Windchill Classification is installed. For more information, see Working With Classification Administration. |
To enter part information, you can individually edit the attribute fields directly in the row for each part. To include additional attribute values, you can customize the table view to add attribute columns. For information on customizing table views, see Customizing Table Views.
You can also edit attributes for multiple parts so that the selected parts have the same values for an attribute:
a. Select one or more parts in the Parts table.
b. Click the “Edit Attribute Value” icon .
.c. From the Edit Attribute Value window, select an attribute from the Set menu. The attributes that are available are dependent upon whether they are included in the table view and if they are applicable to the part type.
d. Provide a value and click Apply or OK.
| | • Click Apply to set the value and keep the Edit Attribute Value window open. • Click OK to exit the Edit Attribute Value window and return to the New Multiple Parts window where the newly set value is displayed. |
5. Click Finish to create all the parts in the table.
The Folder Contents table is refreshed to show the new parts.
| | • Name and Number are required attributes on a part. Parts will not be created for the rows that have a value missing for Name and Number. When all the rows in the New Multiple Parts window are missing a value for both Name and Number, an error message is displayed. • If you have omitted the values for any required attributes, an error message is displayed to inform you that valid information is missing for one or more required attributes along with the list of parts and their missing attributes. • Only the attributes required by part type are denoted with an asterisk (*). Attributes required for instances of the parts, due to cascading attribute rules, are not denoted with an asterisk (*). |
Create and Insert Multiple Parts in a Product Structure
It is possible to create multiple new parts and insert them as children of a parent part from the Structure tab on a part information page. Select the parent part and then select Insert Multiple New from the Insert New menu in the Editing action set in the Structure tab toolbar or > in the right-click menu. You can also click the “Insert multiple new” icon in the toolbar on the Uses tab. The steps are the same as those described above for creating multiple parts in a folder.
Insert Multiple New from the Insert New menu in the Editing action set in the Structure tab toolbar or > in the right-click menu. You can also click the “Insert multiple new” icon in the toolbar on the Uses tab. The steps are the same as those described above for creating multiple parts in a folder.When multiple new parts are created and inserted as child parts, they appear in the product structure beneath the selected part.
| | The parent part under which the new parts are inserted must be checked out to define the usage relationship. The parent part remains checked out after the operation is complete. |
 | Click on the Uses tab to change attributes such as quantity for the inserted parts. For more information, see Editing in the Uses Tab. |
| | When a new “Required” attribute constraint is added to a part usage attribute, the Edit Usage Attributes window is displayed as you must provide values for the required attributes when inserting new parts. For more information on new attribute constraints, see Constraints Tab. |
| | When a new “Required” attribute constraint is added to the Line Number part usage attribute, the wt.LineNumberIncrement property provides additional behavior when inserting new parts: • When the property is not set, editing an empty Line Number cell in the Uses table automatically populates the line number value based upon the other usages included in the Uses table. For more information, see Editing in the Uses Tab. • When the property is set, the line number is automatically populated based upon the other usages included in the Uses table. The Edit Usage Attributes window is only displayed when new “Required” attribute constraints have been added to additional part usage attributes. |
Setting Cascading Attribute Values
The Edit Attribute Value action provides the ability to set the same attribute on different selected objects to the same value, where Set provides the list of attributes and To is the new value applied to each editable instance for the selected attribute.
Edit Attribute Value action provides the ability to set the same attribute on different selected objects to the same value, where Set provides the list of attributes and To is the new value applied to each editable instance for the selected attribute.When cascading attributes are not defined for any of the selected objects, all instances of the objects will have the same constraints. When cascading attributes are defined, each object instance may have different constraints impacting visibility to the attribute, depending on whether the attribute is required and what is considered as valid data. The ability to interact with cascading attributes is available with an administrative configuration. For additional information, see Cascading Attributes Tab.
Subsequently, in the Edit Attribute Value window, when you select an editable driven attribute in the Set list, the To field displays values based on the following conditions:
• Instances with the hidden constraint for the selected attribute are considered as not editable. When some, but not all, of the instances are not editable, the value is only set on the instances that are editable. When all instances are not editable, the value cannot be set.
• When at least one of the editable instances has a constraint on the validation, only the values in common for all editable instances will be allowed. When no common value exists, no value may be set through the Edit Attribute Value action.
Edit Attribute Value action.• When an instance does not include a required constraint for an editable Boolean attribute, “Undefined” may be included as a valid value depending upon other instances where the attribute is editable.
| | When the Edit Attribute Value action is used to modify a driving attribute without modifying the driven attribute, the rows may contain values that are not considered as valid based upon the new value. Any driven attribute values that are not corrected will be reported as invalid values. |
The Set Default action is enabled when the following three conditions are satisfied:
• A default value is defined for any one of the editable driven attribute instances.
• The default value is identical across all the editable driven attribute instances, which have a default value.
• The default value defined for all instances of an editable driven attribute appears in the common values that are displayed in the To field.
When you select a valid driven attribute value and click Apply or OK, the value is applied to the selected objects depending on the cascading attribute rules.