When a method server process is started, it creates an instance of a method server object, which is exported as a remote object to the server manager. Clients bind to a method server by retrieving this object reference from the server manager, and interacting with the method server directly.

The binding and method-invoking machinery is hidden from application developers by utility classes and generated helper classes. Its architectural significance is that it helps explain how the Windchill runtime operates.

A significant advantage of using Java RMI to invoke server methods is the built-in support for transferring arbitrarily complex object graphs between client and server. This allows transactions to use sophisticated arguments and results without complex programming of the client-to-server interface.

Access to server-side methods is exposed to clients by using helper classes corresponding to each business class. These classes wrap the externally available server-side methods of their business class with implementations that forward the calls to a method server where the real method is invoked.

For more information about modeling of the interfaces and the generation of helper classes, see the customization information located in the Basic Customization and Advanced Customization areas of the Windchill Help Center.