Details on Tailoring Text

The text that is displayed in most of the user interface, be it HTML or Java-based UIs and regardless of the locale, is produced from text stored in RBINFO files. The files installed to the directory <Windchill>/src contain PTC text, site changes to the displayed text are to be done to corresponding files in the <Windchill>/wtCustom directory. There is a clear structure relationship between RBINFO files in the <Windchill>/wtCustom directory, the <Windchill>/src and the <Windchill>/codebase directory. For example, the list of valid life cycle states are stored as compiled resources in <Windchill>/codebase/wt/lifecycle/StateRB*, original PTC sources are in <Windchill>/src/wt/lifecycle/StateRB*.rbInfo, and any site modifications must be stored at <Windchill>/wtCustom/wt/lifecycle/StateRB*.rbInfo.

The files under <Windchill>/src should never be edited. This is because these files can be overwritten during a maintenance installation, thus losing site modifications.

There are three kinds of text stored in RBINFO files. For all of these, site changes should only be done in files under the <Windchill>/wtCustom directory.

• Text for enumerations (EnumResourceInfo -- lists of values) is changed using the enumCustomize tool that is launched from <Windchill>/bin/enumCustomize. Using the enumCustomize tool creates the required files in the wtCustom directory and stores the values you replace.

• Text for many string messages, user interface (UI) buttons, and labels are declared in WTListResourceBundle classes, but they are changed by placing site-specific values in the wtCustom/wt/util/resource/resourceCustomize.rbInfo file.

• Displayable text for modeled business information such as classes, attributes, relationships, and so on (MetadataResourceInfo) is changed by placing site specific values in RBINFO files in the wtCustom directory. By using a text editor, enter only the values you want to override in the files; values that you are not changing should not be included.

For your text changes to be used by the running product, they must be compiled into the codebase. Running the enumCustomize tool does this automatically, but only for EnumResourceInfo resources. However, all three kinds of resources can be compiled by using the ant script <Windchill>/bin/tools.xml and the bundle_custom target. To use this script, start a Windchill shell and execute the following command:

Both the Windchill Service Pack installer and patch installer automatically execute this command to ensure that any updates delivered by PTC are merged with your site changes in the <Windchill>/wtCustom directory.

For text changes that are to be used by any applets, you must additionally execute the MakeJar command as follows:

See Managing Client JAR Files for more information. For example, if you add a life cycle state to StateRB.rbInfo, you must run the above command to see the new state in an applet such as the Lifecycle Administrator.