Managing Types

The Manage Types window of the Type and Attribute Management utility allows you to augment the Windchill out-of-the-box object types without changing the object model and writing code.

The Manage Types window automatically displays when the Type and Attribute Management utility is launched from Site

> Utilities or Organizations

> Utilities. To access the Manage Types window if you have navigated elsewhere within the utility, click Manage Types in the navigation pane on the left of the Type and Attribute Management utility. The Windchill out-of-the-box types display as nodes in the navigation pane of the Manage Types window. New types created through the Manage Types window are added as subtypes of the parent type. You can create subtypes of the parts, documents, change objects, or other objects installed with your solution. In addition, you can add new attributes to and set attribute constraints on the parent types or newly created subtypes. Some subtypes are defined by PTC during Windchill development and are included in your Windchill solution installation.

The navigation pane on the left of the Manage Types window shows a tree representation of the current types, which can be expanded and collapsed. When you right-click on a type in the navigation pane, you can choose from the available actions for that type. Possible actions include:

The Type and Attribute Management utility supports inheritance; therefore the newly created subtype inherits the attributes of the parent type, and can inherit certain property values as well. For more information, see Property Value Inheritance. Subtypes also initially inherit attribute layouts from their parent types. For more information, see Layouts Tab.

When you launch the Type and Attribute Management utility from the Site

> Utilities page, all types are visible in the Manage Types window, including types created in the site context and in all organization contexts. Site-level types and subtypes can be edited, and site-level subtypes can be created, when the Type and Attribute Management utility is launched from the site. Organization-level subtypes can be edited, but not created, when the Type and Attribute Management utility is launched from the site context.

When you launch the Type and Attribute Management utility from the Utilities page of an organization, you can view all site-level types and subtypes, as well as any subtypes created within the current organization. Only subtypes created within the current organization can be edited. Any new subtypes you create are created within the context of current organization.

If you enter edit mode and make changes on a site-level type or subtype when the Type and Attribute Management utility was launched from an organization, when you click Save or Done, your changes are not saved.