Integration with Other Applications > Digital Product Traceability > Working with Traces > Managing Trace Links
  
Managing Trace Links
You can manage trace links using the actions available in the Traced To table.
The information about the traced remote objects appears in those columns that support remote objects. Remote objects are those objects that are maintained outside the Windchill system.
Only those users who are members of the PTC PDMLink Module License, PTC ProjectLink Module License, PTC EBOM Management License, PTCWindchill Advanced License, or PTCWindchill Premium License profiles have access to these actions.
Administrators can control the visibility of these actions through standard profiles and can monitor usage through license profiles.
For more information about the actions and columns, see Traces Tab.
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For basic authentication support, ThingWorx server authentication credentials are required to fetch the external resource data traced to the Windchill traceable object.
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You need the required permissions in Windchill and ThingWorx to view and manage trace links.
Creating Trace Links
is available on the toolbar of the Traced To table. It creates a trace link, Satisfy, Allocate, or Implement between an external item and Windchill traceable object.
1. Select an object to add a trace link. Click
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Duplicate trace links cannot exist between a traceable object and a remote object.
2. Select the values for Server, Resource and Type.
3. In the Selection Dialog Context tree select the desired node and click Open.
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For Windchill Modeler server, in the Selection Dialog Context table, the display of root or child nodes is determined by the TRACELINKS ROOT SELECTION DIALOG model tag.
PTC strongly recommends that you select the root only in the Selection Dialog Context table in Windchill and expand the tree in the delegated UI of the external OSLC server.
4. To connect to the external system, enter authentication details, for basic authentication, in the dialog box of selected external server. Select one or more items of appropriate resource type and click Proceed.
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• The type of link between an external item and Windchill object is unique. For example, link between requirement XYZ and Windchill part ABC. You can create an Allocate or Satisfy link between them. If Satisfy link exists between XYZ and ABC, you cannot create another Satisfy link for them. However, you can create and an Allocate link between them. Similarly, you can create an Implement link between an architecture item XYZ and Windchill part ABC.
• When a trace link is added to an object with link types Satisfy or Implement, a new iteration of the part is created.
5. In the Traced To table, the trace link between the Windchill traceable object and the external resource with the selected link type is created. The data related to the external item appears in the Traced To table.
For detailed steps on how Windchill and external systems communicate with each other, see the image below:
Viewing Trace Links
In the Traced To table, you can view the trace links for Windchill traceable objects. The data is fetched in Windchill at runtime. When an attribute is enabled to display a preview, you can see the following:
• Small preview—Hover your cursor on the attribute value to display a small preview.
• Large preview—When large preview information is available for an OSLC server, an attribute value is displayed as a hyperlink. Click the hyperlink to open large preview on a new tab.
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OSLC servers configured with Windchill RV&S do not support large preview.
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• A preview opens only if you log on using the authentication credentials for basic authentication of the external system.
• Out-of-the-box, the Number attribute is configured to display a preview. For more information, see Configuring the Windchill DPT Extension.
For detailed steps on how Windchill and external systems communicate with each other, see the image below:
Copying Trace Links
You can copy one or more trace links by using the action and then paste the copied objects using the action.
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• The copied objects are not displayed in the clipboard.
• Duplicate trace links cannot exist between a traceable object and a remote object.
Updating Trace Links
You can mark the trace links as Suspect using the red diamond icon action or clear suspect flag using the red diamond icon with line across it action in Windchill. These actions are available only on the latest version of a revision. The actions are not available if the object is checked out by another user. For more information, see Suspect Links in Working with Traces.
Deleting Trace Links
On the toolbar of the Traced To table, use the action to delete trace links. Select one or more objects with a trace link and click .
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• action is available only on the latest version of a revision, and is not available if the object is checked out by another user.
• If an Allocate link is deleted, it is removed from all the versions of a revision.
• If a Satisfy or Implement link is deleted from a version of an object, a new version is created. The link is removed from the new version of the object, though, the link is present in earlier versions.