Managing Cache

Windchill Workgroup Manager cache is a local repository for third-party CAD applications contained in a specific workspace, and is used only when uploading or downloading files to and from the server. Using cache improves performance because Windchill Workgroup Manager only downloads files if the content on the server is more recent than the content in the cache; and only uploads files when you direct it to do so.

By default, when you register Windchill servers and authoring applications, a .ws directory is created for cache. It is located in your user profile on your local computer. For every server location listed in the .ws directory, there are subdirectories for each workspace, and within each workspace subdirectory, there are subdirectories for each authoring application that is registered to that server.

Working directly in cache is discouraged so that data is not accidentally corrupted. To help avoid directly working in cache, a component on the client, called the Workspace Local Directory (WLD), is available. It is recommended you use this, rather than browsing to or saving from the CAD application to the cache directly. Sample default locations for the Workspace Local Directory are provided below.

The cache location is defined by the environment variable PTC_WF_ROOT, which is the client connector cache. This is where all Windchill Workgroup Manager-related client-side information is stored. If the environment variable is not explicitly defined, the default location will be the user's home directory.

If you are planning to run the Windchill Workgroup Manager and Creo Parametric on the same system and also want to have the cache residing in a non-default location, you must explicitly set the cache (PTC_WF_ROOT ) for both these applications to different locations. One method of achieving this is to create a startup batch file for each application that defines the PTC_WF_ROOT environment variable (cache location) and then start the program.

The default locations for the Windchill Workgroup Manager and Creo Parametric cache, and Workspace Local Directory locations, are as follows:

The Workspace Local Directory no longer creates application-specific subfolders for each authoring application. All primary content files reside in the WLD folder without application sub-folders. Secondary content (attachments) is placed in a sub-folder. As a consequence of the new arrangement, during upgrade, an undo checkout must be performed on all workspace objects (not necessary when upgrading to Windchill 10.0 or greater). Administrators may move the content of any existing authoring application subfolders to the top-level WLD and delete the application specific subfolders.

Although it is not recommended you directly access the .ws directory; there are certain PDM actions that require you to select from it. For example, Open queries the CAD application subdirectory in the .ws directory so you can select the document you want to open. If desired, the location of the .ws directory can be changed by setting the environment PTC_WLD_ROOT to the required location.

Cache is managed from the Cache tab on the Server Management window (Tools > Server Management). This window describes your Workspace Local Directory/managing directory location, cache space used (in MB), and available disk space. There is also an option to clear the cache. The following graphic shows the Cache tab window.

• Cache limit. The Target Cache Limit can be set in the wgmclient.ini file entry cache.size, or by setting the environment variable dm_cache_limit.