Preferences for Regenerating a Service Structure

Use these preferences when generating a publication structure from an information structure and generating structures from a template.

A publication structure can be generated from an information structure using the information structure’s Generate Publication Structure shortcut menu action. The generated publication structure maintains a link to the source information element.

You can update a publication structure using its Regenerate shortcut menu action if this action is configured. You cannot update the navigation criteria on a regeneration; the original navigation criteria is re-applied.

The Generate Publication Structure and Regenerate menu actions appear on the publication structure shortcut menu if the following apply:

• The publication structure was created using the information structure’s Generate Publication Structure shortcut menu item.

• The life cycle state of the publication structure root is one of the states specified by the preferences that control the regenerate action.

• A regeneration action isn’t already in process for the version of the publication structure root.

For information on using the Regenerate shortcut menu action, see Regenerating a Publication Structure. For information on creating a publication structure, refer to Creating a Service Structure.

The structure regeneration preferences are available by selecting Utilities > Preference Management > Service Information Management. Locate the following preferences:

Specifies whether information elements are re-ordered alphabetically when regenerating a publication structure. The default value is set to No, which regenerates the structure with new information element objects added as the first child by default. If this preference is set to Yes, you can define additional logic using the ReviseAndRegenerateConfig.xml file.

Specifies the life cycle states that determine whether the user can regenerate the publication structure and iterate the regenerated structure and sections. You can specify a list of life cycle states separated by commas. By default, this preference is set to In Work.

The value of this preference is also analyzed when updating parts lists after a change to their source SBOM. For more information, see Updating Parts Lists after Change to Source.

Specifies the life cycle states that determine whether the user can regenerate the publication structure and revise the regenerated structure and sections. By default, this preference is set to Released.

The value of this preference is also analyzed when updating parts lists after a change to their source SBOM. For more information, see Updating Parts Lists after Change to Source.

In addition, you can create an XML configuration file to list the manually inserted information element types that should not be re-ordered alphabetically. These non-reordered types can be further categorized as first child (specified by firstChildren) or last child (specified by lastChildren). This file is read if the Apply Alphabetical Sorting on Regeneration preference has been set to Yes.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ReviseAndRegenerateConfig>


<firstChildren>
<type>com.ptc.sis.PsToc</type>
</firstChildren>
<lastChildren>
<type>com.ptc.sis.PsIndex</type>
</lastChildren>
</ReviseAndRegenerateConfig>

• Typically, the TOC is the first page of any section or book and the Index is at the bottom of a section or book. The out-of-the-box XML file is configured to provide this standard behavior.

• You need to add the reviseAndRegenerateConfigFile property to the xconf file. Before editing the xconf file, place it in a safe area according to the guidance in Setting up a Directory Structure for Managing Customized Files and Text Tailoring. Add the following property:

• The configuration file also needs to be registered using xconfmanager in a Windchill shell:

xconfmanager -s reviseAndRegenerateConfigFile=path to xml config file
-t wt.properties file xconfmanager -pF