Configuring Collection
When you perform PDM actions, the Windchill collection feature allows you to collect additional objects to be acted upon according to their relationship to an initially selected object. Your Windchill administrator determines what appears in the collection user interface.
The following collection modes are supported:
• Collecting all dependents at the time the collector is launched with a seed object such that selection actions are enabled or disabled depending on what is selected.
• Collecting only the required dependents of a seed object at the time the collector is launched.
• Collecting dependents incrementally when an object is selected and an action is invoked.
Using the Check Out and Add to Workspace window shown in the following figure, the first two modes can be accomplished using the Basic tab, while the incremental selection is performed using the Advanced tab.
The system provides default settings that apply to both tabs. You can tailor the collection process by setting one or more specific preferences that determine the default object collection that is performed when an action is initiated.
All preferences related to the collector can be set by Sites, Products, Projects, or Organizations in the Windchill Preference Manager utility. The collector infrastructure allows each specific action, for example Check In or Edit Attributes, to specify a default collection for the action and a default display for the Advanced tab.
The preference is set in the Preference Manager utility under a node specific to the action. The preferences for collection at Check In are shown in the following figure as an example.
Because only a subset of these preferences may be relevant for a specific action, not all preferences are required to exist for each action.
 | A particular preference can be overridden by each individual user if not locked at the Organization or Site level by the administrator. |
For more information, see Configuring the Initial Collection of Objects for Actions