Mapping Objects using Query

Searching for Objects in ENOVIAVPM
Searching for Objects in ENOVIA V5 VPM

The first step of the reconciliation transaction consists in checking if the object to be reconciled already exists in the VPDM. This is necessary if you want to map the object loaded in CATIA to an already existing object in the VPDM.

The query depends on the selected VPDM and on the selected storage mode used. A default value is proposed for the storage mode: Structure Exposed for CATProduct Document and Publication Exposed otherwise. When the query result contains only one object, the application automatically selects the mapping and selects a reconciliation rule if possible. For the root product in Structure Exposed for example, only the Overwrite rule is available and so is selected.
  • The wildcard character "*" is supported when entering a search string.
  • To define the length of the search string, see Defining the Number of Characters of the Search String.
  • When performing a query on an object, the query criteria used (for example, Owner=JSmith, Product ID=Skate*) will be saved so that the same query run on the same object, within a single Reconciliator session, will be pre-loaded with the specified values. Note that if you use a different type of query on the same object (for example, the first query used Query by object ID and the second used Easy Query) the values will not be retained.
  • Query is accessible from the query tab and from the shortcut menu. When you right click an entity and select Query, the type of query used is the one specified in the Query tab.

Searching for Objects in ENOVIAVPM

This task explains how to search for objects in ENOVIA V5 VPM. There are two different query modes:

Simple Query
Intermediate Query
Easy Query

Simple Query

The string you specify in the Simple Query will be used to search on all attributes wherever possible. The query mechanism automatically adds a wildcard character before and after the string you specify. This query is equivalent to the ENOVIAVPM Simple Query using the With operator.

  1. Connect to ENOVIAVPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select a node in the Objects to reconcile tree.

  5. Select Simple Query in the Query Criteria list. Click the Query button. The Simple VPM Query dialog box is displayed. The fields are pre-set:

    • Environment: Default environment. To find out more, see the VPM User's Guide.
    • Object type: Part/Document (this field cannot be modified).
    • Search string: Default value will be either a CATIA document or a Part name. The default value will be built using a few characters of the CATIA document name or the Part name.

  6. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.
The objects returned by your search could be limited by the set of objects that you are allowed to access as a function of your user VPM Profile.

Intermediate Query

Intermediate Query uses attribute mapping to enable a query based on multiple attributes. This query is available for parts and documents and is dependent on the mapping established in the ENOVIAVPM / Product Structure Mapping mechanism accessed by selecting Tools > Options > Infrastructure > Product Structure > ENOVIAVPM (tab) > CDM Interoperability Administration (section).

For more information on mapping ENOVIAVPM attributes, please refer to the VPM User Guide > Interoperability > Using CDMA Data in a CATIA Version 5 Assembly > Mapping CDMA and Assembly Attributes.

For set up information to activate the Intermediate Query, please see Configuring Supply Chain Engineering Exchange for use with ENOVIAVPM.
In this example, the query is being executed on a BlackBox assembly (CATProduct)

  1. Connect to ENOVIAVPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select a node in the Objects to reconcile tree.

  5. Select Intermediate Query in the Query Criteria list. Click the Query button. The Intermediate Query dialog box appears.

  6. Click OK to launch the query. The query result appears on the Query page.
Support of alternate representation functionality enables you to identify the document that is used as an alternate shape while executing a criterion search. This task searches for all the parts selected and the documents associated with those selected parts in the PART_LIST. The list of associated documents is displayed in ALTERNATE_SHAPE table. This functionality is applicable for both Simple, Intermediate Query and Easy Query.
Note: If the same document is used as an alternate representation for two different Parts, reconciliation will fail.

In this example, the query is executed on CATShape

  1. Connect to ENOVIAVPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product in which CATShape has been alternately associated to the Part.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select a node in the Objects to reconcile tree.


     

  5. Select Intermediate Query in the Query Criteria list. Click the Query button.
    The Intermediate Query dialog box appears.

  6. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.
 

Easy Query
 
Easy Query enables you to search the objects using default values of Intermediate Query criterion and the attribute values which are available in ENOVIA VPM. This query is available in VPM application by selecting Tools > Options > Infrastructure > Product Structure > ENOVIAvpm(tab) > Customize Session Building(section) > Load all ENOVIAvpm properties.

 

In this example, the query is being executed on Structure Exposed assembly.(CATProduct):

  1. Connect to ENOVIAVPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select a node in the Objects to reconcile tree.


     

  5. Select Easy Query in the Query Criteria combo box, then click the Query button.
    The Easy Query dialog box appears.
     

  6. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.

 
  In this example, the query is being executed on Publication Exposed CATPart:

  1. Connect to ENOVIAVPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select a node in the Objects to reconcile tree.


     

  5. Select Easy Query in the Query Criteria combo box, then click the Query button.
    The Easy Query dialog box appears.


     

  6. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.



     

 

Searching for Objects in ENOVIA V5 VPM

This task explains how to search for objects in ENOVIA V5 VPM. There are three different query modes:

Easy Query
Query Document by Part Id
Query by Object Id
Query only Last Version or Revision
An XML attribute-mapping solution enables identification in CATIA data of corresponding data in ENOVIA V5 VPM, thereby enabling an extended automatic pre-valuation of query criterion.For the customization of the attribute mapping, see the VPM Navigator User's Guide, Customizing ENOVIA V5, User Attribute Mapping.

Note: This functionality is only available when working with ENOVIA V5 VPM as PDM.
  When reconciling a CATProduct or a CATPart in Publication Exposed mode, the search result provides a list of Document Revisions. Reconciliation fails, if you select a Document Revision which is not associated to a Part Version as representation. This is because save in CATIA V5 is performed using the option New Revision (instead of New Version) on CATPart or a CATProduct. In this case, the old revision will no more be related to any part version.

Easy Query

  • Easy Query allows you to search for objects in ENOVIA V5 VPM based on the attributes of the object. The available attributes for each object type are those attributes which have been defined in the mask as ezquery attributes. The Easy Query function is similar to the Easy Search in VPM Navigator.

  • The Easy Query dialog box contains the:

    • Type: This field cannot be modified, it is based on the selection in the CATIA view.

      • In publication exposed mode, the type can be one of the supported document types. For CATProduct or CATPart types, the query will be done on document attributes, but the part ID is used to pre-fill the Document ID field. If your part name differs from the document ID, you will need to modify this field.

      • In structure exposed mode, the type can be Product or Part.

    • Attributes available for search are based on the Type.

  • If your site uses the free naming feature to map the identifiers of parts and documents in CATIA to the V_ID (the default), V_name or V_description in ENOVIA V5 VPM, the Easy Query will take this mapping into account. The identifier will be automatically set in the correct field to take into account the mapping. This mapping applies to ENOVIA Part References and Documents, therefore, ENOVIA Product Root Class (PRC) does not use the mapping. The table below shows both the default behavior of Easy Query along with how the mapping will work if your site maps the identifier of both parts and documents to the V_name attribute in ENOVIA V5 VPM (mapping the identifiers to V_description works similarly, that is, the ID is pre-set in the description field). Please see the ENOVIA V5 VPM-CATIA Interoperability User Guide > Managing document Names in ENOVIA V5 VPM and CATIA V5 > Free Naming in ENOVIA V5 VPM mode for free naming details.
    Default With Document and Part Identifier Mapped to V_name
    Publication exposed CATPart
    Publication exposed CATProduct
    Structure exposed CATProduct

  1. Connect to ENOVIA V5 VPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select Easy Query in the Query Criteria combo box, then click the Query button.
    The Easy Query dialog box appears.

  1. In the Domain list, select the domain from which the product needs to be searched.

  2. Modify the Search string.

  3. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.

Query Document by Part Id

  • Query Document by Part Id is a basic query with two parameters: an object type and a search string.

  • The Query Document by Part Id dialog box contains the:

    • Type: This field cannot be modified, it is based on the selection in the CATIA view.

      • In publication exposed mode, the type can be one of the supported document types (for instance CATProduct, CATPart, model or a CATDrawing). The search will retrieve the corresponding documents for the parts matching the query. The search criteria you enter is based on the part ID and is used to find corresponding parts in ENOVIA V5 VPM. For all parts found by the query, all associated documents are returned in the query result.

      • In structure exposed mode, the type can be Product or Part. The search string you enter is based on the part or product ID. The search string will be used to find the corresponding parts.

    • Search string: CATIA document or Part name.

Note: Query Document by Part Id does not map the PVR associated to a PRC (root product).

  1. Connect to ENOVIA V5 VPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select Query Document by Part Id in the Query Criteria combo box, then click the Query button. The Query dialog box appears.

  1. In the Domain list, select the domain from which the product needs to be searched.

  2. Modify the Search string.

  3. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.


     

Query by Object Id

  • Query by Object Id is a basic query with two parameters: an object type and a search string. Using this query, the search is directly based on the part, product or document in ENOVIA V5 VPM.

  • The Query by Object Id dialog box contains the:

    • Type: This field cannot be modified, it is based on the selection in the CATIA view.

      • In publication exposed mode, the type can be one of the supported document types (for instance CATProduct, CATPart, model or a CATDrawing). The search string you enter is based on the document ID. The search string will be used to find corresponding documents. The default search string (the search string that is pre-filled when you launch the dialog) is based on the part Id. If the document ID is different than the part ID, you will need to edit the search string based on the document ID in order for the search to return the desired result.

      • In structure exposed mode, the type can be Product or Part. The search string you enter is based on the part or product ID. The search string will be used to find the corresponding parts.

    • Search string: CATIA document, Part ID or Product ID. The dialog will explain what attribute the search string applies to.

  1. Connect ENOVIA V5 VPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window.

  4. Select Query by object Id in the Query Criteria combo box, then click the Query button. The Query dialog box is displayed and contains the following fields:

  1. In the Domain list, select the domain from which the product needs to be searched.

  2. Modify the Search string, e.g. to Skate*.

  3. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.

Query only last Version or Revision

  • Query only last Version or Revision enables you to query only the preferred Part Version, document revision or document attached to the preferred Part Version in ENOVIA V5 VPM
  • The Query only last Version or Revision dialog box contains the:

    • Type: This field cannot be modified as it is based on the selection in CATIA view.

Note: Query only last Version or Revision does not map the PVR associated to a PRC (root product).

The search criterion depends on the type of objects searched for. The different types include:
  • Product Root Class (PRC): For a Product Root Class (PRC), the search behavior is similar to Easy Query criterion.
  • Part Version (PV): For Part Version (PV), the search behavior is similar to Easy Query where the Version Number will be omitted and replaced by a condition such that the query result displays only the selected parts of preferred version.
  • For CATShape, CATIA V4 model, CATPart and CATProduct stored as Publication Exposed, the document search is conducted across Part Version.
    Note: CATShape and CATIA V4 model are managed in this way only if they are associated as default 3D representation to a Product in CATIA.
  • Other Documents: For Other Documents, the search behavior is similar to Easy Query where the Revision Number will be omitted and replaced by a condition such that the query result displays only the selected documents of preferred revision.
     

Let us take an example of Part Version, where the query result displays only the latest version.

  1. Connect ENOVIA V5 VPM.

  2. In CATIA, open a product to reconcile.

  3. Launch the Reconciliation window

  4. Select Query only last Version or Revision in the Query Criteria combo box.

  5. Click the Query button. The Query only last Version or Revision dialog box appears.

  6. In the Domain list, select the domain from which the product needs to be searched.

  7. Modify the search string, example to Skate*.

  8. Click OK to launch the query.
    The query result appears on the Query page.