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Generating a Windchill Product Structure from SysML


  1. The object of this tutorial is to generate a product structure in a Windchill repository from a block structure in a Rhapsody SysML model. We will use the sample model Syndeia Tutorial Testbed. An identical tutorial for a Teamcenter repository is provided in Section 2.4.
  2. Create an empty product in a Windchill repository to which you have access. In this example, it will be UAV-Zwemer in the repository wc-user. (It is outside the scope of this tutorial to describe how to use the PLM tools, but in Windchill, it is necessary to open an interface to your Windchill repository, go to Navigator→Browse→Recent Products→View All and click to New Product icon on the Products page. Appendix 2 provides a more detailed description of working directly in Windchill repositories.)

  3. Open the Rhapsody model Syndeia Tutorial Testbed. Right-click on package Tutorial_2_02, launch the Syndeia dashboard, and click on the Connection Manager tab. Click on Repository at the top of the right panel and select the wc-user repository. The dashboard should appear as in Figure 8. The left panel shows the SysML model element selected in step 4 of the previous tutorial. The right panel shows the contents of the Windchill repository wc-user.



    Figure 8 Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Manager tab

  4. To generate the UAV part structure in the empty product UAV_Zwemer, choose Model Tranform as Conection Type in the center of the dashboard, then drag-and-drop the UAV block from the left panel onto the UAV_Zwemer product in the right panel. A window will appear as in Figure 9. Check the box next to "Set block as primary end item" and click Yes. (Primary end item identifies this as the top-level block in the PLM product, which may be important for updating the SysML model later.)



    Figure 9 Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Manager tab
     

  5. A series of messages will scroll in the bottom section of the dashboard. As shown in Figure 10, the UAV_Zwemer product on the PLM side now reflects the product structure imported from the SysML model.



    Figure 10 Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Manager tab, after generation of part structure in the PLM repository

  6. To view the persistent connection that has been created between the UAV block in the SysML model and the UAV part under the UAV_Zwemer PLM product, click on the Connection Browser tab of the Syndeia Dashboard and expand the UAV block on the left. Note the connection in Figure 11 below; the connection label (C16) assigned by Syndeia and/or the UAV version number (A.3) may be different in your case.



    Figure 11 Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Browser tab, showing the connection between UAV in the two domains

  7. To view all the connections to elements in the Tutorial_2_02 SysML model, click on the Connection Summary tab (Figure 12) of the Syndeia Dashboard and click the Refresh button on the upper right. Note that connections were created between all of the blocks that are used as parts of UAV, e.g. Body, and the corresponding parts created in the PLM product.



    Figure 12 Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Summary tab, showing all the connections owned by the Tutorial_2_02 SysML package.


    Refer to section 4.5.2.2 of the Syndeia User Guide to learn how to populate attributes on Windchill parts from SysML block value properties. 

    Syncing SysML Changes to Windchill



    Figure 13 Modified UAV SysML model
  8. Currently, Syndeia supports updating of names and part structures from the SysML model to the PLM repository (and in reverse). Additional capabilities will be added in the future. In this exercise, we will continue with the models from the last section, adding an additional block to the SysML model, Payload, and using it as a part of the UAV. The resulting SysML model BDD looks like Figure 13.

  9. Refresh the Syndeia dashboard by right-clicking the Tutorial_2_02 package on the left side and choosing Refresh. It will appear similar to Figure 14.



    Figure 14 Syndeia dashboard, Connection Manager tab, after modifying SysML model, before updating PLM repository

    The corresponding Connection Browser tab appears as in Figure 15. For this screenshot, we (1) right-clicked on the Tutorial_2_02 package (top row) and selected Expand All, and (2) filtered the Connection column by clicking on the downward arrow icon in the column header, selecting (Custom…), and choosing "is not empty" criterion. This reduces the number of empty rows displayed.

    Figure 15 Syndeia dashboard, Connection Browser tab, after modifying SysML model, before updating PLM repository

  10. Use the Comparison Manager to display the current differences between the two models. Right-click on the Tutorial_2_02 package and choose Compare SysML & Target, as shown in Figure 16.



    Figure 16 Launching comparison
     

  11. The Comparison Result tab will be displayed, as in Figure 17. Note that the row shown in red represents the new part property of UAV that has no corresponding element on the PLM side. Note that the new block, Payload, does not appear in the table, because it does not have an existing connection to a PLM object to compare against.



    Figure 17 Syndeia dashboard, Comparison result tab, after modifying SysML model, before updating PLM repository.

  12. To update the PLM model from the revised SysML model, right-click on the Tutorial_2_02 package and select Sync SysML → Target. The results of this operation are shown for the Connection Manager (Figure 18), Connection Browser (Figure 19), and Comparison Result (Figure 20) tabs after syncing. It may be necessary to refresh each display. For the Comparison Result, you will need to perform the comparison again to check that everything is in-sync, as shown in Figure 20.

    Note that the version of the UAV part in Windchill has changed from A.3 to A.4 (since 1 new part occurrence has been added), as shown in Figure 18. The connection between the UAV block in SysML and the UAV part in Windchill has been updated to point to this new revision (A.4), as shown in Figure 19. 
    The same updating result would have been achieved if we had synced the UAV block across connection C16 (Figure 15). By syncing across the Tutorial_2_02 package, we synced simultaneously across all 3 connections held by blocks in that package. 
    If we had updated in the opposite direction, PLM to SysML, the result would have been different. The part property pyld would have been deleted from the UAV block, although the Payload block would not have been affected. 
     
  13. Before we proceed to the next section, we will practice deleting connections between the PLM and SysML models. This is not necessary when we complete an exercise, but can be a useful way to prevent obsolete or unneeded connections from littering up the model.
    1. On the Syndeia dashboard, go to the Connection Summary tab.
    2. Multiple select all the connections between the elements in the Tutorial_2_02 packages (see the Source column) and PLM repository elements.

    3. Right-click and select Delete Connection(s). If the connections are not deleted, they will appear in future Connection Summaries, which may be confusing.

       

      Figure 18 Connection Manager after syncing

      Figure 19 Connection Browser after syncing

       

      Figure 20 Comparison Result after syncing


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