Working With Technological Packages

This section provides an overview of technological packages. If you need specific information regarding the use of technological packages in the workbenches in which they are implemented, refer to the corresponding workbench documentation.
  "Technological package" is a new notion that enables you to group and manage design specifications as well as DMU applicative data in order to save them in ENOVIA V5 VPM context.

Technological packages can be created in CATIA Version 5 products using ENOVIA V5-based resources. However, they can be saved and deleted in ENOVIA V5 only.
This means that you need to be connected to the ENOVIA V5 database and have both a CATIA V5 and ENOVIA V5 session running.

Each technological package is considered as a single entity and can contain the following elements:

  • CATIA Version 5 product specifications
    • parameters, formulas and rules
    • tolerances and annotations
    • etc.
  • DMU applicative data
    • groups
    • measures
    • etc.

A technological package is always linked to a product structure and therefore, it is not possible to configure a technological package outside a product.
 

Technological Package Creation
  Technological packages can be created under any product in Explode mode (i.e. Structure Exposed - Document not kept).

How are technological packages created?

  • Manually via Insert > New Technological Package. This command is available in all Knowledge workbenches, in the DMU Navigator workbench and in the Functional Tolerancing and Annotation workbench. For an example, refer to Creating a Technological Package
  • Automatically:
    • when no technological package exists: this is the case for instance when creating new data for the first time in the Functional Tolerancing and Annotation workbench
    • when using the Review command (in the DMU Navigator workbench), Knowledgeware capabilities (Formulas, Parameters, Design Tables) or when entering the Knowledge Advisor workbench.
You can create, display and manage in context several technological packages in the same product or in a single CATIA Version 5 session or in sub-levels of the product that is currently open.
In all cases, the technological package is always created in the UI-active product.

When creating a technological package, you can specify:

  • its name (optional). By default, the name is New
  • its category: you can choose a predefined category according to the workbench in which you are working. For instance, when working in the DMU Navigator workbench, you can choose between: Default (the default category), Review and Design Intent
  • its context.

As soon as a technological package is created, it is displayed as a node named "Technological Package" preceded by its category in the specification tree:
 
  This node will be made up of several sub-nodes, each sub-node corresponding to a type of data. The example below shows a technological package into which a DMU Review (named "DMU Review.1") has been created:
  Note that there is no semantic relation between the category of a technological package and the data it contains. For instance, a "DMU" technological package may contain or not DMU specifications AND other data such as Knowledgeware rules:
 
More than one technological package can be saved in a single structure (either a product or a PRC) with the same name and the same properties. A technological package can therefore not be made unique in the ENOVIA V5 database.
 

Technological Package Activation
  To set a technological package as active, you need first to select in the specification tree the technological package to be activated then right-click and select Set as current.

You can create as many technological packages as needed but bear in mind that only one can be set as current, i.e. considered as active in the active product. Any new data will be created in the active technological package.
The name of the active technological package is underlined in the specification tree ("Review - New" in our example):

 
  For an example, refer to Setting a Technological Package as Current.
  Each time you set a new product as "active", one of the technological packages it contains (if any) becomes active using the following process:
  • if this is the first time, in the current CATIA Version 5 session, that this product is active, the first technological package in the specification tree becomes active
  • if the new active product has already been set as active during your CATIA Version 5 session, the active technological package is the one that was last active.

Note that the active technological package is not a persistent data.
  In case no technological package exists, a new one is automatically created (without having to access the Technological Package Creation dialog box) when creating data for the first time.
 

Technological Package Storage
  All the data contained in a technological package are automatically saved when you do a save in ENOVIA V5 VPM using the Save data in ENOVIA V5 command.
 
  • File-based resources
    Technological packages cannot be stored in a file-based environment.
    Therefore, when opening a .CATProduct document in CATIA V5, only the technological packages that have been selected in ENOVIA V5 then sent to CATIA V5 are loaded.
    You cannot open a technological package on its own
  • ENOVIA V5-based resources
    Technological packages are stored as specific entities independently from the product.
 

About File>Desk and Edit>Links
  The following table sums up the information displayed in the Desk or in the Links dialog box when working in an ENOVIA V5-based environment:
 

Command

 File > Desk Edit > Links

Environment
ENOVIA V5 (workpackage mode) The name and category of the technological package are displayed but its links to other documents appear as links of the .CATProduct document in which the technological package has been created
  • Links from and to the technological package are displayed
  • If the pointed object is included in a technological package:
    • the technological package is displayed in the "Pointed document" column
    • Open is grayed out
    • Load is available and lets you load the technological package into the right product (if the product is in session)
ENOVIA V5 (Explode mode) The name and category of the technological package are displayed but not its links to other documents Same as above
 

Where To Find More Information?
  More specific information on technological packages can be found in the following user's guides:
  • Version 5 - VPM Navigator User's Guide (on the ENOVIA V5 VPM/LCA Documentation CD-ROM)
  • Version 5 - Infrastructure User's Guide (regarding the interoperability between Knowledgeware and ENOVIA V5 VPM)
  • Version 5 - 3D Functional Tolerancing and Annotation User's Guide
  • Version 5 - DMU Navigator User's Guide
  • Version 5 - Generative Drafting User's Guide.