Optimal CATIA PLM Usability for Product Structure

Product Structure can be edited in CATIA V5. You need to have created in ENOVIA LCA and sent to CATIA V5 a Product Root Class (PRC) in order to begin to work. For more information about the PRC, please refer to the Engineering LifeCycle User's Guide, in the Getting Started: Creating a Product Class Root.

CATIA V5 thus becomes an editor of ENOVIA Product Structure. You can send to CATIA V5:

  • only the product structure, selecting in ENOVIA the Part Instances,
  • the product structure and its shape representations selecting in ENOVIA the attached document representations.

The purpose of this section is to prevent the user from building / editing data in CATIA V5 if it cannot be saved in ENOVIA LCA. Therefore, in interoperability mode, some CATIA V5 commands are dimmed or unavailable in the Product Structure workbench.

Only commands subject to restrictions are listed below. In some cases, rules are applied to restricted commands.

   
 
Product Structure Workbench
Feature Command Accessibility in LCA mode Warning / Comment Save in LCA (rules)
Product Structure Tools

Inserting Existing Components

NO - Only CATIA MultiCAD formats are available.
Insert New Products YES - You can set Structure Exposed or Publications Exposed mode for New Products created by Insert New Product. For more information, please refer to the Infrastructure User Guide, Customizing, General Settings, General, Compatibility, ENOVIA V5 VPM.
Replacing a Component YES - Only CATIA MultiCAD formats are available.
Special Rules for Saving CATIA V5 Data to ENOVIA LCA
Unloading Components YES - Unloading Components from the ENOVIA LCA Toolbar or ENOVIA VPM toolbar (Unload Branch)
Reordering the Tree YES Accessible but all the transient data (in CATIA Session) will be lost in LCA; this notion does not exist in ENOVIA LCA. The ENOVIA Product Structure will not be ordered in Exposed structure mode.
Generating Numbers NO (dimmed) - -
Defining Contextual Links YES Accessible but contextual links are not supported in some cases (known persistency problems). Contextual Link Rules in CATIA V5 and ENOVIA LCA

Deactivating / Activating a Component

NO (unavailable) - -
New CDM Component NO (dimmed) _ - -
Move Using Flexible Sub-Products NO (unavailable) - -
Representations Managing Representations YES Data may be lost in some cases. Managing Representations
Special Rules for Saving CATIA V5 Data to ENOVIA LCA
Some CATIA MultiCAD formats are not available
Managing Shapes YES - Managing Shapes: How to create a Shape in CATIA V5 and save it in ENOVIA LCA, etc...
Save Activation State NO (dimmed) - -
WBS Delete WBS - This command is no longer supported. -
   
 
Generic Commands
Feature Command Accessibility in LCA mode Warning / Comment Save in LCA (rules)
Generic Tools Editing Components YES

Data may be lost in some cases.
The Paste operation will fail with an error message explaining that it is not authorized.

Special Rules for Saving CATIA V5 Data to ENOVIA LCA
Edit Product and Graphic Properties YES -

Disable edition of the unmapped properties.

Show / Hide YES Warning: All transient data are lost. -
Copy / Paste YES Warning: It is not allowed to paste an ENOVIA LCA Product (or PLM) on a file product. For more information, please refer to the Copy / Paste scenario. -
   
If you move a sub-product in a flexible assembly created in CATIA V5 and want to save it in ENOVIA LCA, select Propagate Position to Reference before performing a Save.