Contextual Link Rules in CATIA V5 and ENOVIA LCA

This task explains what the contextual link rules are in CATIA V5 in terms of a Safe Save i.e. how contextual links can be created and modified to be saved correctly in ENOVIA LCA.

Known Persistency Problems:

ENOVIA PRC exposes a subset of CATIA instances:

  • only under a PRC,
  • only for "exposed" references.

Safe Save Contextual Link Rules
  If you comply with the following rules, you will be able to create and save contextual links in ENOVIA LCA:

First Rule: Exposed Context

If the persistency mode of the context and of the input instance is "exposed", you can create "exposed" contextual links. To do this, you need to check the option Use root context in assembly in Tools -> Options -> Infrastructure -> Part Infrastructure, which creates a contextual link at the PRC level. For more information about this setting, see "Customizing" in the Part Design User's Guide.
Note:
  • If you create a link with a Publication defined on the root of a "workpackage", this Publication is exposed and you create an exposed contextual link at the PRC level.
  • If you do not activate the option Use Root Context in Assembly and create contextual links in a Structure Exposed assembly, the following error message appears and link creation is not allowed:
  • If you create contextual links with new data or an existing component without complying with this rule, and if, to reroute these links properly, you save this assembly in LCA with Set PDM Properties, a warning appears during the save operation informing you that the contextual links are not saved / supported in LCA:
 

For more information about the Set PDM Properties functionality, see "Setting Up Saving Options (Set PDM Properties)" in the ENOVIA / CATIA Interoperability User's Guide.
  The diagram below illustrates this rule:
 
In our example, when the setting is checked, Part1 has a contextual link with I'1 and Part2 with I'2.
 

Second Rule: Workpackage Context

If the persistency mode of the context and input instance is "workpackage" and if they belong to the same Workpackage, you can create a "non-exposed" contextual link within a Workpackage. To do this, you need to uncheck the option Use Root Context in Assembly and create a contextual link at the Workpackage level and not at the PRC level. For more information about this setting, see "Customizing" in the Part Design User's Guide.

Note:

  • If you activate the option Use Root Context in Assembly and create contextual inks in a Workpackage assembly, the following error message is displayed and link creation is not allowed:
  • If you create contextual links with new data or an existing component without complying with this rule, and if, to reroute these links properly, you then save this assembly in LCA with Set PDM Properties, a warning appears during the save operation informing you that the contextual links are not saved / supported in LCA:
For more information about the Set PDM Properties functionality, see "Setting Up Saving Options (Set PDM Properties)" in the ENOVIA / CATIA Interoperability User's Guide.
  The diagram below illustrates this rule:
 
  When the setting is not checked, Part1 has a contextual link with I1 and Part2 with I2.
Both rules are also applied to the modification of contextual links. If the link does not correspond to the rules described above, a warning appears and edition is refused.
   
  • In case you perform a New Evolution on a part in an assembly, you have to be aware that a new part reference is created, but that the associated document is not duplicated.

    When a part reference has an associated document, the new part reference created via the New Evolution functionality is associated to the same document. This means that if the part contains contextual links that have been defined on instances, they remain the same even after performing a New Evolution on the part.

    When the new part reference created via the New Evolution functionality is instantiated under the PRC, new instances are created. Therefore, the contextual links defined on the previous instances are broken when the assembly is loaded in CATIA V5. Rerouting the links on the new instances results in breaking them on the previous instances.

    To reroute the contextual links properly:
    • in Enovia V5, go to the Document tab,
    • right-click the instance and select New Reference to duplicate the document,
    • in CATIA V5, load the new assembly,
    • select Components>Define Contextual Links to reroute the contextual links on the new instances.
  • For more information on contextual links, see also the Defining Contextual Links: Editing and Replacing Commands chapter.
  • For more information on the New Evolution functionality, please refer to the Establishing a New Evolution chapter in the EnoviaLCA Engineering LifeCycle User's Guide.
  • For more information on the New Reference functionality, please refer to the Creating a New Reference to a Document chapter in the EnoviaLCA Engineering LifeCycle User's Guide.