Basic PLM Objects

IRPC Objects can be organized in structures, by creating parent-child relationships. A parent-child relationship represents the usage of an object in a structure, under another parent object.

This page discusses:

Reference

A reference provides the definition of a structure object (a parent object in the model).

The reference can aggregate other components:

  • Instances
  • Reusable or nonreusable representation references
  • Ports
  • Connections

Note: The aggregation is the hierarchical link between a reference object and its instances. "To aggregate" means "to be composed of".

Instance

The reference described above can be used in a specific context (for example, an assembly). To use this definition in a context, an instance is aggregated to the reference.

An instance is the usage of a reference in another reference.

The instance of a reference:

  • Must be aggregated by its reference
  • Cannot aggregate other objects
  • Cannot be instantiated

Note: What is the difference between instances and occurrences?
  • Instance: the object specifying the aggregation relationship with the reference
  • Occurrence: the object representing the path of an instance in its context (for example, an assembly). In session, occurrences are displayed. They represent instances in their context.

Representation Reference

A representation reference provides the definition of a final node object (a child object).

A representation reference requires additional data files for the description.

Reusable or Nonreusable

A representation reference can be defined as reusable. By default, it is not reusable.

  • A reusable representation reference is a multi-instantiable representation. Such representation reference can have several instances.
  • A nonreusable representation reference is a mono-instantiable representation. Such representation reference can have only one instance.

Main and Secondary Streams

A representation reference can have several streams: one is the main stream, and all the others are secondary streams.

  • The main stream, also called the authoring stream, is what the representation reference is created with. This stream can be accessed and its content can be linked to other PLM objects.
  • The secondary streams are by contrast generated internally and cannot be accessed. Moreover, no link can be established to other PLM objects. These streams are used in place of the main stream for performance reasons.

    Example: With the Visu stream, you download only what is required for display. This is the stream used with the Switch to Edit Mode and Switch to Visu mode commands.

Representation Instance

The representation reference described above can be used in a specific context (for example, an assembly). To use this definition in a context, a representation instance is aggregated to the reference.

The representation instance behaves as the reference instance. See Instance above.

Main Attributes

Title

The Title attribute allows you to define an editable label related to a specific action (for example, a "wheel study").

The title provides the default setting (for example, “Physical Product00002080”).

The label can be customized.

Name

The Name attribute defines a unique label for all revisions in a branch.

The name is automatically computed according to the related type of the object (for example, "prd-R1132101049904-00002080" for a Physical Product).

This label is based on "Revise" and "Revise From" operations.

Revision

The Revision attribute defines a unique label of a revision in a branch.

The Revision is automatically computed according to a predefined sequence (for example, "A.1" for Physical Product).

Creation date and modification date

Creation date and modification date attributes.

Note:
  • The modification of an aggregated object by a reference does not modify the last modification date of the aggregating reference.
  • For xCAD data: Modification of an aggregated object by a reference modifies last modification date of the aggregating reference.

Created from

The reference name used to create the data in case of duplication.

Owner

Owner who created the object.

Collaboration Space

Collaboration Space that contains the object.

Collaborative policy

The collaborative policy of the object.

Identifier Set

The Identifier Set is a set of attributes that defines the scope of uniqueness to enable saving content in collaborative spaces with no conflict.

The scope of uniqueness is defined by the following set of parameters: [ Platform / Service / Type / Name / Revision ].

For example:

  • [ R1132101049904 / Service#ID1 / Physical Product / prd-R1132101049904-00002080 / A.1 ]
  • [ R1132101049935 / Service#ID2 / Physical Product / prd-R1132101049935-00002080 / A.1 ]

Ports

A port is an object composed under a reference or a representation that can have one link.

Connections

A connection is an object composed under a reference that can have multiple links.

IRPC Conceptual Model

The IRPC (for example, reference, port, connection) model relationships can be summarized as follows: