Associating a Type to a User Feature

You can associate a type to a user feature if you want to manipulate user feature attributes through the Enterprise Knowledge Language (EKL), to search user feature instances using this type, or to write expert rules based on this type.

Notes:
  • Deploy an app containing these types to use typed user features. This app is stored in a database making the administration complicated.
  • You do not necessarily have to type a user feature to manipulate it. You can do it using EKL through the following functions and methods:
    • GetAttributexxx and SetAttributexxx
    • CreateOrModifyTemplate
    • InstantiateTemplate
    • EndModifyTemplate
  • All of the <feature>.GetAttributexxx methods along with <feature>.HasAttribute work recursively (like query or find). That is, if you start from <feature> object and you have a parameter that is somewhere deep inside a number of parameter sets between the feature and the parameter itself, it is futile to get the direct parent of the parameter to read it. These methods cross all parameter sets down to the parameter.
  • The behavior is different if you have more than one parameter with the same Local Name. The behavior is similar to the Find method such as the HasAttribute and the GetAttributexxx methods, but it stops on the first parameter found with the queried Local Name.

This task shows you how to:

See Also
Creating a User Feature
Instantiating a User Feature

Create the Know-how Package

First, create the package to contain the type.

  1. Select Add > Content > Know-how Apps Package.
  2. Save the package.
  3. Right-click the package in the tree and select Package object > Set current package.

Associate the Know-how Package to the Collaborative Space

Now associate the package to a collaborative space.

  1. From the Compass, click Social and Collaborative Apps , and select Data Setup.
  2. Click the Know-how Apps Packages tab.
  3. Click the package you want to associate to your collaborative space and drag it to the collaborative space in the Collaborative Project Bindings tree.
    The package is now linked to the collaborative space.

Install the Know-how Apps Application

You must install the know-how apps package to make it available to other users.

Note: Each time you modify the Know-how Apps package, you must start the Install Application command to get the latest modifications.

  1. From the Compass, click 3D Modeling Apps and select 3D Templates Capture.
  2. Click User Feature Types Installation and click OK.
  3. In the Know-how Apps Package dialog box, select the package from the list and click Install Application.
    Note: If no know-how apps package is installed, a warning is displayed indicating that no package is installed. Selecting a package is required.

Create the Type

You can now create the type.

Before you begin: You must have created a user feature.
  1. Double-click the user feature in the tree.
  2. In the User Feature Definition dialog box, click the Type tab. To associate a type to the user feature, do the following:
    1. Click Auto to generate the user feature super type.
    2. Type the name of the type you want to create in the Type1 (Standard Inputs) box and click Generate.
    3. Select the component to contain the type.
    4. Click OK.
    Note: You can modify the derived type, which enables you to type a user feature as a surface for example. If you perform a search on the surfaces, the query returns the user feature.
  3. Save.