Production input mappings¶
The following aPriori out-of-box (system-defined) production inputs can be mapped to CAD properties. Note that in the XML file, you must use the system-defined name, not the display name, in those cases where they differ.
| System Name (MUST be used in XML mapping) |
Display Name |
|---|---|
| Process_Group | Process Group |
| VPE | Digital Factory |
| Material | Material |
| Annual_Volume | Annual Volume |
| Batch_Size | Batch Size |
| Description | Description |
| Revision | Revision |
In the mapping file, these standard, out-of-box production inputs are defined as type "system". No other aPriori system-defined attributes can be mapped to CAD properties.
For information about mapping CAD properties to aPriori User Defined Attributes (UDAs), see UDA mappings. Note that it is possible to create UDAs with the same names as system-defined production attributes. If you do, you can map CAD properties to either the UDA, or to the production input, or to both. And you can display either or both on the Cost Guide.
Of the mappable production input attributes, Material and Description exhibit some special-case behavior as described below.
Description¶
When mapped to a CAD property, the Description system-defined attribute in aPriori is set to the value of its corresponding CAD property only when the CAD model is first opened and GCDs are first extracted. It will not appear in the Cost Overrides dialog and will not be subsequently updated from the CAD property again. This ensures that if this is modified in aPriori, the modified value will not be overwritten by the CAD property.
Material¶
Each CAD system typically provides a mechanism for specifying material, and the name of the chosen material is typically stored or exposed as a standard property or parameter. For example, Pro/ENGINEER stores this information in "PTC_MATERIAL_NAME". aPriori can read these material specifications and attempts to map them to aPriori materials.
The XML mapping file uses CSL to map the CAD property to an aPriori material (that is, the CAD material property doesn’t need to exactly match an aPriori material name, but the output of the CSL mapping expression does. If an exact match cannot be made, the Digital Factory default material is used.
Note that a similar capability has been available for some time in Direct Integration mode for Pro/ENGINEER. CAD property extraction now makes this available for all supported CAD systems in CAD Independent mode and plug-ins.
aPriori material mapping also provides the ability to use a “generic” CAD property to influence material selection in aPriori. Some sites use a different property other than the standard one to store the material name (for example, a Pro/ENGINEER site might use “MATERIAL_DETAILS” instead of “PTC_MATERIAL_NAME”).
Note about PLM mappings¶
Properties such as "Revision" are often driven by a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system that your company uses in concert with your CAD software. For example, in a PTC installation, the Creo® CAD system may be coordinated with a Windchill PLM system.
aPriori does not currently extract properties directly from PLM systems. However, you may be able to configure your PLM/CAD installation so that certain PLM properties are “pushed” into the CAD file each time they are updated. If your installation is configured this way, and the PLM properties are stored in the CAD file each time they are updated, then aPriori can access them from the CAD file.