Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• Checked ENOVIA Designer Studio and CAA - Web Application Composer in the CAA V5 Development Environment Setup window. To find out more, see customizing the RADE Interactive Tools.
• Run the process described in Installing RSx.

Overview

Using Rational Software Architect and Modeler (RSx) as an Interactive Design Tool

The Data Modeler Customizer is an interactive tool integrated to Rational Software Architect and Rational Software Modeler (Rsx). You can design new customizations in UML (Unified Modeling Language) using Rational Software Architect Integrated Design Environment. Use a dedicated wizard to create a brand new LCA customization and manage it through the DMC specific menus embedded within Rational Software Architect interface. With these new menus, it becomes very easy to define new modeler objects and their attributes, or to modify them. You will see at all time the logical and graphical view of your customization content. When your design is correct, you can launch the metadata generation from RSx. Then, the ".metadata" file is generated in the CNext/code/dictionary directory of your current active framework and the model is stored in a UML file suffixed ".mdl".

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Before You Start

You are going to work in 2 different views, the Perspective Modeling View and the Navigator View. To access both views:

1. From the Window menu,  select Open perspective->Other. In the Select Perspective dialog box, select Modeling (default). Click OK when done.
2. From the Window menu,  select Window->Show View->Other. In the Show View dialog box, select Navigator. Click OK when done.

Before customizing any model, you must know the names and composition of your model.

On the one hand, some cases are simple because your customization will be accepted, and names have no consequence on its further use. The only restriction is the name length which is limited to 12 characters. But this limitation is applied to all model customizations.
For ECO/ECR, you can either create a model which inherits from ECO or ECR, or from both, and all names are allowed to customize your model. Actions and Config follow the same principle.

On the other hand, the customization of some models requires rigor and knowledge of the composition of the model.
Two examples are presented to attest this fact.

• To customize a Product, you MUST create 3 objects which respectively inherit from VPMPartMaster, VPMPartVersion and VPMItemInstance. In this case, names have a great importance. Indeed, each name of customized object must comply with the name of the inherited object: The suffix name must be the same as the one of  the inherited parent. Moreover, each prefix name must be identical for the 3 objects.
  
  In the same way, to customize a Document, you MUST create 5 objects which inherit from VPMSecuredFile, VPMDocumentIteration, VPMdocumentIterationFormat, VPMDocumentRevision, VPMTPdocumentMaster, with the same specifications as for Product.

What Do You Want to Do?

There are multiple ways to customize the data model:

• By creating new sets of objects
• By adding new objects to an existing set of objects
• By adding attributes to an existing object

Whichever way is chosen, all these cases are handled in the same way: Creating a new modeler object. For example, if you add attributes to an existing LCA object, create a new modeler object that "extends" the LCA object using inheritance and let LCA use this extended object rather than the original one.

Note that whenever you customize an LCA application, you create a new UML model, as well as a new ".metadata" file. All modeler objects you create are stored in this new model, and are kept separate from the LCA original models (or somebody else's customization). It is always very important to keep your customized data schemas separate from the original LCA data schema, to allow you to upgrade the LCA release without destroying or losing your work.

As far as the CAA file tree is concerned, an Enovia Application corresponds to a framework. This framework contains:

• The UML model (under the directory ProtectedInterfaces/FrameworkName.mdl).
• A dictionary file. This dictionary contains the objects that will be used in the Enovia runtime (under the directory CNext/code/dictionary/FrameworkName.metada)

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Creating a UML Project

1. From the File menu, select New->Project.
2. In the New Project window, select UML Project and click Next>.
3. Enter the name of the project in the Project name field click Next> and Finish.
4. In the Navigator view, right-click your project and select Open as a DMC project...

   If a workspace has already been opened, this step is not required. If you want to create a customization in another workspace, you need to close RSA and reopen it. To access the Navigator view, select Window->Show View->Other->Navigator.

5. In the Open a DMC Project window, select the tool level, CXR17 in this example and click Next>. Click Close in the Initializing window.
6. Click Add to select the prerequisites frameworks, select your prerequisites and click Finish. If you have already defined your prerequisites, click Cancel.
7. Click Close in the Installing prereqs window.

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Defining Prerequisites for DMC

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Creating a New ENOVIA LCA Customization

1. From the File menu, select New->Other.
2. Expand the DMC elements node, select New LCA Customization and click Next>. The Create New ENOVIA PLM Customization window opens.
3. Enter the name of the application in the Application name field.
4. Click ... to select the Super Class, click Next> and Finish.

If you want to derive a customization from another customization, do not forget to set the  CAA derivable option to Yes when creating a new modeler object. This way, the customization will be available in the Super class list of the New Modeler Object window.

When creating a new modeler, the super classes available in the Create a Modeler window depend on the Super Class you have chosen in the New LCA Customization window (see graphic above). The table below details the modeler classes available for each customization class. Actions ADMPSM Config Document ECOECR People Product Structure Standard Part

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Creating an Object Modeler

1. From the File menu, select Other->DMC elements->New Modeler Object. Click Next>. The New Modeler Object window opens.
2. Enter the class name in the Class name field, CustoDesignAction in this example.
   Carefully choose the class name, it will be forbidden to modify it after creating the customization.
3. Select the Super Class in the list (Action_Design in this example). Click Next>.

4. Click Insert in the Attributes field to add attributes.
5. Click Insert in the Index field to add attributes. The object will be created in a package corresponding to his access.
6. Click OK to confirm the object modeler creation.

The wizard generates a new framework containing a new UML model importing the modeler objects defined in the original parent application.

The wizard generates also a file .ENOVApp which contains the application name, the application which is customized (as the parent application) and the list of the prerequisite frameworks and their dictionary file names.

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Adding Attributes to Objects

Adding Attributes to a New Object

1. In the New Modeler Object window, click Insert in the Attributes field.
2. Enter the name of the attribute in the Name field.
   Carefully choose the name, it will be forbidden to modify it after creating the customization.
3. Select its type in the list.
4. Select the size of this attribute and specify if need be its visibility and Access.
5. Click OK when done.
6. Repeat the above steps for each attribute your want to create.

Adding Attributes to an Existing Object

Adding a Relationship Type Attribute to a New Object

When you select a type in Type list when creating a new attribute, the basic types are available. If you have already created classes, their names are displayed in this list. To create an attribute based on such a class, select the class in the Type list. 

Adding a Relationship Type Attribute to an Existing Object

You can add a Relationship type attribute to an existing object:

1. In the diagram, right-click the class, and select Add UML->Attribute.
2. Enter the name of the new attribute and edit it in the Properties view.
3. In the General tab, modify the Visibility, Mandatory, ... properties.
4. In the Stereotypes tab, click Add Stereotypes and check RADE_AttributeRelation.

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Editing an Attribute

1. In the Main view of the class diagram, click the attribute that you want to edit.
2. Click the Properties tab

   Click General if you want to modify its visibility, its qualifiers, its type, its value or its multiplicity. Click Advanced if you want to modify its type for example or other parameters.

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Overloading an Attribute

Only relationship type attributes can be overloaded. The attribute to overload must:

• Keep exactly the same naming as defined in the Super Class.
• Point to a Class inheriting from the Super Class.

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Adding an Index to an Object

1. In the New Modeler Object window, click Insert in the Index field.
2. Enter the name of the index in the Name field.
3. Specify if this index will be unique or not.
4. Select the attributes which are referenced by the index.
5. Click OK when done.

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Editing a Modeler Object

1. In the Main view of the class diagram, click the class that you want to edit.
2. Click the Properties tab.

   Click General if you want to modify its visibility, and to indicate if it is abstract or leaf. Click Advanced if you want to modify its type for example or other parameters.

You cannot modify the name or the Super Class of the modeler object.

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Modifying the Attributes of a Modeler

You can modify the attributes of a modeler on condition that this attribute is of String type and you want to increase its size.

1. Create a workspace migrating an existing workspace to a subsequent version. The generated data is located in the following directory: Workspace_name/framework_name/CNext/code/dictionary/module.DMCRules.

2. Open the generate file in a text editor and perform the modification.

   Edit the MaxLength  field and enter the desired string length. Change the Modified status to "Y".

3. Publish the changes.

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Modifying an Existing Customization

Adding a new Object Modeler to an Existing Customization

1. In the Navigator view, right-click your project and select Open as a DMC project...
2. If your prerequisites have already been defined click Cancel in the opening window. If not, select the tool level and click Next>. Click Close in the Initializing window. Click Add to select the prerequisites frameworks, select your prerequisites and click Finish.
3. Create an Object Modeler.

Adding an Attribute to an Existing Object

1. To add an attribute to an existing object:

If you do not have access to the Properties view, select Window->Show View->Other, then select Basic section->Properties. Then in this properties view you can set the visibility in the General section, and all other RADE_Attributes values in the Advanced section.

2. If you want to derive an other class for your customization, select File->Other->DMC elements->New Modeler Object.

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Generating the Dictionary File

1. From the DMC Project menu, select Generate VPM Dictionary file. The following window is displayed.

The wizard creates MyAction.metadata under the directory MyAction/CNext/code/dictionary.

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Importing Metadata

1. From the DMC Project menu, select Import VPM Dictionary file. The following window is displayed. This command is designed to ensure coherence between the UML model and the dictionary file.

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Publishing Your Customization

1. Select DMC Project->Publish VPM Dictionary file in Database. Click OK. The data are published. Check if the settings are correctly valuated and click OK to launch the Publish command to finish the scenario.

The publish update your test or production server runtime with your customization.

When publishing your customization, *.metadata.off files are generated. Do not delete them, they will be used at the next publication.

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Deploying your Customization

Why use the deployment mechanism?

• You can test the customization on a Development ENOVIA server before making it available in Production environment
• There is no need to install RADE on the production ENOVIA server machine
• There is a separation of responsibilities between LCA Data structure analyst and LCA Server administrator.
• There is a single documented procedure ( in the next article ) to:
  • Update data structures
  • Update database tables
  • Modify administration settings
  • Update customized object masks

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How to deploy a customization?

The deployment process will

• Create a new RADE directory to store customized files
• Create a new environment file
• Generate SQL order
• Update database
• Add customized modelers in ADMIN database
• Import Default Mask generated by RADE

STEP 1: Make a customization with RADE tools. Publish the customization and check in ENOVIA LCA that the customization is available.

STEP 2: Check prerequisites for deployment

• The Development Server and the Production Server should be installed on the same operating system
• In the $ENOVOutput directory ( generated during publishing process ), you should have
  • *.custo files , *.metadata files, VPMSearchEntityDefinition.xml, VPMLightNode.xml, ActionRules.xml under $OS/code/dictionary
  • *.param files under $OS/reffiles/DBMS/Generator
  • *.CustomEnv.sh under $ENOVOutput

You can make your customization on DB2 and deploy it on ORACLE ( or the other way around ) You can deploy your customization on a customize database

STEP 3: 

1. cd to the "code/command" directory under your ENOVIA LCA product install path. This path appears like one of the following :    

• ~/aix_a/code/command
•  ~/solaris_a/code/command
•  ~/hpux_b/code/commandf 

             under the directory where you installed the product.

1. Create a command file containing all the parameters you will need to run the deployment script. The parameters should all wrap continuously as one line. WARNING: Because the command line contains the user/password of the LCA admin, maintain the confidentiality of this command file.
   The command line is as follows:

            ./DeployRadeCusto.sh ...

For command line help with this script, simple type:

DeployRadeCusto.sh <return>

from the UNIX command line and it will return some help text.
Here are two sample executable files, one for Oracle and one for DB2

DB2: 
./DeployRadeCusto.sh -DBVendor DB2 -DBName ENOVRADE -DBAID db2adm7 -DBAPwd db2adm7 -DBAdmHome /home/data/db2adm7 -TbsName TBS1_8K -IdxTbsName TBS1_8K -TableOwner EV5ADM  -AdmUsr ev5adm -AdmPwd EV5ADM  -EnvDir /CATEnv -EnvName ENOVIA_LCA.V5R11.B11 -InitRADECustoDir /home/data/ev5adm/MSDEV/CustoOutput -RADECustoDir /home/data/vpm5adm/RADECusto

ORACLE:
./DeployRadeCusto.sh -DBVendor ORACLE  -DBName ORARADE -DBAID ora7 -DBAPwd ora7 -DBAdmHome /home/oracle/8.1.7 -TbsName TBS1_8K -IdxTbsName TBS1_8K -TableOwner EV5ADM  -AdmUsr ev5adm -AdmPwd EV5ADM  -EnvDir /CATEnv -EnvName ENOVIA_LCA.V5R11.B11 -InitRADECustoDir /home/data/ev5adm/MSDEV/CustoOutput -RADECustoDir /home/data/vpm5adm/RADECusto

4 - Run the file script from the Unix command line. Information status messages appears. Some steps will take several minutes, during which no additional messages will appear.

5 - Run ./enoviastart -env ENOVIA_LCA.V5R11.B11 -direnv /CATEnv -object "-senv WorkspaceEnv -sdirenv /home/data/vpm5adm/RADECusto/CATEnv" to test your deployment.

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References

History

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