THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SET UP IMPORT XML FEATURE – CONFIGURING PDM

This article is a continuation of a series on configuring import XML feature on PDM. Previously, I presented how instructions are encoded in an XML file. In this article, we will continue the theme and explore the process of configuring PDM to read instructions from such a file.

 

At a fundamental level, two operations need to be configured in PDM: reading XML code and executing the instructions. The operation to read XML code is configured in import XML feature, while the execution of the instruction is added as a transition action in a workflow. Note the transition action is only required if the files or the associated metadata is to be updated. If the XML code is only affecting the PDM database, the transition action can be skipped.

 

Here are the steps to set up the import:

 

1) Open Administration tool from \SOLIDWORKS PDM\ and log in to the file vault

2) Expand Data Import\Export key

3) Right-click on Import Rules key and select the option to create a New Import Rule

4) Fill the following form to add the attributes of the rule

5) Specify the location of the folder from which to import XML files. You can also specify the frequency at which PDM will ping this folder and check for any XML files to be imported. Finally, one can create a variable alias set, in case the names of the variables specified in the XML is different from the ones specified in PDM.

6) Click Ok. The operation to read XML instructions has now been configured. Once an XML file is placed in the specified folder, PDM will read the instruction in a temporary table in the file vault database. The instructions will then wait to be executed as a part of a transition action. We will look at implementing this in the next set of steps.

7) To configure a transition to execute the instructions, go to transition properties\Actions

8) Click Add Action

9) A dialog box will pop-up to configure the properties of the action. Select Import data from XML for the type of action. You can also specify a pattern for the names of the xml files to be imported. Note the XML files allowed to be imported are the ones already read into the file vault database.

10) Click Ok.

 

Congratulations! Your feature is now fully implemented.