How cacheless search works

Cacheless searches allow you to query the configured product structure in Structure Manager, Design Context, and several other applications to retrieve matching items and item revisions. You can specify any combination of the following search parameters:

Spatial parameters including:

• Box volumes, either inside, outside, or intersecting the box

• Above, below, or intersecting defined planes

• Proximity to another object

• Approximate size

• Attributes including item or item revision ID, name, occurrence notes, and form attributes

• Classification attributes

• Saved queries

Teamcenter uses bounding boxes and TruShape voxel maps that are created during the processing of CAD designs to implement cacheless searches. Internally, it uses part-level bounding boxes to construct and maintain the necessary spatial indexes.

If you use NX and the Teamcenter Integration for NX, you can configure NX to generate bounding box data automatically. If you search JT files generated by another CAD tool, Teamcenter generates the bounding box data when spatial searches are first enabled. The generation process may take a significant time if you have large quantities of data.

Note: If you work in NX, you should not manipulate the JT files that Teamcenter creates from the NX files.

The search initially identifies bounding boxes that intersect the bounding boxes of the selected objects, limiting the search results to objects with geometry in close proximity. This allows Teamcenter to display the initial results relatively quickly.

If you choose TruShape filtering, the search then tests the objects with intersecting bounding boxes to determine if they have intersecting TruShape parameters. Depending on your TruShape configuration, Teamcenter may simplify the geometry of each object into regular cubes (voxels) that provide a simplified representation of the actual shapes. The TSO files contain voxel representations of each part that has geometry.

The accuracy of the search results depend on the cell size you define in NX or the voxel size you configure in Teamcenter if you are using JT files. The smaller the cell or voxel size, the more accurate the results. However, smaller sizes result in larger TSO files and slower response times.

The following actions trigger an update of the bounding box data, search index, or both:

• The creation of a new Teamcenter item causes the creation of a structure index. If your system automatically creates a dataset under the item revision when you create items, this action triggers the creation of a bounding box, even if the bounding box is empty. This occurs whether you create the item directly in Teamcenter or in any of the Teamcenter integrations.
• Any structure edits, the addition or subtraction of occurrences, and absolute occurrences modifications cause the creation of the structure index.
• The creation of an NX or JT dataset triggers the creation of the bounding box. This action also triggers a structure update to roll the bounding box information up to its parent structures.
• Any modification of an NX or JT dataset triggers an update of the bounding box. This action also triggers a structure update to roll the updated bounding box information up to its parent structures.
• Teamcenter also makes these updates if modified data is imported from another system.