Making spatial and attribute searches

You can search large products with spatial criteria or with a combination of spatial and attribute criteria. Spatial searches are particularly useful for end items that represent large products containing a large number of lines, allowing you to focus quickly on a particular area or part of the product. For example, if you are designing a ship, you may want to identify all pipes that pass through a selected compartment, but not pipes that are routed around its perimeter. It is not necessary to create caches of product structure data or to install a separate database. The spatial search can function with CAD data from two sources: NX NX calculates the bounding box for a part and stores it in Teamcenter as a UGPART-BBOX named reference in a UGMASTER dataset. It can also be configured to create TruShape data for the part and store it as a Trushape-Data named reference in the UGMASTER dataset. The accuracy of the search depends on the cell size you configure in NX. A small cell size provides more accurate search results, but the TruShape files are larger and response times slower. Other CAD systems capable of saving JT files Teamcenter uses the Dispatcher Server and JtToBboxAndTso translator to create the necessary bounding box and TruShape data. The accuracy of the search depends on the voxel size you configure in Teamcenter. A small voxel size provides more accurate search results, but the TruShape files are larger and response times slower.

Note The bounding box and TruShape data generated for a JT dataset are ignored if an NX dataset exists for the same item revision. You enter search criteria as numerical values by manually creating a bounding box in the embedded viewer or by specifying minimum and maximum coordinates. You can also construct a bounding box from selected target parts. Teamcenter displays the results of the search as a list of matching items and item revisions. The results include any object that has partial or complete geometry inside, outside, or intersecting the box. Selecting an entry in the list highlights the item or item revision in the structure tree pane and in the embedded viewer. If the results contain packed lines, the relevant lines are unpacked and displayed. The remaining lines remain packed and are shown as a pack master with a corrected total of lines or with pruned siblings. You can refine spatial searches with other attributes as follows: Scope You can select an assembly as the scope of the search, rather than searching the entire product. Item and item revision attributes You can refine the search by including attributes of the item or item revision. Typically, this is the item ID, but you can use any attributes stored on the item master or revision master forms. Classification data If the items are classified, you can refine the search with classification attributes. This is called a classification ad hoc search. You can search through classified data and find objects contained within a class you specify and containing attribute values that you specify. Occurrence notes You can refine the search with values for occurrence attributes (occurrence notes). Attributes of forms You can refine the search with the attributes of forms that are attached to an item, item revision, or their subclasses. You can save search criteria for future use, if you perform the same search frequently. You can also create and save searches using the Query Builder application.