The Life of a CATIA V5 CATSettings Administrator
Laura Boyle, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics CAD Development & Support Software Engineer
This is the true story of what life is like for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (LM Aero) CATIA V5 CATSettings ADMIN. Let’s follow the ADMIN as they… • Give an overview of the CATIA V5 CATSettings hierarchical
concatenation mechanism and the LM Aero architecture designed around this functionality • Make and and Distribute Distribute CATSetting CATSettingss changes changes - The process process and
management of CATSettings changes across the LM Aero Enterprise • Migrate Migrate CATSetting CATSettingss for a new release release of CATIA CATIA V5 – The BIG
Game • Enhance CATIA V5 performance using CATSettings • Provide Lessons Learned
Overview(1 of 4): CATIA V5 CATSettings Hierarchy • CATIA V5 uses a “hierarchical concatenation mechanism” to define the directory paths to CATSettings files that store customized attribute values •
The CATReferenceSettingPath and CATUserSettingPath CATIA V5 Environment variables define location of customized CATSettings files
LM Aero Startup creates CATIA V5 Environment file based on user inputs
CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\I CATReference SettingPath=P:\Is\Apps\Cati s\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\p a\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSetti rod\CATSettings\LMAero ngs\LMAeroBase Base P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSettings\F35; P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\lmapps\CATSettings; P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSettings\cmi CATUserSettingPath=U:\catv5\v5r CATUserSettin gPath=U:\catv5\v5r17\CATSettin 17\CATSettings gs
Overview(2 of 4): CATIA V5 CATSettings Hierarchy • How does Hierarchical concatenation work? Dependent on list of paths defined… • 1st path : Dassault “Hard Coded” Defaults • Superseded by all customized attribute values defined at CATIA start • 2nd thru N paths: Defined by CATReferenceSettingPath variable • Store customized attribute values known as ADMIN settings • Use LOCKS to control attribute values • Last path: Defined by CATUserSettingPath variable • Store users customized attribute values which supersede all previous attribute values unless LOCKED rd party Example: Example: Paths Paths defined defined based based on on Program, Program, 33rd party application application choices choices
CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSettings\LMAeroBase; P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSettings\F35; P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\lmapps\CATSettings; P:\Is\Apps\Catia\LM\v5r17\prod\CATSettings\cmi CATUserSettingPath=U:\catv5\v5r17\CATSettings
Overview(3 of 4): LM Aero Strategy for Customizing CATSettings LM Aero ADMIN • The flexibility in customizing the CATSettings attribute values drives the creation of many ADMIN paths for a variety of users tasks
LM Aero ADMIN CATSettings directories FOR PROD MODE
• Our CATIA V5 CATSettings are customized by
Site, Program, CATIA V5 Release, License/Discipline, and 3rd Party Application choice • We have created over 200 customized
CATSettings files
200 files x avg 5 attributes per file customized = 1000 customized attributes!
Overview(4 of 4): LM Aero Strategy for Customizing CATSettings • To ensure that users meet key company design practices and industry standards, WE MUST CONTROL AND MANAGE OUR CATSETTINGS • CATIA V5 at LM Aero is started via
our CAD V5 Startup application to control the CATIA V5 Environment and CATSettings paths our users use to do their tasks
The LM Aero CATIA V5 CATSettings ADMINs are solely responsible for maintaining and modifying the CATIA V5 CATSettings across the company
How do we make changes to our CATIA V5 CATSettings? The LM Aero way… (1 of 3) • Step 1: The Requests Roll in..and need to be Documented! • Types of change requests • Emergency requests: These requests are to be implemented as soon as possible in support of production users • CATIA V5 Domain/Discipline Subject Matter Expert (SME) requests: These requests are made for unique Domain/Disciplines (ie – Electrical, NC, Tubing, etc) Workbenches • Program approved requests: These requests are made by program users or CAD Development & Support group on behalf of the program • Groups of CATSettings attribute changes are gathered together
(except for Emergency changes) and rolled when convenient
How do we make changes to our CATIA V5 CATSettings? The LM Aero way… (2 of 3) • Step 2: LM Aero CATSettings ADMIN stages changes in LM Aero TEST CATIA V5 Environment • Changes to the CATSettings are staged
in our TEST environment for testing and evaluation prior to production turnover • Starting CATIA V5 in ADMIN mode and
making CATSettings changes has been automated and tailored via our CAD V5 Startup application
• Changes made to Tools->Options panel
in ADMIN mode are stored in one of the .CATSettings files
Administratively Locked
• And the Fun part…figuring out the
.CATSettings file that contains the change you made! • The CATIA V5 CATSettings ADMIN
documents changes made in TEST
Not Locked
How do we make changes to our CATIA V5 CATSettings? The LM Aero way… (3 of 3) • Step 3: CATSettings changes made in TEST Environment are reviewed and approved/disapproved by CATIA V5 SME’s and other important Points of Contact. • A virtual review is typically held via email with a file attachment of
the CATSettings change documentation
• Step 4: Prepare proposed CATSettings for Production turnover • Coordinate and communicate the files required to be moved to
PRODUCTION Environment • Notify CATIA V5 production users affected by the ADMIN CATSettings modifications • Our CAD V5 Startup application provides the functionality to flag users
with important messages such as CATSettings changes.
The Big Game-Migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (1 of 5) •
Performance issues resulted when using CATIA V5R12 version of CATSettings with CATIA V5R14 •
•
Use of CATIA V5R12 VisualizationRepository.CATSettings ADMIN file doubled the time to generate CGRs (6 min to 12 min) Use of CATIA V5R12 version of cke.CATSettings ADMIN file resulted in user not being able to change units of measure
CATSettings files are not upwardly compatible from earlier releases •
IBM/Dassault recommended using 2 applications within basic CATIA V5 install to migrate CATSettings • •
CATBatGenXMLSet exports .CATSettings file to .XML CATSettings file format CATBatImpXMLSet imports .XML CATSetting file format to .CATSettings file
The Big Game-migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (2 of 5) • Here’s what happened when LM Aero ADMIN used tools to migrate CATSettings (CATIA V5R17 to CATIA V5R18 migration) • TEST with the COMMON LM Aero ADMIN Settings = 114 files • CATBatGenXMLSet Errors : Setting “X” is Empty errors on 2 files (CATProduct.CATSettings and VRCommands.CATSettings) • CATBatImpXMLSet Errors : None reported from utility and all 114 CATSettings files created • During validation of the migrated CATSettings in CATIA V5 R18, found
some customized attributes values did not get migrated correctly • Used V5R17 To V5R18 migrated CATSettings files to test generation of XML files for future migrations • Upon examination of V5R17 To V5R18 CATSettings in XML format, we
found that only the customized attribute values were exported to XML files
The Big Game-migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (3 of 5) •
Analysis of migrated files..let’s look at LineTypeRepository.CATSettings • •
One of missing locks on migrated file found in this CATSetting file Printout of LineTypeRepository.CATSetting file in XML format
V5R17 LineTypeRepository (V5R17) CATBatGenXML Output
6 attributes
V5R17 To V5R18 LineTypeRepository (V5R18) CATBatGenXML Output
EMPTY
V5R18 “ From From Scratch” LineTypeRepository(V5R18) LineTypeRepository(V5R18) CATBatGenXML Output
6 attributes
Missing Attributes and Locks = Create CATSettings from Scratch
The Big Game-migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (5 of 5) • Everybody wins when you create CATSettings from scratch! •
For some CATSettings files with a large number of customized attribute values, we do use the utilities • Cke.CATSettings file = 205 attributes of which we customize 98 values (use
115 Dassault default values)
• Improvements/Help Requested from Dassault with CATSettings migration •
Can we get documentation on the new CATSettings/attributes at each release? (PMR 47551,004,000 Documentation on CATSetting/Attribute) • Reply to PMR was that this request for documentation was an enhancement
•
Enhancements we would like to Migration utilities • Utilities need to migrate all or as many of the CATSettings as possible without
missing attribute values or locks • Better error messages that tell us when a file hasn’t migrated correctly • Enhancement that displays Dassault Default values of CATSettings attributes • These utilities should be part of the Utilities/Batch Monitor option
Enhancing CATIA V5 performance with CATSettings • Depending on the CATIA V5 task, performance can have different meanings • Performance could mean the time it takes to load a CATIA V5
document (ie CATProduct) • Performance could mean whether or not there is enough Memory available to create drawing views of Large Assembly CATProduct. • Performance could mean the behavior of CATIA V5 with other Microsoft applications in a user’s Windows session. • We have implemented 3GB MS Windows XP initialization change to allow usage of additional memory • 64 Bit Hardware/Operating system available with CATIA V5 R17
There are some CATSettings attribute values that can help or hurt CATIA V5 performance, based on how they are set
Decreasing CATProduct Load Time to Enhance Performanc (1 of 2) Turn ON work with cache management Use the release cache management
For large CATProduct visualization tasks, use large 3D accuracy value to create cgr’s faster: To realize this time savings, user must re generate CGRs with modified value
Decreasing CATProduct Load Time to Enhance Performanc (2 of 2)
The document search order found under Linked Document Localization can hurt performance as well as loading out of date parts
Reducing memory usage to enhance Large Assy/Drafting performance (1 of 2)
Turn OFF all Automatic Updates
Use Approximate View Generation for Large Installation Layouts ONLY Turn OFF Exact preview and Turn ON Enable occlusion culling
Reducing memory usage to enhance Large Assy/Drafting performance (1 of 2)
Set Undo Stack size to LOWER value
Corrupt CATSettings will hurt CATIA V5 performance • Having CATIA V5 problems? Try going back to the defaults! • When users customize CATSettings, they can inadvertently cause
adverse CATIA V5 performance • It is critical for users to understand how to save their customized
CATSettings and restore default ADMIN CATSettings LM Aero Startup has ability to remove users CATSettings
In CATIA V5, user can reset defaults from Tools->Options panel
Some Lessons Learned by the LM Aero CATSettings ADMIN • Don’t forget about the hierarchy of CATSettings: Dassault “hard coded” defaults superseded by ADMIN superseded by user settings • CATSettings are release specific and could lead to performance issues in future releases • The CATBatGenXMLSet and CATBatImpXMLSet utilities may not completely migrate CATSettings to new releases, but they have value! • Beware workbench flags that may override user and ADMIN settings • It is critical that a CATSettings ADMIN control and manage some of the CATSettings attribute values to help users perform tasks efficiently in CATIA V5
Detail Information
Overview(1 of 4): CATIA V5 CATSettings Hierarchy •
CATIA V5 uses a “hierarchical concatenation mechanism” to define the directory paths to CATSettings files that store customized attribute values •
CATSettings files store attribute values customized during session of CATIA V5. •
•
The CATReferenceSettingPath and CATUserSettingPath CATIA V5 Environment variables define the location of customized CATSettings files • • • •
•
CATSettings are stored when user accesses Tools->Options panel or when they set default paths and data when using any of workbenches or CATIA V5 functions.
These variables are set in the CATIA V5 Environment “Start” file and define location of customized CATSettings files CATReferenceSettingPath variable is used to set the ADMIN level customized CATSettings directory paths CATUserSettingPath variable is used to set the user’s customized CATSettings directory path At LM Aero, we use an in-house developed Startup application to customize the CATIA V5 Environment “Start” file with LM Aero CATIA V5 environment paths based on user’s choice of Site, Program ,CATIA V5 Release, License/Discipline, and 3rd Party Application choice prior to CATIA start
A single CATSettings file contains MULTIPLE attribute values.
LM Aero Startup creates CATIA V5 Environment file and starts CATIA session
CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\ \ Apps\Catia\ \ prod \CATSettings\ CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\Is\ Is Apps\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\LMAeroBase; P:\ \ prod \CATSettings\ P:\Is\ Is\ Apps\ Apps\Catia\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\F35; P:\ \ prod \lmapps\ P:\Is\ Is\ Apps\ Apps\Catia\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod lmapps\CATSettings; P:\ \ prod \CATSettings\ P:\Is\ Is\ Apps\ Apps\Catia\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\cmi CATUserSettingPath=U:\ CATUserSettingPath=U:\catv5 \v5r16 \CATSettings
Overview(2 of 4): CATIA V5 CATSettings Hierarchy •
How does Hierarchical concatenation work? Dependent on list of paths defined… •
1st level : Dassault “Hard Coded” Defaults which are superseded by any customized attribute value defined in Start file •
•
One BIG PROBLEM for LM Aero: The default settings units are metric, not English units. There is NO WAY to permanently alter the Dassault default values and if customized attribute value is not found, metric will be used.
2nd thru N levels: ADMIN Paths set to define location of customized CATSettings files • CATSettings values defined at the N level supersede N-1 level, N-1 supersede N-
2…1st level unless LOCKED at any previous level
•
•
CATSettings values defined at the N level supersede N-1 level, N-1 supersedes N-2…etc
Last level: User CATSettings found in CATUserSettingPath directory location supersede all ADMIN level CATSettings values UNLESS LOCKED in ADMIN CATSettings
Example: hoices Example: Paths Paths defined defined based based on on Program, Program, 3rd 3rd party party application application c choices CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\ \ Apps\Catia\ \ prod \CATSettings\ CATReferenceSettingPath=P:\Is\ Is Apps\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\LMAeroBase; P:\ \ Apps\Catia\ \ prod \CATSettings\ P:\Is\ Is Apps\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\F35; P:\ \ Apps\Catia\ \ prod \lmapps\ P:\Is\ Is Apps\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod lmapps\CATSettings; P:\ \ Apps\Catia\ \ prod \CATSettings\ P:\Is\ Is Apps\ Catia\LM \v5r16 prod CATSettings\cmi CATUserSettingPath=U:\ CATUserSettingPath=U:\catv5 \v5r16 \CATSettings
Overview(3 of 4): LM Aero Strategy for Customizing LM Aero ADMIN CATSettings •
The flexibility of customizing CATIA V5 via the CATSettings attribute values drives the creation of many ADMIN paths for a variety of users tasks • •
Our CATIA V5 CATSettings are customized based on Site, Program, CATIA V5 Release, License/Discipline, and 3rd Party Application choice We have created over 200 customized CATSettings files •
We found for our common usage of the CATIA V5 application, which includes “standard” CATIA V5 functionality (Part Design, Assembly Design, Generative Shape Design, Drafting), as well as DELMIA, NC Programming, Tubing and Digital Mockup Navigator, we have created over 200 customized CATSettings files.
200 files x avg 5 attributes per file customized = 1000 customized attributes!
•
The avg 5 attributes per file is a ROM as some files , like cke.CATSettings have 80+ customized attributes
CATSettings directories FOR PROD MODE
Overview(3 of 4): LM Aero Strategy for Customizing CATSettings •
To ensure that users meet key company design practices and industry standards, WE MUST CONTROL AND MANAGE OUR CATSETTINGS CATIA V5 at LM Aero is started via our CAD V5 Startup application to control the CATIA V5 Environment and CATSettings paths our users use to do their tasks • Only key attributes to meet our standards are managed to ensure the fidelity of the user’s CATIA V5 session and of the products they produce •
The LM Aero CATIA V5 CATSettings ADMINs are solely responsible for maintaining and modifying the CATIA V5 CATSettings across the company
How do we make changes to our CATIA V5 CATSettings? The LM Aero way… (1 of 3) • Step 1: The Requests Roll in..and need to be Documented! • Types of change requests • Emergency requests: These requests are to be implemented as soon as possible in support of production users • CATIA V5 Domain/Discipline Subject Matter Expert (SME) requests: These requests are made for unique Domain/Disciplines (ie – Electrical, NC, Tubing, etc) Workbenches • Program approved requests: These requests are made by program users or CAD Development & Support group on behalf of the program • Personal preference requests are flushed out
• Groups of CATSettings attribute changes are gathered together
(except for Emergency changes) and rolled when convenient
How do we make changes to our CATIA V5 CATSettings? The LM Aero way… (2 of 3) •
Step 2: LM Aero CATSettings ADMIN stages changes in LM Aero TEST CATIA V5 Environment •
Changes to the CATSettings are staged in our TEST environment for testing and evaluation prior to production turnover •
•
•
And the Fun part…figuring out the .CATSettings file that contains the change you made! • •
•
Running CATIA V5 in ADMIN mode and making CATSettings changes has been automated and tailored via our CAD V5 Startup application We prefer to start and use an ADMIN session of CATIA V5 rather than the CATOptionsMgt.exe
The ADMIN attribute changes you make with the Tools->Options panel are stored in one of the .CATSettings files One thing to note: multiple attribute changes on one Tools->Options panel may create multiple .CATSettings files updates to track • For example, the panel shown creates the following .CATSettings files when the OK button is • CATAutoLogoff • CATMemWarning • Conferencing • WarmStart
Administratively Locked
The CATIA V5 CATSettings ADMIN documents changes made in TEST •
A PowerPoint document of images that show the “NEW” and “OLD” CATSettings attribute values works well for communication.
Not Locked
The Big Game-migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (1 of 5) •
We experienced issues when using CATIA V5R12 version of CATSettings with CATIA V5R14 • • •
Use of CATIA V5R12 VisualizationRepository.CATSettings ADMIN file doubled the time to generate CGRs (6 min to 12 min) Use of CATIA V5R12 version of cke.CATSettings ADMIN file resulted in user not being able to change units of measure For details, contact Laura Boyle for presentation given at NTXCOE RUG November 11, 2005
CATSettings files are not upwardly compatible from earlier releases
•
IBM/Dassault recommended using 2 applications within basic CATIA V5 install to migrate our CATSettings •
CATBatGenXMLSet exports .CATSettings file to .XML CATSettings file format •
•
CATBatImpXMLSet imports .XML CATSetting file format to .CATSettings file •
•
Create XML files of CATSettings files using earlier CATIA Release(e.g. - v5r17)
Create .CATSettings files from XML files using later CATIA Release (e.g. – v5r18)
Per CATIA V5R18 Help Documentation, the following files can not be exported or imported via these utilities • •
FrameConfig.CATSettings –actually does get migrated successfully FrameGeneral.CATSettings –actually does get migrated successfully DLNames.CATSettings (should use CATSysDLExport tool).
The Big Game-migrating CATSettings for a new release of CATIA V5 (2 of 5) •
What happened when LM Aero ADMIN used the migrate tools? (CATIA V5R17 to CATIA V5R18 migration) •
Started with the COMMON LM Aero ADMIN Settings (used by all users) = 114 .CATSettings files • • •
•
Created simple MS DOS Scripts to run the CATBatGenXMLSet and CATBatImpXMLSet utilities on directory of files CATBatGenXMLSet Errors -> Setting “X” is Empty errors on 2 files (CATProduct.CATSettings and VRCommands.CATSettings) CATBatImpXMLSet Errors->None reported from utility and all 114 CATSettings files created
During verification of the migrated CATSettings, found some attributes values that did not get migrated correctly •
First signs of invalid migration discovered in the form of missing locks when looking at the V5R17ToV5R18 file in interactive session Tools->Options panel vs. the V5R17 file interactive session Tools->Options panel . • •
•
•
15 Locks missing out of 90 total locked attributes (same results for CATIA V5R16 To CATIA V5R17) Locks missing were on Dassault default attribute values
SymbolicLinks “Other Folders” customized values were not migrated
Used V5R17 To V5R18 migrated CATSettings files to test generation of XML files for future migrations • We created XMLs of the migrated files and got Set “X” is Empty Errors on 24 files (including CATProduct and VRCommands file) • Upon examination of V5R17 To V5R18 CATSettings in XML format, we found that only the customized attribute values were exported to XML files
