The Basics of

CATIA V5
Relational Design

Terry Moore
February 18, 2005
 Definitions
Relational Design: Management of contextual
links in CATIA V5
Contextual Link: A parent/child relationship
between a reference and an instance in the
context of a CATProduct
Reference: Geometrical definition that is loaded
into memory when a V5 session is opened (has
a file location)
Instance: Geometrical representation of a
reference
Publication: A portal that exposes an element
or parameter to the user community

2/23/2005
Slide 2
 Relational Design and Enovia
Creating contextual links in a file based system
or in Enovia is a manual process
¬ Enovia will not create contextual links, it only
manages them

A CATIA V5 document model only knows the

parent model of it’s link
¬ Enovia will manage the links of both the child
and parent documents

The management of contextual links is a V5

best practices issue, not an Enovia issue

2/23/2005
Slide 3
 Relational Design and Enovia
If the V5 contextual links are not
created correctly, the product
structure may not work in Enovia.

2/23/2005
Slide 4
 Relational Design Best Practices
Only link to published
elements or published
parameters
Published
element

Contextual link carries the

instance name and the
published element name

New element created from

the published element
2/23/2005
Slide 5
 Relational Design Best Practices
Tooling Interface Model will link
to Engineering publications

Create links to skeleton

models, or Interface
Control Models (ICM’s),
with published elements

All tool CATParts will

link to publications in
the Tooling Interface
Model
2/23/2005
Slide 6
 Relational Design Best Practices
Avoid using CCP links

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Slide 7
 Relational Design Best Practices

Avoid creating non-ICM,

part-to-part contextual links

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Slide 8
 Relational Design Management
A CATProduct stores the instance name,
position matrix, and assembly constraints

2/23/2005
Slide 9
 Relational Design Management
A CATProduct stores the instance name,
position matrix, and assembly constraints
Each CATPart/CATProduct file should have a
Unique Universal Identifier (UUID)
¬ Use “File > New from” to create similar parts

2/23/2005
Slide 10
 Relational Design Management
è A contextual link is defined by an instance
name and a publication name

Instance name

Publication name

Contextual link name

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Slide 11
 Relational Design Management
è Contextual links can be synchronized using the
contextual menu

Unsynchronized
contextual link Synchronized
contextual link

2/23/2005
Slide 12
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A yellow gear means the product has no
contextual links
A green gear with a blue chain means the
product has contextual links, and it is in the
context the link was created
A white gear with a green arrow means the
product has contextual links and is in the local
context, but not in the overall context the link
was created
A brown gear with a red lightning bolt means
the product has contextual links, but it is not in
the context the link was created
2/23/2005
Slide 13
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A yellow gear means the product has no
contextual links
A green gear with a blue chain means the
product has contextual links, and it is in the
context the link was created
A white gear with a green arrow means the
product has contextual links and is in the local
context, but not in the overall context the link
was created
A brown gear with a red lightning bolt means
the product has contextual links, but it is not in
the context the link was created
2/23/2005
Slide 14
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A yellow gear means the product has no
contextual links
A green gear with a blue chain means the
product has contextual links, and it is in the
context the link was created
A white gear with a green arrow means the
product has contextual links and is in the local
context, but not in the overall context the link
was created
A brown gear with a red lightning bolt means
the product has contextual links, but it is not in
the context the link was created
2/23/2005
Slide 15
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A yellow gear means the product has no
contextual links
A green gear with a blue chain means the
product has contextual links, and it is in the
context the link was created
A white gear with a green arrow means the
product has contextual links and is in the local
context, but not in the overall context the link
was created
A brown gear with a red lightning bolt means
the product has contextual links, but it is not in
the context the link was created
2/23/2005
Slide 16
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A green “P” means the contextual link points to a
published element and is synchronized
A “P” with a yellow circle means the contextual link
points to a published element, but is not synchronized
A green diamond means the contextual link points to a
non-published element (Not robust)
A red capacitor means the contextual link is not
synchronized
– The publication has been deleted, or its name has been
changed
– The CATPart containing the publication is not opened, or its
instance name has been changed
A red question mark means the non-contextual link is
pointed to a document that isn’t loaded

2/23/2005
Slide 17
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A green “P” means the contextual link points to a
published element and is synchronized
A “P” with a yellow circle means the contextual link
points to a published element, but is not synchronized
A green diamond means the contextual link points to a
non-published element (Not robust)
A red capacitor means the contextual link is not
synchronized
– The publication has been deleted, or its name has been
changed
– The CATPart containing the publication is not opened, or its
instance name has been changed
A red question mark means the non-contextual link is
pointed to a document that isn’t loaded

2/23/2005
Slide 18
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A green “P” means the contextual link points to a
published element and is synchronized
A “P” with a yellow circle means the contextual link
points to a published element, but is not synchronized
A green diamond means the contextual link points to a
non-published element (Not robust)
A red capacitor means the contextual link is not
synchronized
– The publication has been deleted, or its name has been
changed
– The CATPart containing the publication is not opened, or its
instance name has been changed
A red question mark means the non-contextual link is
pointed to a document that isn’t loaded

2/23/2005
Slide 19
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A green “P” means the contextual link points to a
published element and is synchronized
A “P” with a yellow circle means the contextual link
points to a published element, but is not synchronized
A green diamond means the contextual link points to a
non-published element (Not robust)
A red capacitor means the contextual link is not
synchronized
– The publication has been deleted, or its name has been
changed
– The CATPart containing the publication is not opened, or its
instance name has been changed
A red question mark means the non-contextual link is
pointed to a document that isn’t loaded

2/23/2005
Slide 20
 CATIA V5 Icon Displays
A green “P” means the contextual link points to a
published element and is synchronized
A “P” with a yellow circle means the contextual link
points to a published element, but is not synchronized
A green diamond means the contextual link points to a
non-published element (Not robust)
A red capacitor means the contextual link is not
synchronized
– The publication has been deleted, or its name has been
changed
– The CATPart containing the publication is not opened, or its
instance name has been changed
A red question mark means the non-contextual link is
pointed to a document that isn’t loaded

2/23/2005
Slide 21
Questions?