Editing Locked Teamcenter Attributes in NX

When NX is connected to Teamcenter and data is being managed, there are some file attributes that are crated and controlled by Teamcenter exclusively. These attributes appear in the NX with a Lock and a small Teamcenter Icon next to them. Sometimes it is required that those attributes need to be changed while in an NX session and not in Active Workspace or the Rich Client. This Blog will guide users on how some of these attributes can be made editable with changes made in the Teamcenter Mapping file.

• Review attributes in NX
• Review the Teamcenter Mapping File
  • Export attribute mapping file
  • Make changes to allow edits to attributes in NX
  • Import file into Teamcenter
• Edit Preference in Teamcenter
• Review the changes in NX

Procedure

In this example we will be focusing on a couple of attributes that belong to the Item and that are locked when you view them in NX: Description, Name and Item Revision Name (not shown).

Review attributes in NX

• Open NX with a connection back to Teamcenter
• Create / Open an existing part file
  • Once loaded go to the properties of the part file and notice that some of them are read-only and have a “Padlock” Icon. The Teamcenter attributes also have a small “Teamcenter” Icon in the Database Attribute column
  • Our example will focus on a couple of the Database Attributes and make them editable in NX

• With these being Database Attributes, we need to download and make some changes to the Teamcenter Attribute Mapping File. This file contains the mappings from your integration to Teamcenter. These are first automatically created during the Teamcenter installation. For this step, users will need to
  • Close all NX sessions
  • Connect to the Teamcenter Application Server as the Teamcenter Administrator
• Open an elevated Teamcenter Command Prompt

• You should see TC_ROOT and TC_DATA values set

Export attribute mapping file

• Enter the following command to download the TC attribute file:
  • export_attr_mappings -u=<DBA_USER> -p=<DBA_USER_PW> -file=C:\temp\export_attr.txt
• for the -u (user) you will need have a user with dba access, and -p=(Password) for that account
• When the command is competed, a new file will be added to the location specified in -file=
  • Leave the TC Command Prompt open, we will come back to it later

• Open the file in your txt editing software – I use Notepad++
  • Do a Save-As – and name it import_attr.txt (same location)

Make changes to allow edits to attributes in NX

• Scroll down to the UGMASTER entries (or search for UGMASTER)
  • There you will see a couple of the Database Attributes

• I made the following changes=
  • Lines 475 and 476 – I removed the “/write_once” argument
  • Added line 477 – “Item_Rev_Name” : ItemRevision.object_name /description=”Item Revision Name” This will allow me to edit the Item Name, Item Description and Item Revision Name in NX

• Save the file (import_attr.txt)

Import file intro Teamcenter

• Go back to the open TC Command Prompt and you will enter the following command to import the new changes:
  • import_attr_mappings – u=<DBA_USER> -p=<DBA_USER_PW> -file=C:\temp\import_attr.txt
  • for the -u (user) you will need have a user with dba access, and -p=(Password) for that account
  • The new mappings will be saved to the TC database

Edit preference in Teamcenter

• Launch the Teamcenter Rich Client and log in as a DBA
  • Edit → Options then click on the Search at the bottom of the dialog box

• Search for this preference:
  • TC_NX_allow_attrsync_master_with_item
  • Edit the Value and change it to: Yes
  • Save the changes
  • Close the Options dialog box when complete

Review the changes in NX

• From the RAC (Rich Client) switch back to a general author role or log out and back in as a regular author
• Launch NX and open a part file (from step 1)
• Go to the NX properties and review the attributes–
  • Notice that the once locked attributes now are editable and have a “Disk” icon
  • Check out the part and make some changes to the attributes, save the part and check it back into Teamcenter

• You will notice the name change in the navigator

• Open the RAC (Or Active Workspace) and notice the changes there