Extension Manager

The Extension Manager is the primary tool for deploying and undeploying Windchill Extensions.

The access to it is found in the Quick Links menu, and it will only be visible to site administrators or users in the Wex Admin group.

Adding and Removing Windchill Extensions

Terminology is important. To deploy an extension is the process of taking an extension from an external file and adding it to a Windchill system. Clearly, to undeploy is the reverse process and will remove all the files that were deployed. The concept of install is different, this is the injection of touch points into the system, finally there is the load process which triggers the kernel to load the extension code so this it is available to Windchill.

When adding an extension into the system, the platform performs these steps in order:

deploy > install > load

While when removing one, the process is reversed:

unload > uninstall > undeploy

Downloading an Extension or the WEX Platform

All Windchill Extension-related downloads, including the Extension Manager (which also receives the name of WEX Platform or simply the platform) are handled through the Windchill Extension Center.

You can log into it using your PTC account and download the desired extension from the page. Ensure you select the correct version of Windchill before hitting "Download":

Installing a New Platform on Your Windchill System

The platform can also be downloaded through the Windchill Extension Center.

There are options to install, upgrade or update.

Note that the platform is delivered OOTB with any version of Windchill posterior to 12.0.x (included).

Installing a Windchill Extension

Extensions can be installed in the system using the Windchill Extension Manager; the procedure can be found in this article.

They may also be installed by placing the .wex or .wexb file in the deploy area on the server: The next time the server restarts, it will deploy the extensions from this location.

Note: The extension will only be installed if it is not currently present in the system, if it is a later version than the currently installed or a later beta.

Touch Points

When an extension is deployed, all the files are placed in the WEX folder, but all files in the Windchill folder are copied into the Windchill home. In addition the deployer will read the definition.xml file and alter various Windchill files to inject entries and alter these files. A typical case is the addition of menus which require alteration of the Windchill actions model files.

Remove a Windchill Extension

All extensions, except system ones, may be removed from the system using the Extension Manager.

Undeploying is the reverse process of deployment, meaning all touch points are removed and all files are removed, including those copied to the Windchill area. The end result is that no files from the extension remain in Windchill: it is impossible to know the extension was ever installed. If the extension during its operation added information in the database, this will not be removed. For example, extensions store there configuration in the site folder and this is not altered, meaning if the extension is redeployed it will be restored with its previous configuration.

The system administrator may delete these files manually. If a file is removed whilst the extension is installed it will not harm the system but it might result in the loss of some information, such as logs or configuration.

Security and Signing

Every extension is signed for use by a specific client. If any file, in the wex/packages folder is altered then the digital signature will become invalid and the extension will no longer be loaded by the kernel and will not function. This also applies for an unsigned extension. non-development server.

An error will be added in the Method Server log.

The extension must be removed and re-deployed to correct this error.

Managing Windchill Extensions in a Clustered Server

Extensions must be installed in each node in a cluster; the administration of this is described here.

System Extensions

The system has the following extension preinstalled, which control the operation of the system. They can be upgraded, but cannot be deleted.

Shell

The shell is a command console that runs as an application connected to Windchill. It allows an administrator to interrogate the running kernel on a server.

The typical operations that can be done through it include:

• Deploy/undeploy extensions
• Turn on logging
• Run diagnostics

Extensions may add new shell commands.

Starting the Shell

In order to start the shell, execute the following command:

windchill com.wincomplm.wex.kernel.commands.WexCommandLineExecutor -u wcadmin -p xxxx -pid com.wincomplm.wex-system -cid shell

The shell must be run as an admin user. All modification to load and unload extensions require full admin rights.

Deploying Windchill Extensions Using the Shell

A manual deploy can be done using the dp command: the wex or wexb packages must be placed in the wex/deploy area first and then the command will install the packages on this node.