groovy: scripting PDMlink

In this post I’ll explore how groovy may be used to script Windchill PDMlink.

Setting up the classpath

To have acces sto the PDMlink libraries, I’ll add a locally mounted codebase directory to the $CLASSPATH:

    $ echo $WT_HOME
    /Volumes/settr-vm-ptc/Windchill
    $ wtclasspath
    export CLASSPATH=:/Volumes/settr-vm-ptc/Windchill/codebas...
    $ $(wtclasspath)

The wtclasspathscript looks like this:

#!/bin/bash

function setup_classpath()
{
	for jar in $(find $WT_HOME/codebase/WEB-INF -name "*.jar"); do
		cp=$cp:$jar
	done
}

setup_classpath

echo "export CLASSPATH=$cp:$WT_HOME/codebase"

Logging In

To log in, we need to fetch the RemoteMethodServer and set username and password:

import wt.method.RemoteMethodServer

ms = RemoteMethodServer.getDefault()
ms.setUserName("orgadmin")
ms.setPassword("orgadmin")

After this, we’re able to use the windchill API.

Fetching PDMlink Business Objects by Reference

Fetching a business object using it’s Object Reference String translates also quite well to groovy:

import wt.method.RemoteMethodServer
import com.ptc.wvs.server.util.PublishUtils


def login(args) {
    ms = RemoteMethodServer.getDefault()
    ms.setUserName(args.user)
    ms.setPassword(args.password)
    
    return ms
}

def getObjectFromOR = { oid ->
    PublishUtils.getObjectFromRef(oid)
}

def getORFromObject = { obj ->
    PublishUtils.getRefFromObject(obj)    
}

// log in
login(user: "orgadmin", password: "orgadmin")

// fetch a object by using a OR
def oid = "VR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:8483330"
def doc = getObjectFromOR(oid)

// We're able to access the properties of the EPMDocument
println "${doc.displayIdentifier} [${doc.state} ${doc.type}] ${getORFromObject(doc)}"

// for the "inspact last" feature of groovyConsole 
return doc 

Running this script is easy:

    $ groovy -cp $CLASSPATH wt_docinfo.groovy
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.17 [RELEASED CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:112511174

But this is all quite basic, and not using the groovy language features very much at all.

Fetching all iterations of an object

Now we’re going to use the VersionControlHelper service to fetch all iterations of an object and print some information. Please note how groovy makes it easy to traverse collections using each and a closure. Also note the import ... as ...:

import wt.method.RemoteMethodServer
import com.ptc.wvs.server.util.PublishUtils
import wt.vc.VersionControlHelper as VCH

def login(args) {
    ms = RemoteMethodServer.getDefault()
    ms.setUserName(args.user)
    ms.setPassword(args.password)
    
    return ms
}

def getObjectFromOR(oid) {
    PublishUtils.getObjectFromRef(oid)
}

def getORFromObject(obj) {
    PublishUtils.getRefFromObject(obj)    
}

def info(doc) {
    "${doc.displayIdentifier} [${doc.state} ${doc.type}] ${getORFromObject(doc)}"    
}

// log in
login(user: "orgadmin", password: "orgadmin")

// fetch a object by using a OR
def oid = "VR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:8483330"
def doc = getObjectFromOR(oid)

VCH.service.allIterationsOf(doc.master).each { obj ->
    println info(obj)
}

The output:

    $ groovy -cp $CLASSPATH wt_iterations.groovy
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.17 [RELEASED CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:112511174
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.16 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:105876837
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.15 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:95189959
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.14 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:86656605
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.13 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:67720806
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.12 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:57847775
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.11 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:46825566
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.10 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:44606524
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.9 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:39832260
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.8 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:31441018
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.7 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:31417993
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.6 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:30833875
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.5 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:28909290
    k06__core-coil_cc0000000.asm, -.4 [INWORK CAD-Dokument] OR:wt.epm.EPMDocument:11014342

Cool, eh? The code almost looks like coffee script to me!

Using the GroovyConsole and the Object Browser

I’m no big fan of using heavy UIs when programming – I’m a avid user of MacVIM after all – but being able to explore live-objects sounded at least interesting to me.

So, I fired up the groovyConsole:

    $ groovyConsole -cp $CLASSPATH wt_docinfo.groovy 

Conclusion

The experiments so far have been promising. What I want to explore further is:

• runtime performance compared to jython
• importing groovy classes in java (should be a no-brainer)
• creating a servlet using groovy, using Groovy Server Pages
• all of the above together in the Windchill context
• doing a side-by-side comparsion of jython and groovy code