Cache Management  

 

   
  Using a cache system considerably reduces the time required to load your data. For more information on working with a cache system, see About Working with a Cache System.  
A DMU Navigator document must be opened.  
It is imperative that any directory designated for use as a cache directory be reserved for this usage only, i.e. you should not manually save any other files in this directory. (When necessary, the Check Maximum Size option purges the least-recently-accessed files in order to maintain the cache smaller than the designated Maximum size. As a result, any files that you manually save to this directory could eventually be purged.)
 		  
It is strongly recommended that any files you wish to delete from the cache be deleted using the Cache Content command. See the DMU Navigator User's Guide, User Tasks, Setting Up Your Session, Managing Cache Content. The integrity of cache data and the cache functionality will not be guaranteed if the cache content is manipulated outside of the CATIA, ENOVIA or DELMIA user interface.
 		  

The released cache and timestamp features both require one of the following DMU licenses:
 

  • DMU Navigator P1 P2 or P3
  • N35.prd
  • WVR.prd
  • PVR.prd

If you activate the cache using a VB macro, you will not receive a message reminding you to re-launch your session. You must, however, re-launch your session.
 

  
When you are working in Cache mode, a .model or .CATPart is converted to a .cgr format. You can convert the .cgr to a .model or .CATPart format using the Design Mode command. See the task Design Mode in the Product Structure user guide.  
 

The Cache Management settings page concerns the following settings categories:

 

Cache Activation

   
  Work with the cache system  
  To activate the cache, check the Work with the cache system checkbox.
Note: You must re-start the application in order that the cache activation be taken into account.

By default, this option is unchecked.

  
 

 Cache Location

 

 

  
Cache Location

New features have been added to the Cache Management that render the configuration of the local and released caches easier. The new features are:

  • Local cache - a history of the last five defined paths 
  • Released cache - a configuration panel that enables you to:
  • select directories from a list of "accessible" directories that have been pre-defined by the administrator 
  • reorder the directories list
  • remove entries from the directories list

Note that it is possible to use environment variables to define a local cache or a released cache:

  • the variable should be defined (using the set command on Windows or the export command on UNIX) in the script file used to launch the executable file of the interactive application 
  • the variable must be correctly valuated to an existing directory
  • the entry in the local cache or released cache text-entry field should be of the form ${variable_name} 
  
  Path to the local cache  
  To define a local cache directory, enter the name of the directory in the Path to the local cache text-entry field or click the Path to the local cache selection button and select an entry from the proposed history list.

By default, this variable is valuated to
        Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\userid\Local Settings\Application Data\Dassault Systemes\CATCache
        UNIX: $HOME/CATCache

 

  
  Path to the released cache  
  To define a released cache directory, enter the name of the directory in the Path to the released cache text-entry field or invoke the released cache configuration panel by clicking the Path to the released cache Configure button. 
 

By default, this variable will be a list of the released caches that have been defined by your administrator.

 

  
  Configure  
  Click the Path to the released cache Configure button. 
The Configuration dialog box appears.

To add one of the Accessible Directories to the list of Current Directories, select the entry in the Accessible Directories list and click the Right-arrow icon  .
The entry is added to the Current Directories list.

Note: The list of directories in the Accessible Directories list is defined by the administrator as follows:

  • define a .txt file of which each line contains the path to a directory that will 
    appear in the list of accessible directories
  • set and export an environment variable AVAILABLE_CACHE_DIR_PATH 
    that points to the above .txt file
  • the administrator can, of course, manage the access rights to the above-defined directories so as to restrict their access to groups of users or specific users

To move one of the entries in the Current Directories list to a higher place in the list (remember that released cache directories are searched in the order in which you see them displayed), select the entry in the Current Directories list and click the Up-arrow icon .
The entry is moved up in the list. 

To delete an entry from the Current Directories list, select the entry in the Current Directories list and click the Delete button.

To enter the paths identifying the cache locations, click the Browse icon . The Browse enables you to locate the file you want. The user can enter the path to his own local cache location, and if permitted by the site administrator, one or more paths to released cache locations.

The default directory is the user's home directory under UNIX and the USERPROFILE directory under Windows.

 
 

Cache Size

   
  Check maximum size  
  (Optional) Set the maximum size for local cache option.

Check this option to activate the verification that the maximum size of the local cache has not been exceeded.

By default, this option is unchecked.

  
  Maximum size  
  Set the maximum size for the local cache.

When a file needs to be tessellated and the maximum size is exceeded, a sufficient number of .cgr files are deleted, on a least-recently-used basis, in order to make place for the .cgr file that needs to be calculated. A warning message will appear in the Incident Report.
 

  
When inserting a component, the maximum size is checked before tessellation of the component to be inserted. Therefore, it can occur that the cache size becomes greater than the maximum size specified in the setting.
 		  
  By default, the maximum size is 500 MB.  
 

Timestamp

   
  Check timestamps  
  (Optional) Set the Check timestamp option:

The timestamp option serves to check whether or not tessellated cgr files are up-to-date.

If activated, the system checks the original document's date against that of the corresponding cgr file, and if older, tessellates the document again, overwriting the out-of-date version. If dates are the same, no tessellation is done and the cgr file in the data cache is loaded.
Turning this option off means that no check is run and cgr files in the cache are systematically loaded.

  
  By default, this option is checked.  
  GMT timestamp format  
  Until now, the cache timestamp has been based on local time. This can lead to unwanted re-tessellations if you are sharing data between sites located in different time zones.

It is now possible to base your cache on GMT time.

The following are the rules for implementing your cache based on GMT time:

  • a batch job will permit you to migrate old caches to GMT time-based caches
  • once a cache is migrated to or designated as GMT time-based, you can never go back to a local time-based cache
  • ALL caches (local cache and released caches) must be of the same format

To migrate an old cache, use the following command:

CATSysMvCache -o UTC -inputdir input_directory -log file.txt [-outputdir output_directory]

If outputdir is not set, the cache specified in inputdir and the documents it contains are converted to GMT format.

Once a cache has been migrated to GMT time-based, it is no longer compatible with previous releases of ENOVIA DMU or CATIA (i.e. a migrated cache cannot be used in V5R11 or below).

 

To designate all caches specified in Cache Location as GMT time-based, check the GMT timestamp format checkbox.

Note: When the GMT timestamp format option is activated:

  • all new caches will be based on GMT time
  • all specified caches must have been updated using the provided batch job

If any of the caches specified do not conform to the rule that all caches must be of the same format, an error message will appear.

  
  By default, this option is unchecked.