Exploring Usage and Comparing Items

The Product Engineering application features the Where Used and Structure browsers to explore and compare items and their structures.

In this section, the term Item means an item of explorable ItemTypes: Parts, Manufacturers, Manufacturer Parts, Vendors, Documents, and CAD Documents. Examples shown on Parts are generic and applicable to other Items. However, detailed information on an Item depends on its type. The appropriate subsections of ItemTypes provide additional information or features for explorations specific to these ItemTypes.

The Where Used browser shows upside-down trees of the Item and corresponding hierarchies where the given item is on the top with its Parents under, if any, and each branch represents a separate usage of the given Item including associated and related Items. There are also separate branches for single versions of each Item.

To access the Where Used browser for an Item, use one of the following methods:

Go to the Item Search Grid Page, right-click the Item, and then click Navigate → Where Used.

Open the Item, click Navigate on the Item toolbar, and then click Where Used in the drop-down menu.

When you access the Where Used browser, it appears as a new Aras Innovator view.

To quit the Where Used Browser, close its view in Aras Innovator.

To compare side-by-side complex multi-level hierarchies of Items, Aras Innovator offers the Structure Browser. You can also use it to explore the usage of a single Item.

There are several ways to access the Structure Browser:

• Go the Item Search Grid Page, right-click an Item to be compared, and then click Navigate → Structure Browser.



• Open the view of an Item to be compared. Click Navigate on the Item toolbar, and then click Structure Browser.



When you access the Structure Browser, it appears as a new Aras Innovator view showing the Item hierarchy tree where you can see the Number and Revision for each Item.



In addition to the standard tree navigation features, the following buttons are available in the Structure Browser toolbar:

• Expand All, which opens the whole hierarchy tree.



• Collapse All, which closes the whole hierarchy tree.

To quit the Structure Browser, close its view.

Use the following procedure to compare the current version of an Item with an older one:

1. Click Side-by-side with other Version on the Structure Browser toolbar.



The Item versions dialog appears.



2. Double-click the version to be compared. The hierarchy tree of the selected Item version appears on the right side of the Structure Browser, and the Highlight button becomes available on the Structure Browser toolbar.



3. Click Highlight on the Structure Browser toolbar.



The trees open. Differences are highlighted.



• Black means that both Item versions use the same version of this Item.
• Red means that both Item versions have different versions of this Item.
• Blue means that this Item does not exist in the opposite Item version.
4. If it is necessary to view detailed information on an Item version, double-click the Item to open its view.

To compare the hierarchies of two different CAD Documents:

1. Click Side-by-Side with other ItemType in the Structure Browser toolbar. The Search dialog appears.



2. Using the standard search procedure, search for and select the Item to be compared. The tree of the selected Item hierarchy appears on the right side of the Structure Browser, and the Highlight button becomes available on the Structure Browser toolbar.



3. Click Highlight in the Structure Browser toolbar. The trees appear with differences highlighted.



• Black means that both Item hierarchies use the same version of this Item.
• Red means that both Item hierarchies have different versions of this Item.
• Blue means that this Item does not exist in the opposite Item hierarchy.
4. If it is necessary to view detailed information on an Item, double-click the Item to open its view.