what is the basic difference between a product and component in catia?
Most of the time in catia we use product to create assemblies but when we can use component?
the basic difference is that a product is saved as one file.
A component will not save as a file, it will save in the father product file.
A product defines an assembly, a component could define an assembly but could also be used to hold geometric representation such as cgr, stl... (with the right click option manage representation)
All that should be explained in documentation or during proper training.
Eric N. indocti discant et ament meminisse periti
Also
-Components are used by CATIA when we insert a part to an assembly. The part is automatically wrapped in a component. This type of component (also called PartProduct)is special because it has only one child.
-Components are used to insert in an assembly parts with no graphics representation like paint, insulation, oil, grease, tools and jigs required for the assembly and everything else we need to appear in our eBOM.
I thin Gelfs is more of an internal process for his company more than the actual intent of using component assemblies.
The intent is to create an assembly without actually creating a file for it. an example : you could create a CatProduct that containt a nut, a bolt and 2 washers. It would simplify instantiating these elements but there is no added value in having a file for such an assembly. So instead you would use a component assembly.
Further more, If you use ENOVIA, component assembly enable you to manage the children of an assembly without opening the whole assembly. try looking for threads on Blackbox vs Exposed structure for more details.
Visual Description
If we insert the part Gear200 into the product GearBox the specification tree will be as follows:
[Icon1] GearBox
|
+ [Icon2] Gear200(Gear200.1)
|
+ [Icon3] Gear200
.
.
where
[Icon1] is the white page with blue and yellow gears icon, ie the CATIAProduct icon
[Icon3] is the white page with a single yellow gear icon, ie the CATIAPart icon
[Icon2] is the white page with blue and yellow gears and an axis system icon, ie the PartProduct icon
The second line, in the above tree, is an artificial product inserted automatically by CATIA. To this artificial product is linked the Gear200 part.
This means that CATIA wrapped the part Gear200 with the component Gear200 (ie with the same name)
Programmatical description
An object of class ProductDocument is a collection of objects of class Product. So, there is no problem to add to this collection any object of class Product. When we add to this collection an object of class Part, CATIA creates a special object of class PartProduct (the part wrapper) and this is what is added to the collection.
