There's a new PDM tab in town!

It has been a while since we PDM Pro API guys have had anything new to cheer about during the What’s New in PDM events. I suppose it is true that the PDM “Release Notes” have always had a handful of new structures or interfaces, but the new IEdmCmdMgr6 interface in PDM Pro 2018 gives us the ability to add our own custom tabs to the Windows Explorer interface. This, my friends, is pretty darn cool.

This custom tab can contain anything you want… Build a custom control, then in your API project, send the custom control to CommandManager with the new “AddVaultViewTab” method.
Here are some quick ideas on what you can do with this new tab:

• • Some people feel the existing data card controls are too limiting. You can now make your own control that can do “anything” you want:
    • A “hot” edit box that points to a field within any database -and it constantly updates itself. No worries about a user seeing stale external data.
    • More intelligent drop lists – lists that value’s change based on something other than a variable.
    • Special custom file viewers for “non-supported” file types.
    • Display a folder / file structure different than what is displayed in the “Contains/Where Used”
    • Special BOMs
  • Create your own interface to external systems
    • Do you see your users bouncing back and forth between PDM and ERP or other systems? You could create an interface right in this tab!
    • A special time clock?
  • Create your own interface to your PDM customizations
    • Have you customized PDM but have been disappointed in the user interface you’ve created to access these customizations? (RMB menus can only take you so far!) Imagine a full GUI page within a PDM tab that will look so good your users will put up pictures of your kids in their office.

Do you have any other ideas? I would love to hear them -or better yet send me a screen shot of what you’ve created. As always, if you need help let us know.