Understand entity classes

Unlike entities that are created using MES Client, entities that are created from Entity Model Builder have only one direct parent. If you would like to organize entities from a System Platform IDE model into groups in the same way as parent entities can be used to group entities created directly in MES Client, you can create entity classes. You can then copy the entities from System Platform IDE model to entity class branches in the MES Client entity tree.

An entity class is an additional hierarchy for grouping like entities together even though they might reside in different locations within the entity hierarchy. For example, you might have multiple cartoners that you want to group together within an entity class called "Cartoners." While the cartoners might exist in different areas or work centers in the entity hierarchy, including them in the Cartoner entity class provides an easy way to find them all. For more information about the uses for grouping entities by assigning them to multiple parents, see Understand entities with multiple parents.

Entity classes that are created in MES Client are just like any other parent entities. They can be assigned the same properties and can be parents and children of other entities. However, unlike standard parent entities, entity classes are protected from being altered by Entity Model Builder. If an entity class has the same name as an entity in System Platform, Entity Model Builder is prevented from importing that entity or otherwise changing the similarly-named entity class.