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BOM Info - Not Custom Property

BOM Info - Not Custom Property

BOM Info - Not Custom Property

(OP)
Does anybody know how to place anything other than Custom Properties into the BOM? The default excel template contains the ItemNo, Quantity, and PartNo - None of which are Custom Properties - The PartNo reports the FileName if a Custom Property isn't defined.

What I am trying to do is make a BOM that reports the Path and Filename of each parts in the assembly. Both of these can be accessed with a Note Link in the drawing so the information should be available. I have checked Help and while it is informative about Custom Properties it makes no mention of the default value names.

Lee

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

You can customize your BOM by simply adding new columns. but DO NOT delete the original columns. If you don't need them simply hide them. If you delete them you will have problems with your BOM.

Once you have added your column and placed a name in it. Click on Insert\names\define There you can add a link. That link or name, must exist in your part as well under custom properties of course. You maybe able to save that information (from your custom properties) into your part template, so that you will not to add all the time.

I hope that helps,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.3dmca.com

*When in doubt always check the help*

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

Scott:
We have been using a custom BOM, with all of the default columns removed, for years without any difficulty. What types of problems have you encountered by removing them?

DimensionalSolutions@Core.com
While I welcome e-mail messages, please post all thread activity in these forums for the benefit of all members.

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

They keep repeating the BOM over and over in the Drawing. So you will have Multiple BOM's in one drawing.

If at least one of the default columns are removed. The fix for this has been to redo the BOM Template and simply hide the default columns and add any columns needed. This works fine for everyone I have done this for. This is in SW03 SP0.

Best Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.3dmca.com

*When in doubt always check the help*

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

You can read about what Scott is talking about out in SolidWorks Knowledge Base.  Search for BOM and select the tech tip.  This is good doc on how to add, delete, and hide columns.  It also states the problems from  removing the Item NO and or QTY column.

BBJT CSWP

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

(OP)
I think I may have said this wrong.

In the SW Help file there is very litle mention as to the name of the default values needed in the excel file. The Part Number is a good example. In the original excel sheet the Description is 'PART NO.' and the name of the cell is 'partno'. The description can be changed to anything as long as the cell name remains the same - But in the Help file there is no mention of 'partno'. There are several references to $PARTNUMBER but that is something different.

With Custom Properties the cell does not have to be named if the description is the same as the Property Name.

My problem is this. I want to extract the File Name and Directory of the model and place it in a BOM. I do not have any Custom Properties to use for this. I could run a Macro to open each of these files and add one, but if the file was moved that value would not change unless the macro was ran again.

This information is already there and I can not help believing that it is accessable. A Note can access both of these by using a link to 'SW-File Name' and 'SW-Folder Name'

Excel is picky about a cell's name. It doesn't allow spaces, minus (-) signs or the dollar symbol ($). I've tried SWFileName, FileName, SWFile_Name, and File_Name.
I have also tried many different combinations in the  description.

I was hoping that someone had possibly done the same thing.

RE: BOM Info - Not Custom Property

StarrRider,

I believe that I understand what you're asking and do not know of any way to pull it off other than via custom properties.  My interpretation of the system information (e.g. SWFileName, etc.) is that these are in essence "reserved" custom properties controlled exclusively by SolidWorks so that users can link the information contained in these to annotations on a drawing.  At least that's the only way I've ever made use of these "reserved" properties.  Perhaps there is a way to access these directly to populate user defined columns in a BOM.  I agree with you that it would seem a logical thing to be able to do.

Chris Gervais
Mechanical Designer
American Superconductor

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