Custom Property BOM Quantity

[mjake1966]

I'm trying to figure out how to use the BOM Quantity drop down
in the Custom Property page of Summary information to display
something other then a numerical quantity in the quantity column of a BOM.

My understanding is that this can be accomplished with the BOM quantity drop down, but for the life of me I can't get it to work.

Here's how I think it should work so follow my steps and tell me what I'm missing, please.

1)Create part file (sldprt) named "Grease" (you probably see where I'm going with this).
2) Add Custom property named 'STRING' (still just testing this, name will be changed later).
3) Assign 'STRING' a value of A/R.
4) Set BOM Quantity drop down to "STRING" (save prt)
5) Create an assembly file (sldasm) named "Test"
6) insert part "Grease".
7) Insert BOM template. (sldbomtbt)
8) BOM still contains a numerical quantity in the QTY column.
A/R is no where to be seen.

I thought that the BOM quantity drop down was supposed to allow you to override the BOM tables qty column to read other then a number? What the heck am I missing?

Thanks in advance

PS. I have tried to create a custom BOM by added the "STRING" column and hiding the QTY column, but the QTY column returns every time instead of staying hidden.

Nvidia Quatro FX 1400
8.0 GB RAM
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad core @ 2.50Ghz
SW2010 SP4.0
Win 7 64bit

 

[kellnerp]

Qty is a number in the BOM not text.

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[mjake1966]

@Kellnerp,

And yet, according to SW, it is "supposed" to be usable in that format? See "Type = Text" in the example below directly from the
SW Db.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Solution Id: S-017371

Product: SolidWorks 2007 Network

Updated: 3/3/2010 6:56:00 PM

Area: Part

Sub-Area: Other Features

Question: What is the function of the bill of materials, "BOM Quantity" drop down menu in File, Properties?


Answer:
This meun allows users to define a custom property that will be used to drive the QTY column in the bill of materials.

For example:

- Open a part and select File -> Properties
- Go to the custom or configuration specific tab and define a Property: Name = Override_QTY, Type = Text, Value = 5
- In the BOM Quantity menu, select "Override_QTY"

When a bill of materials of an assembly that contains this part is created, the QTY column will display a value of 5.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes I realize that this specific example calls out a numerical value,
but in theory it is using a format type of "text" which should allow any string value, right?
My VAR seems to indicate that it should work this way, but it doesn't on my machine, which could indicate some other kind of problem, not necessarily with SW.

I'm just trying to figure it out and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something simple.

Any thoughts?

Nvidia Quatro FX 1400
8.0 GB RAM
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad core @ 2.50Ghz
SW2010 SP4.0
Win 7 64bit

 

[kellnerp]

It's one of those things that works as the specific example and not according to SW own variable typing scheme. When I use 5 it works, when I use "A/R" it reverts to the actual part count.

Thanks for letting us know what you are running on.

I suppose I should add my info to:

SW2009 64 bit SP3
Phenom II X6 1100T
8GB
FX1400
Win XP 64

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http://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport

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[mjake1966]

Kellnerp,

That was exactly the result that I was getting, but the documentation seemed to indicate that it could work.

I wasn't sure if it was a bug or possibly something with my set up.

Thanks for the help.

Nvidia Quatro FX 1400
8.0 GB RAM
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad core @ 2.50Ghz
SW2010 SP4.0
Win 7 64bit

 

[kellnerp]

SolidWorks documentation is famous for specification hidden in example. Programmers aren't engineers and won't realize that a user defined quantity could in fact be A/R (as required). Even if you gave a quantity like 30 ml grease as an average number the BOM couldn't handle a quantity specified with units. It would probably be a good practice to figure in a quantity so the ERP folks can order enough grease though.

QTY is a special bird in a BOM. Try to change the QTY heading in a BOM and you get a special message which indicates it is handling parameters programaticly in, perhaps, a non-standard way.

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[handleman]

The reason it has to be a number to work is because it's really a multiplier, not an override. So if you have, say, a gasket, and it's made out of 0.6 feet of gasket material. You would put 0.6 as the BOM qty custom property. Then, if you used 3 of those gaskets in the assembly, the qty would show up as 1.8.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[kellnerp]

The reason it has to be a number to work is because it's really a multiplier, not an override.

This is speculative logic. It makes sense if you think about it, but A/R would still be appropriate from a user standpoint. The real issue is that the documentation is lacking in definition of functionality. Implicit in the term Override is the sense that anything can be inserted. I don't know if you tested the multiplier functionality, but that is quite different from the sense of the word Override. Why couldn't the help then say:

[i]Override_QTY[/i] is a multiplier which will be used to multiply the actual quantity of the part in an assembly. An [i]Override_QTY[/i] may only be a number; text, dates or booleans will default to a simple count of one.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE

http://www.engtran.com

http://www.niswug.org

http://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport

Phenom II x6 1100T = XP64 = 8GB = FX1400 = SW2009 SP3
"Node news is good news."