variables from excel to SE draft

[johand]

Hello,

I have in my project folder an excel file with some data - "projectNr", "Engineer", etc...
All dft par ans asm are in the same folder as the excel.

When i make drafts, i want to include that excel data in my titleblock automatically - Is it possible?

thx, Johan

PS: i don't want to link/expose variables in all parts separatly, but get the data straight from excel.

 

[beachcomber]

You appear to be mixing PROPERTIES and VARIABLES.
Normally the data you use in a title block will come from file properties - either the model or the drawing.
I don't think it's possible to link a property to a field in an excel file.
It is possible to link a variable to excel, but you would still then have to expose the variable in the part or assembly to get it into the draft file, and you can't have text variables - its numbers only

bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

Where would we be without sat-nav?

 

[johand]

Indeed - Normally the data you use in a title block will come from file properties - either the model or the drawing.

so i can't include data that is in an excel file? maybe a small vb script to get that data?

 

[KENAT]

I vaguely recall something perhaps similar from PLM world 2006. Some medical device company read in stuff from their ERP system into Solid Edge using some kind of script or Macro.

Can't remember enough to be helpfully though, sorry.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[beachcomber]

Yes, you could do it with VB macro, but it wouldn't be a dynamic link.

The macro would open the excel file and read the appropriate data.
Then it would copy the data to the draft or model file properties.
By using property text callouts in the draft the value would update the drawing title block.

At a previous company they were going to do it the opposite way round - the property values stored in the drawing would be read into the erp system.

Unfortunately there were so many properties you couldn't remember which ones needed to be completed, so I wrote a VB program that replicated the drawing title block as a form that was completed on-screen and which saved the values into the file properties.

Some of the data was standard for each project, so there was an option to choose a 'project file' where that specific data was stored. This was simply a text file that I could read the values from.

Does that make sense?

bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

Where would we be without sat-nav?