I would like to be able to export the description column of a BOM to an excel file, and exclude all the other data. I can't see any reference to doing this in the API. We have almost 20 columns so deleting them once the file is made is a bit of a pain.
Thanks for any help.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by Curtis_Waguespack. Go to Solution.
To do this manually you may want to have a temporary BOM editor view xml file and a normal BOM editor xml file.
Export your normal editor view setting to an xml file.
Remove all the unwanted columns from your editor view, then export that as a temporary xml.
Save out the single column to excel.
This way you can import the temporary xml file to remove the columns.
Then re-import your normal column layout to reset the columns.
Slightly quicker than excel edit but not automatic sorry.
hth
Hi GavoGarmo,
Here is a quick ilogic rule to do this. In this example the BOM is exported to an XLS file and then Column D is being copied from the original XLS sheet into a new XLS sheet, then the original sheet is being deleted.
You can refer to this link to see how a basic rule is created, if iLogic is new to you:
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2012/01/creating-basic-ilogic-rule-with-event.html
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com
' a reference to the assembly document. ' This assumes an assembly document is active. Dim oDoc As AssemblyDocument oXLS = "C:\temp\BOM-StructuredAllLevels.xls" oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument 'set a reference to the BOM Dim oBOM As BOM oBOM = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM 'set the structured view to 'all levels' oBOM.StructuredViewFirstLevelOnly = False ' Make sure that the structured view is enabled. oBOM.StructuredViewEnabled = True 'set a reference to the "Structured" BOMView Dim oStructuredBOMView As BOMView oStructuredBOMView = oBOM.BOMViews.Item("Structured") ' Export the BOM view to an Excel file oStructuredBOMView.Export (oXLS, kMicrosoftExcelFormat) 'define Excel Application object excelApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application") 'set Excel to run visibly 'change to false if you want to run it invisibly excelApp.Visible = True 'open the workbook wb = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(oXLS) 'set all of the columns to autofit excelApp.Columns.AutoFit 'suppress prompts (such as the compatibility checker) excelApp.DisplayAlerts = false 'add a new sheet to the xls file excelApp.sheets.Add.Name = "Sheet1" 'select the original exported sheet excelApp.Sheets(2).Select 'select range to copy excelApp.Columns("G").Copy 'select sheet to paste to excelApp.Sheets("Sheet1").Select 'select range to paste to excelApp.Columns("A").Select 'paste the selection excelApp.ActiveSheet.Paste 'reset selected cell to A1 excelApp.Cells(1,1).Select 'delete the original sheet excelApp.Sheets(2).Delete() 'save the workbook wb.Save ''close the workbook, uncomment if you want to close the xls file at the end ''wb.Close
Are you exporting from the Bill Of Material or from a Part List? If you export from a Parts List, from within a drawing, you can chose what columns are exported by clicking on the OPTIONS button in the Export Dialog Box. Or you could define a Parts List Style with only the columns you want to export. This may be an annoying extra step if you don't already have drawings with a Parts List for the assembly.