topic Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate. in Inventor Forum

Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

deehawk — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 10:58:31 GMT

Hi everybody, it's been a while. I have a small nuisance after an upgrade that I would rather not have to fix. (Who doesn't know that feeling)

We recently upgraded from Inventor 2022 to 2025.

We are exclusively using Custom iProperties for our parts lists . The first field is called 'Description', which also exists as a non-custom parameter (which we don't use this). This duplicate naming is usually never a problem as the API can distinguish between them with the moniker "Custom". So "Description, Custom" is distinct from "Description".

We have been doing this for 10 years.

The functionality still works as intended, however, the BOM view will no longer accept the column for the Custom parameter called Description. I can't find it in the list, I can't add it manually (nothing happens), and if I have the column already in a former design, the entire column is empty and non-functional. (even though the data exists)

However, the custom parameter still exist in the parts and assemblies, you can still change it in the components and it also shows correctly in the parts list on the drawing. Only the BOM viewer refuse to accept it.

Any insight to why this was changed? It ruins accessibility for every drawing we made in the last 10 years, for apparently no reason.

---UPDATE---
The plot thickens. One user just discovered that if you rename the custom parameter to DESCRIPTION (all caps) in the BOM view "Add Custom iProperty Columns", now everything works again. So it's an easy, albeit annoying fix. But the question remains.. Why?

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

johan_degreef1 — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:38:57 GMT

I don't have a solution, but I would never start using custom iproperties with the same name as an existing iproperty in the 1st place.

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

deehawk — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:52:35 GMT

It is generally discouraged to do that, because of confusion, but hasn't posed any technical issues before.

Before we used COMPANY, CATEGORY, STOCK NUMBER etc. as parts list fields, but this was unintuitive and unnecessarily complicated for new users and for programming our own interface.

So we made them all custom. They simple correspond to the name used in the parts list.

In the end, the guy who writes our 3rd party Inventor API software made the decision for me, and it worked great.

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

SharkDesign — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 06:51:25 GMT

There is a serious bug with model states which I don't remember the details of, but if you have duplicate names like this it does something bad. I can't remember if it deletes information or something. There was talk of changing the behaviour of duplicates but I don't think it was done in 2025. Is there anything in the release notes?

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

johnsonshiue — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 19:28:24 GMT

Hi! When the iProperty names are duplicated (even cases are different), some workflows could lead to corrupted values. It should have been blocked before. The fact that it was allowed is the bug.

Many thanks!

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

deehawk — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:51:49 GMT

Thanks for the answer!

Please read my update. It is still not blocked fully.

We will change the Custom Description field to something else.

Re: Custom iProperty no longers shows in BOM view if name is a duplicate.

johnsonshiue — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 23:53:28 GMT

Hi! Indeed, I believe there are other workflows still tolerating the duplicate names. It may or may not work. Regardless, it does not change the fact that having duplicate property name isn't ideal to begin with. For example, in Parameters dialog, duplicate names are forbidden. It was never allowed. However, Custom iProperties panel can tolerate a property name, which may also be reused by exporting a parameter. I would keep property names unique.

Many thanks!