topic Re: Part Numbers of Content Center Parts in Inventor Programming Forum

Part Numbers of Content Center Parts

emanuel.c — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:19:17 GMT

I usually give Part Numbers to Parts through the BOM. The CC parts always rename "Part Number" by their defaults if there are any changes. For this reason I create an additional iProperty "Number" which stores the "Part Number" value so that it doesn't dissapear after every change. Then I have to again set Part Number = <Number> in BOM to fix the issue.

I wrote this little code to:

unmerge BOM
set Part Number =<Number> (yes I even tried giving it a copied valued instead of formula)
re-merge BOM

But it still doesn't work. The part's which are of same stock size and same length still cause issues.

So I manually un-merge and I have this (none of the parts are named the same):

Next, I retype the Number values - same values as before (essentially 'dirtying' the part) and everything works well.

How can this be fixed? I tried "dirtying" the part through the code with: oRefDoc.Dirty = True, oRefDoc.Update() but without any success...

Here is the code. Many thanks!

Sub Main() Dim oAsmDoc As Document = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument If oAsmDoc.DocumentType <> DocumentTypeEnum.kAssemblyDocumentObject Then MessageBox.Show("Run this rule on an ASSEMBLY document. Exiting...", "ERROR", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) Exit Sub End If ' Disable merge before updating Part Numbers Bom_DisableMerge(oAsmDoc) ' Update Part Numbers from iProperty "Number" UpdatePartNumbersFromNumber(oAsmDoc) ' Re-enable merge Bom_EnableMerge(oAsmDoc) End Sub Public Sub Bom_DisableMerge(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) Dim oBOM As BOM = oAsmDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True ' Disable "Merge Rows on Part Number Match" oBOM.SetPartNumberMergeSettings2(False, Nothing, Nothing) End Sub Public Sub Bom_EnableMerge(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) Dim oBOM As BOM = oAsmDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True ' Enable "Merge Rows on Part Number Match" oBOM.SetPartNumberMergeSettings2(True, Nothing, Nothing) End Sub Public Sub UpdatePartNumbersFromNumber(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) For Each oRefDoc As Document In oAsmDoc.AllReferencedDocuments ' Skip non‑modifiable and non‑real BOM parts If Not oRefDoc.IsModifiable Then Continue For If oRefDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOMStructure = BOMStructureEnum.kPhantomBOMStructure Then Continue For If oRefDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOMStructure = BOMStructureEnum.kReferenceBOMStructure Then Continue For ' Get custom property set Dim oCustom As PropertySet Try oCustom = oRefDoc.PropertySets("Inventor User Defined Properties") Catch ' No custom props → skip Continue For End Try ' Try to get "Number" Dim numberValue As String Try numberValue = CStr(oCustom("Number").Value) Catch 'MessageBox.Show("Didn't work for: " & oRefDoc.DisplayName & " (no 'Number' iProperty)") Continue For End Try If Trim(numberValue) = "" Then Continue For ' *** FORCE REFRESH OF NUMBER *** oCustom("Number").Value = numberValue ' *** Assign formula-style reference to Part Number *** Dim oPNProp As Object Try oPNProp = oRefDoc.PropertySets.Item("Design Tracking Properties").Item("Part Number") oPNProp.Value = "=<Number>" Catch 'MessageBox.Show("Didn't work for: " & oRefDoc.DisplayName & " (no 'Part Number' iProperty)") Continue For End Try Next End Sub

Re: Part Numbers of Content Center Parts

dalton_northwind — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:40:37 GMT

Maybe try updating the assembly file along with the parts.

We had a similar problem and from what I remember we had to uncheck a frame generator setting. attached

Re: Part Numbers of Content Center Parts

emanuel.c — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:26:30 GMT

@dalton_northwind Thank you so much!! I can't believe I've been using Inventor for so many years and never knew of those settings! That auto renaming was always a frustration. I'll call this solved.

Re: Part Numbers of Content Center Parts

emanuel.c — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:30:33 GMT

Meanwhile I was able to adapt the code using Rebuild and Refresh on the BOM. If it's useful to anyone, here it is:

Sub Main() Dim oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument If oAsmDoc.DocumentType <> DocumentTypeEnum.kAssemblyDocumentObject Then MessageBox.Show("Run this rule on an ASSEMBLY document. Exiting...", "ERROR", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) Exit Sub End If ' 1. Disable merge before updating Part Numbers Bom_DisableMerge(oAsmDoc) ' 2. Update Part Numbers from iProperty "Number" UpdatePartNumbersFromNumber(oAsmDoc) ' 3. Force assembly update AFTER parts update Try : oAsmDoc.Update2(True) : Catch : End Try ' 4. Full BOM rebuild sequence RebuildBOM(oAsmDoc) ' 5. Re-enable merge Bom_EnableMerge(oAsmDoc) ' 6. Final assembly update Try : oAsmDoc.Update2(True) : Catch : End Try End Sub ' DISABLE MERGE Public Sub Bom_DisableMerge(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) Dim oBOM As BOM = oAsmDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True oBOM.SetPartNumberMergeSettings2(False, Nothing, Nothing) End Sub ' ENABLE MERGE Public Sub Bom_EnableMerge(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) Dim oBOM As BOM = oAsmDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True oBOM.SetPartNumberMergeSettings2(True, Nothing, Nothing) End Sub ' UPDATE PART NUMBERS FROM "Number" Public Sub UpdatePartNumbersFromNumber(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) For Each oRefDoc As Document In oAsmDoc.AllReferencedDocuments If Not oRefDoc.IsModifiable Then Continue For If oRefDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOMStructure = BOMStructureEnum.kPhantomBOMStructure Then Continue For If oRefDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOMStructure = BOMStructureEnum.kReferenceBOMStructure Then Continue For Dim oCustom As PropertySet Try oCustom = oRefDoc.PropertySets("Inventor User Defined Properties") Catch Continue For End Try Dim numberValue As String Try numberValue = CStr(oCustom("Number").Value) Catch Continue For End Try If Trim(numberValue) = "" Then Continue For ' Refresh Number oCustom("Number").Value = numberValue ' Assign formula Part Number Dim oPNProp As Object Try oPNProp = oRefDoc.PropertySets.Item("Design Tracking Properties").Item("Part Number") oPNProp.Value = "=<Number>" Catch Continue For End Try ' Dirty the document oRefDoc.Dirty = True ' Force iProperty evaluator Try : oRefDoc.PropertySets.Flush() : Catch : End Try ' Rebuild geometry Try : oRefDoc.ComponentDefinition.Update() : Catch : End Try ' Update document Try : oRefDoc.Update2(True) : Catch : End Try ' ⭐ CRITICAL ⭐ Save forces formula evaluation Try : oRefDoc.Save() : Catch : End Try Next End Sub ' FULL BOM REBUILD SEQUENCE Public Sub RebuildBOM(oAsmDoc As AssemblyDocument) Dim oBOM As BOM = oAsmDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM ' Ensure BOM views are enabled oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True oBOM.StructuredViewEnabled = True Dim oStructured As BOMView Dim oPartsOnly As BOMView Try oStructured = oBOM.BOMViews.Item("Structured") oPartsOnly = oBOM.BOMViews.Item("Parts Only") Catch Exit Sub End Try ' Rebuild both views Try : oStructured.Rebuild() : Catch : End Try Try : oPartsOnly.Rebuild() : Catch : End Try ' Refresh both views Try : oStructured.Refresh() : Catch : End Try Try : oPartsOnly.Refresh() : Catch : End Try ' Update assembly Try : oAsmDoc.Update2(True) : Catch : End Try End Sub