Panel BOM Report missing Multiple Catalog data

[Bob.Lawson72]

For starters, I suppose, I struggle to understand why Multiple Catalog data from the schematic doesn't insert automatically when the Footprint Symbol is inserted or how when you insert a Multiple Catalog Item as a footprint it tries to flip your Schematic Symbol Item Numbering!!??  The question at hand is, after the footprint symbol is inserted (not bringing the Multiple Catalog Data with it) and you run a PBOM Report checking the "Full:" checkbox to "include schematic components not referenced on the panel layout" it will not capture the Multiple Catalog Items from the schematic if there is a footprint symbol of one or more of the items?  Color me perplexed! 

[dougmcalexander · Accepted solution]

When you assign subassembly parts via the Multiple Catalog option the data is pushed into the symbol block as extended entity data (xdata).  This is because there are only attributes inside of the schematic block to carry the assignments for the main part’s manufacturer, MFG the main part’s catalog number, CAT.  Since subassembly parts are optional, rather than add 198 more attributes to the blocks to carry the allowed number of up to 99 subassembly parts, the software resorts to the xdata method.  When you insert the panel footprints from the schematic list this xdata is transferred to the footprint.  This is the recommended workflow, and it is the workflow I have used, and taught, ever since the intelligent panel layout functionality was introduced in the late 1990s.  It has worked flawlessly for me and the thousands of control panels I have operaring in various facilities around the world.

If you wish, you can add attributes to your footprints named MFG01, CATO1, MFG02, CAT02, etc., and pre-load them with your required subassembly parts.  Note that the xdata that gets pushed in is Electrical’s way of adding data when the block has no attributes to hold the data.  But you can add the MFG01, CAT01 attributes to either schematic symbol blocks or panel layout footprint blocks in order to prevent Electrical from resorting to the xdata method.  You can add up to 99 additional attribute pairs to a block, up to MFG99 and CAT99.  If you add these attributes to your footprints with preloaded values you can ignore adding the subassembly parts into the schematic symbols via Multiple Catalog.  Just assign the master part number to the schematic symbol and map it via the Footprint Database Editor to the footprint that contains the preloaded MFG01, CAT01, etc. attributes.  When you insert the footprint via the schematic list, or insert it manually, the subassembly parts are loaded into the project scratch database and will appear in the panel BOM.  Note that the link to the schematic symbol block is accomplished by the fact that both the footprint and the schematic symbol blocks share the same Installation, Location, and Tag assignment.

i wrote about this method on the Tips/Tricks page of my web site.

[dougmcalexander]

I should also note that if you use the Multiple Catalog method to add a subassembly part that comes from a table in the catalog database other than the table for the main part, you should also add a matching WDBLKNAMxx attribute along with the MFGxx and CATxx pair.  The default value of the WDBLKNAMxx attribute should match the table name where the subassembly part details are stored.  Of course the numerical portion of the WDBLKNAMxx attribute should match that of the MFGxx and CATxx attributes it supports.

Hint: The original Symbol Builder, which can be invoked by typing WD_SYM_BUILD at the command line, provides prompts to insert the MFG01, CAT01, WDBLKNAM01, etc. attributes if needed.  Just choose to build a panel layout footprint when prompted by the original Symbol Builder.  I cover this as part of my admin plus workflow training class.

[dougmcalexander]

The link below will take you to the topic on my web site where I talk about preloading your footprints with subassembly attributes.

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