Cannot see user parameters in BoM

[DavidWHouse]

I generally try to create parts and assemblies using parameters. Thus for example, when creating a simple plastic rectangular part, I might open the "fx" parameter table and create 'Length', 'Width', and 'Thickness' vars, then sketch and extrude accordingly. And usually too, I can add those vars, exactly as spelled and with the first letter capitalized, and in the BoM, AI will show me the values I have put in.

Generally too, when modifying the iProperties of the part, I can see those vars after having selected the 'Custom' tab.

Not today. It seems to me as if Inventor can have several versions of a parameter of a given name so that, for example, if I were to create a part without or before specifying a set of standard vars, then go into the BoM view and ask them to be displayed (via 'Add Custom iProperty Columns') it seems as if Inventor creates those requested parameters automatically in the listed parts, and subsequently I cannot see them on selecting the 'Custom' tab when modding iProperties, nor, if I subsequently create them via the "fx" parameters table, the values I input will not show up in the BoM view.

That is, the implication of 'user parameters" is that there are parameters which are not 'user' (created), and in infer that Inventor allows itself and me to create two different parameters with the same name, one being mine, and one being Inventor's. 

Whether that assumption is correct or not, why is it that I sometimes cannot see my custom iProperties in the BoM view?

Then today I was working with Model States in some parts, where the length of the item changed, depending. Again, I did not see the 'Length' value in the BoM, except for one part, and for that part, the value did not change from one Model State to another, whereas it did change depending on the Model State, according to what the displayed part, and also I could see in the "fx" parameters table. (In the BoM, I added the 'Model State' column and turned off 'Part Number Row Merge Settings')

How can I reliably see such user parameters in every BoM, and how can get AI to show me, in the BoM, the different values for 'Length" which are associated with different Model States?

Appreciate the help.

David

[chris]

@DavidWHouse can you share a couple screen shots or add the part file?

[SharkDesign]

You need to tick the checkmark box under 'export' next to each parameter you want to show in the custom tab of iProperties. 

[DavidWHouse]

The part is a very simple bit of plastic, anchoring the corner of a polypropylene sheet, in my assembly:

Custom ('fx') params show 'Length', 'Width', and 'Thickness', all with values that derive from params that control the dims of the part:

While I appreciated SharkDesign's comment regarding export, which clarified something for me, that box is checked in the above table, and yet:

The named params are present, but they do not have any values.

The corner part fits into an assembly (experimental plastic heat exchange unit):

And in the BoM of that assembly, I find:

Given that the params show up in the 'fx' table of the part, with dimensions, yet they do not show up thus in the Custom tab of the part's iProperties, nor do they show up in the BoM view of the heat exchange assembly, the only thing that makes sense to me, as I said, is that there are actually two params named 'Length' (et al), one of which I created, and the other of which Inventor created when I inserted them into the BoM view, prior to having created the derivative params in the part. 

David

[DavidWHouse]

...And here is that part.

[SharkDesign · Accepted solution]

I opened your file in 2026 and it shows the values instantly without having to change anything. 

[DavidWHouse]

Appreciated. I spelunked a bit more and found that, yes, the values appeared for me when the Model State was '[Primary]', but not when it was 'Corner_(std)', which is the State shown in your image above.

I turned on 'Edit Factory scope'/'All member edit scope' and added zero ("+ 0 in") to each of the pertinent values, simply to make a change that would become global, and that seems to have done the trick, given that it apparently forced all Model States to have the same information about the three params. I had previously looked at the table of values, within Inventor and via spreadsheet, but none of the three user params showed up therein. 

I'm not sure, then, what has caused this issue, but I did note that, as in the last time I posted to the forum, there seems to be a hidden, Inventor-created variable related to but not the same as the three user params we've been discussing. (I saw that a couple of times when changing Model States: Inventor displayed a var with a trailing underscore, noting a mismatch in the param table. The displayed mismatch var was not present in the 'f(x)' parameters table.)

So, I remain ignorant of the cause of this, but it appears that I can now fix it, following the steps which your comment inclined me to take. I'll mark it as a solution.