How to add material property as a column in Vault BOM?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Can someone help me how to add column "Material" in BOM in Vault. When I export BOM from Vault, I cannot find property "Material".

I cannot believe that the property material can’t be seen in Vault BOM.

Thanks,

[cbenner]

@Anonymous

By default the Material Property is set to File Association only.  You can add Item Association to it as well, and then you will be able to add it to your Item BOM.

Go to Tools\Administration\Vault Settings, then Select the Behaviors Tab and go to Properties.  Find the Material property in the grid, double click to edit.  Then, at the top, you will see Associations.  Select that and then click on Items to add the Association.  Hit OK and close out of the Vault Settings.  Go back to your Item, and you should be able to add a column for the Material now.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, it works 🙂 .

I can see the column "Material" but there is nothing as a value. I am sure there is material assigned in Inventor. 

Probably it is mapping nothing from Inventor file. Can you explain how to fix it?

Thanks

[cbenner]

@Anonymous

Since the property was set only to File association, the only property mappings were File Category mappings.  You will have to add some Item Category mappings in order to get the value of material from Inventor into your Items.  Do you know how to set mappings?

[Anonymous]

I would appreciate if you can give me some clue...

Not very experienced in vault.

Thank you,

[cbenner]

@Anonymous

I have made a quick video, posted below.  It's a but clunky, but you should be able to see the steps.

Basically.  Map the property to Material on an Inventor file.  You can use any Inventor part since Material is a system property.  But, this also means it is read only, so the value will have to be set in Inventor.

On the Item, you will need to add the Material property to both the main property grid as well as the BOM.  I show both in the video, but not in that order.  Also, notice that in my video I forgot the important step of Get Revision on the part.  I should have done that first.  I need more coffee.

Open the file in Inventor and set Material to what it needs to be.  Check it back into the Vault.  Find the Item in Vault and Update.  The Material properties should match what you set in Inventor.  Since it is a System Property you have to set it on the file in Inventor.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Thank you cbenner.

But where is the video? I check but I didn't find it.

[cbenner]

@sasho.janjevski

Sorry, I thought it attached.  Here it is.  Sorry for all of the extra clicks, if you have any questions about it let me know.

[Anonymous]

Hi cbenner,

This time I only received an email with your message without been g able to open it in web browser. Sorry, again I cannot see the video.

[cbenner · Accepted solution]

Here is the direct link to the Screencast on my profile:

https://autode.sk/2PHOZTd

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris,

I did as you show in your video. It works, but I must repeat all the time with all parts. I have a lots of files to rework them manually.  Something is wrong with my Vault settings probably. I attached a file where I show step by step how I'm doing. Can you please see the pdf file and try to help me to solve this problem.

Thank you

[cbenner · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous

Hi again.  🙂

There is nothing wrong.  It looks like you are doing this right.  For Items that already exist, you will have to add Material manually to each one.  There is no way to add the property automatically to an existing Item.

For new Items, edit your Categories (tools\administration\vault settings\behaviors\categories), select Item Categories at the top, locate the category that is used when your Item is assigned.  Click the properties tab, and then the Assign button.  You can add the Material property there, and it will be on any new Item assigned using this category.

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris :),

Material is already there. When I create new parts and check them in vault, Material property is not automatically added.

[Anonymous]

It's ok now I see. I should've assign the items on the parts before I assign item to an assembly. For new parts it works now.

Thanks Chris

Best regards,

[cbenner · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous

I only had you check Item Categories.  If you assign an Item to a part, is Material on the new Item?

For new parts, you need to do the same thing to your File Categories, in the same place in Vault.

[dpeters2]

"There is no way to add the property automatically to an existing Item."  There is, at least in 2022 and later.

Advanced search.  Set your search for Items, and search for the property you want.  Make sure you have the property column displayed in the advanced search grid.

Next, choose Actions > Add or Remove Property.  Select the property you have mapped to Item, and in the right column pull down the blank Action field and choose Add.

Once you have added the property using Actions, update the items and then refresh the search view.

In my case, I mapped the property Material to Item, then performed the above steps.  Material now shows up in the advanced search grid.