Bill of Materials Manager

Commands: BMBOMPANELOPEN, BMBOMPANELCLOSE, BMBOM

The Bill of Materials manager allows you to browse, create and edit bills of materials (BOMs) in the current drawing. Use the manager, to interactively configure, both new and existing, bills of materials. The configuration of a bill of materials can be saved as a template file and reused later in other drawings. You can also add a bill of materials that is not linked to a table in the drawing.  

 

With the Bill of Materials Manager, you can:

• Browse existing bills of materials in the drawing.
• Create a new bill of materials using either a standard type (such as top-level, bottom-level, hierarchical) or an existing BOM template.
• Edit bills of materials, including:
  • Add or remove columns (includes formula columns).
  • Move selected columns to new positions.
  • Rename the columns.
  • Configure how the BOM table is sorted.
  • Configure the footer value for each individual column.
  • Configure the units and how they are displayed for each column.
  • Configure the width of each column with column properties.
  • Configure the visibility of each individual column.
  • Filter the components with a filter expression.
  • Change the title of both the title row and the footer row.
• Search for components in the table.
• Highlight and select component instances.
• Save the BOM configuration as a template file.
• Load a BOM table configuration from a template file.
• Place the BOM table in a drawing.
• Delete BOM tables.

A BricsCAD Mechanical or BricsCAD Ultimate license is required to modify or create bills of materials. However, the manager is available with a BricsCAD Pro license.

Open the Bill of Materials Manager

Do one of the following operations:

• Place the cursor on a toolbar, then right-click and choose BOM Manager from the context menu.
• Call the BMBOMPANELOPEN command.

Tools

Most of the configuration operations in the manager are available via the main menu. You can call a context menu for selected columns or rows. You can also change the properties of the selected columns and the BOM itself via the properties section of the manager. To work with a particular column, left-click it from the BOM grid. Multiple columns can be selected at once. 

Main menu

To open the main menu, press the  button on the BOM Manager panel.

	New BOM	Opens a submenu: Top level: creates a new, top-level BOM. Bottom level: creates a new bottom-level BOM. Hierarchical: creates a new hierarchical BOM. Create from template: opens a dialog to select the template file with the BOM configuration.
	Place/update BOM table	Starts the interactive placement of the table in the drawing. If the table is already placed in the drawing, it updates the table. Note: all edit operations automatically update the associated table in the drawing.
	Replace from template	Replaces the current BOM table configuration with the selected template. Opens a dialog to select the template file.
	Save as template	Saves the configuration of the current BOM table as a template. Opens a dialog to select the location for the new template file.
	Delete current BOM	Deletes the current BOM table from the document.
	Refresh	Updates the current BOM and lists all BOM tables in the drawing.
	Insert column after	If a column is selected: inserts a column from the Column selector after the selected column in the table. If no column is selected: a new column is added after the last column in the table.
	Insert column before	If a column is selected: inserts a column from the Column selector before the selected column in the table. If no column is selected: a new column is added as the first column in the table.
	Delete column	Removes the selected column from the table.  You can also select a column in the BOM grid and hit the Delete key to remove a column.
	Move column left	Moves the selected column(s) one column left.
	Move column right	Moves the selected column(s) one column right.
	Make column visible	Shows selected column in the associated table in the drawing.
	Make column invisible	Removes the selected column from the associated table. Invisible columns remain visible in the BOM manager but are marked with a diagonal hatch pattern in the background.
	Associated table	Opens a submenu: Zoom to: zooms to the table. If necessary, sets the table layout as the current one. Select: selects the table. If necessary, sets the table layout as the current one. Delete: deletes the table from the document. Detach: detaches the table from the BOM table. The table in the document will be not updated when the BOM table is modified.
	Footer	Opens a submenu: For each of the selected columns: No footer: removes the footer. Sum: displays the sum in the footer. Average value: displays the average in the footer. Minimal value: displays the minimum value in the footer. Maximal value: displays the maximum value in the footer. See the Bill of Materials/Footer for more details.
	Sorting	Opens a submenu: Automatic order: sorts the table automatically. Natural order: sort the table by the natural order of component instances in the document.  Ascending order: sorts the selected columns in ascending order. Descending order: sorts the selected columns in descending order. See Bill of Materials/Sorting for more details.

Toolbars

	Main menu	Opens the main menu
	BOM Selector	Selects the current BOM table. The choice is stored in the drawing. When the drawing is closed and reopened, the selected BOM is restored in the manager. When selected, the table is updated to the current state of the drawing.
	Refresh	Updates the current BOM as well as the list of all BOM tables in the drawing.
	Place/update table	Starts the interactive placement of a table in a drawing. If the table has been already placed in the drawing, it updates it. Note: all edit operations automatically update the associated table in the drawing.
	Category selector	Selects the category of the properties that are displayed in the column selector.
	Column selector	Selects the column to add to the current BOM. You can also use this to enter the formula for a formula field. To add a formula, type an expression starting with "=", such as "=<Mass>*<Quantity>". The formula may refer to other columns. Use their display names enclosed in <>.
	Insert column after	If a column is selected: inserts the column from the Column selector after the selected column in the table. If no columns are selected: the new column is added after the last column in the table.
	Find	Toggles the search field on and off. You can also toggle the search field with Ctrl+F.
	Search field	Enter text or a wildcard template.
	Find previous	Locates the previous entry in the BOM table. You can also use Ctrl+F3.
	Find next	Locates the next entry in the BOM table. You can also use F3.

Column context menu

Right-click on the column label to open the context menu. The column is added to the current selection.

	Delete column	Removes the selected column(s) from the table.  You can also select a column in the BOM grid and hit the Delete key to delete it.
	Footer	Opens a submenu: For the selected column(s): No footer: removes the footer. Sum: displays the sum in the footer. Average value: displays the average values in the footer. Minimal value: displays the minimum value in the footer. Maximal value: displays the maximum value in the footer. See Bill of Materials/Footer for more details.
	Sorting	Opens a submenu: Automatic order: sorts the table automatically. Natural order: sort the table by the natural order of component instances in the document.  Ascending order: sorts the selected columns by ascending order. Descending order: sorts the selected columns by descending order. See Bill of Materials/Sorting for more details.
	Make column visible	Displays selected columns in the associated table in the drawing.
	Make column invisible	Removes the selected column from the associated table. Invisible columns remain visible in the BOM manager but are marked with a diagonal hatch pattern in the background.
	Fit column(s)	Sets the width of the selected columns to fit their content. The columns will automatically fit the content unless their width is manually changed.
	Fit all columns	Sets the width of all columns to fit their content. The columns will automatically fit the content unless their width is manually changed.

Row context menu

Right-click on any cell to open the context menu.

	Zoom to	Zooms to a given part(s) in the model
	Select	Selects the part(s). The existing selection will be replaced.
	Add to Selection	Adds part(s) to the existing selection.
	Remove from Selection	Removes the parts from the existing selection.
	Remove highlighting	Removes highlighting.
	Clear selection	Clears selection.
	Collapse	Collapses the subassembly group in the BOM grid.
	Expand	Expands the subassembly group in the BOM grid.
	Expland this level	Expands all subassembly groups at the same level of the assembly tree as the current one.
	Collapse this level	Collapses all subassembly groups at the same level of the assembly tree as the current one.
	Expand all	Expands all subassembly groups in the current BOM.
	Collapse all	Collapses all subassembly groups in the current BOM.

BOM Title

Displays the title of the current BOM, as displayed in the drawing. Left-click on this control to edit the drawing. In this mode, the BOM title control will display the title template instead. The title template is a string that may contain a <NAME> placeholder. This will be replaced with the assembly name.  

Grid

The grid displays the content of the selected BOM table. Each row is linked with its corresponding instances. When the row is selected, the corresponding parts are automatically highlighted in the drawing. Use the context menu, to select corresponding parts, add or remove them from the current selection and to zoom to those parts. Left double-click on any cell in the row to zoom to the corresponding parts.

Change the column positions

To move a column in the BOM table to a new position, select it from the BOM grid and then drag and drop it into position.

Visible and invisible columns

Although you may make any column in the BOM table invisible (so it will not appear in the resulting table in the document), invisible columns remain visible in the BOM grid and are displayed with a hatched background. You can change the visibility of any columns via the main menu, context menu (for the column) or with the Visible property of the column in the Properties grid.

Width adjustment

You can adjust the width of any column in the BOM grid. This width is independent from the width in the associated table. If the width of the column is less than needed to display the text of the cell, the height of the corresponding row increases to fit the text.

When the column width is adjusted manually, the width will remain the same regardless of the content of the table. The width is also stored in the BOM configuration. All adjusted column widths remain the same even when the drawing is closed and reopened.

To fit the column width to the content automatically, do one of the following:

• Select the column(s) and right-click the context menu. Then select Fit column(s).
  OR
• Double-click the separator in the column header.

Sort the columns 

Use the grid to control how the table of content should be sorted. Double-click on the column label to change the order between ascending, descending, and unordered. If the column is used to sort the table, the label will contain a symbol (▲ for ascending and ▼ for descending). Double-click the labels to sort.

You can use multiple columns to sort. The sort symbols of corresponding columns will have a subscript to denote the sort order. For example, if you want to sort by quantity in descending order and then by component name in ascending order, the Quantity column will have a ▼₁ symbol and the Component column will have a ▲₂ symbol.

Expand/collapse groups

For hierarchical BOMs, each subassembly with parts will form a group that can collapse or expand in the BOM grid.

To collapse or expand a group, do one of the following:

• Click on the node icon at the first column of the BOM grid
  OR
• Right-click on the row, then select Collapse or Expand from the context menu.

You can also collapse or expand all groups or all groups corresponding to the same assembly level with the context menu.

NOTE	The subassembly group status (collapsed or expanded) is not stored within the document. When the BOM table is closed and reopened, all subassembly groups are expanded by default.

Properties

The properties grid is located at the bottom of the manager's panel. To adjust its size, use the splitter control, located between the grid and the properties grid.

The properties grid contains the properties of the current table; title, type, filter, sorting mode and footer title. If any columns are selected, the grid will also display their common properties. You can change any common property for all the selected columns at once. Column properties change the title, visibility, and width of the column.

For numerical values, you can set the footer type, unit placement, and the units mode (if the column has units that can be changed).

The unit placement defines where the units are displayed: in the column title, in the same cell as the value itself or in its own column.

The units mode defines how the displayed unit should be obtained; the best unit for all values, the best unit to display a particular value in the cell, or a specified unit. You can choose the Units mode for distance, area, volume or mass properties.

Filter

It is possible to add a custom filter to the current BOM. To apply a filter, use the Filter property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Property grid.

For more details, see Bill of Materials/Filtering.

See also: To set a custom filter for the current BOM.

Sort

BOM tables support several sort modes (see Bill of Materials/Sorting for more details).

To switch between modes, use the Sorting mode property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid. Use the Sorting mode drop-down menu or double-click the column labels in the Grid to toggle between ascending, descending or natural order for the respective column.

Column units 

It is possible to change the Unit placement and Units mode for most numerical properties with units. Select the required columns in the Grid and use the Column properties section of the Properties grid to change the Unit placement and the Units mode. For more details, see Bill of Materials/Column units.

See also: To change the units and unit placement modes for the column.

Formula fields

A BOM supports formula fields. To add a formula field, use Column selector to enter a formula and Insert column after/before to place the column. By default, the formula column will have the Formula field title. To change the title, use the Title property of the formula column. You can also set the formula unit. This is a string that will be treated as the unit name for the formula results.

For more details about formula fields, such as expression syntax, see Bill of Materials/Formula Fields.

See also: To add a formula column.

Footer row

A BOM table can include a footer row. To add a footer row, specify the footer type for one or more columns. By default, the title of the footer row is TOTAL:. Change the footer title with the Footer title property in the Bill of materials property section of the Properties grid.

For more information about a footer row in a BOM, see Bill of Materials/Footer.

See also: To add the footer for the column.

Templates

You can save BOM configurations as templates to reuse later. Use the BOM manager to create a new table from a template and to replace the current table configuration with one from a template. You can save the configuration as a template at any moment. You can change a loaded template configuration with regular tools and save it as another template.

For more information about BOM templates, see Bill of Materials/Templates

Search

The BOM manager has a search field that allows you to search for a particular value in the table. You can also use a Wildcard template search. By default, BricsCAD searches the entire table. To limit the search area select only the required columns. If the value is found, the cursor will move to the cell. If no columns are selected, the row will select automatically. The Grid will automatically scroll to make the cell visible. To find another value, use the  or  buttons. You can also use F3 or Ctrl+F3.

By default, the text in the search field is searched for. However, you can also use wildcard templates. The following special symbols are supported:

Name	Character	Description
Back quote	`	Escapes the next character (takes it literally).
Comma	,	Separates patterns.
Asterisk	*	Matches any character sequence, including a null sequence, anywhere
Question Mark	?	Matches a single character.
Period	.	Matches a single non-alphanumeric character.
At sign	@	Matches a single alphabetic character.
Pound sign	#	Matches a single numeric character.
Tilda	~	If the first character in a pattern matches anything but the pattern.
Brackets	[...]	Matches a single enclosed character.
Tilda brackets	[~...]	Matches a single non-enclosed character.
Hyphen	-	In brackets, matches a single character in the specified range.

To open the search field, use the Search tool on the toolbar or use Ctrl+F.

Associated table

Each BOM table in the manager can have an associated table in the document. This will update if the BOM configuration is changed. One BOM table will have no more than one associated table. However, you can create BOM tables that do not have associated tables in the document.

To create an associated table, use Place/Update table. If the BOM table was created with BmBom, the associated table is created automatically.

You can locate the associated table in the document with Associated table - Zoom to or Associated table - Select. If necessary, the active layout will be switched to the associated table layout. 

You can delete the associated table with Associated table - Delete. Alternatively, you can detach the associated table from the BOM table with Associated table - Detach. After it is detached, the associated table will lose the link to the BOM table and will not update with the BOM.

Update the BOM

From BricsCAD V20.2, the BOM manager automatically updates the table content in the panel when the assembly is modified or updated. For large assemblies, this may be inconvenient. To avoid the automatic update, close the BOM manager to make the BOM Manager panel inactive. The BOM manager will automatically update the table when made active.

You can manually refresh the BOM manager content with Refresh.

NOTE	The associated table is not updated automatically when the assembly is changed or modified. Use Place/Update table to update the associated table.

Add a new bill of materials

1. Use the New BOM submenu of the Main menu:
   
2. Select the BOM type or select From template to choose the template file for a BOM.

Select the current BOM

1. Use the BOM selector to select an existing bill of materials.

NOTE	The table will automatically update to the current state of the assembly and the associated table in the drawing (if it exists).

Change the type of the current BOM

Change the Type property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid

 

Change the property set of the current BOM

Change the Property set property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid

Change the counting mode of the hierarchical BOM

Change the Counting mode property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid

 

Set a custom filter for the current BOM

Change the Filter property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid.

Add new columns to the current BOM

1. (optional) Use the category selector to select the category of the properties you want to add:
   
2. Select the property to add from the list of the available columns. This list will contain all columns from the selected category, not yet added to the BOM. If you start to type the name of the field BricsCAD will automatically suggest names to you. Click to select it from the list.
   
3. (optional) Select the column in the BOM you want to place the new column next to.
4. Use  Insert the column after to place the new column after the selected one, or  Insert the column before to place the new column before the selected one. If no column is selected, the new column is placed as the last or the first column, respectively.

Add a formula column

1. Type the formula expression in the Column selector.
   
   
2. Use  Insert the column after to place the new column after the selected one, or  Insert the column before to place the new column before the selected one. If no column is selected, the new column is placed as the last or the first column, respectively.
   A new column with the Formula field title will be added.
3. Select the newly added column.
4. Change the Title property in the Column properties section of the Properties grid.
5. Change the Formula unit if necessary.

Remove the column from the current BOM

1. Select the column in the grid.
2. Use the  Remove the column tool to remove it from the current BOM
   OR
   Hit Delete.

Change the BOM title

Use BOM Title to edit the title
OR
Use the Title property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid.
You can use a <NAME> placeholder to refer to the assembly name.  

Change the footer row title

Use the Footer title property in the Bill of materials properties section of the Properties grid.

Change the column title 

1. Select the column in the BOM grid.
2. Select Title property in the Column properties section. The properties are displayed at the bottom of the manager's panel.
   
3. Change the Title property value to the new title of the column.

Change the units and unit placement modes for a column

1. Select the required column(s).
2. (Optional) Change the Unit placement property in the Column properties section of the Property grid.
3. (Optional) Change the Units mode property in the Column properties section of the Property grid.

Add a footer to a column

1. Select the column(s) to add a footer value to. You may select several columns at once.
2. Use the Footer submenu of the Main menu to select the type of footer value
   OR
   Right-click on the column label and then select Footer submenu:
   
   The following types are available:
   • Sum
   • Average value
   • Minimal value
   • Maximal value
   • No footer (the column will be removed from the footer. If there is no column with another footer type, the footer row will be removed completely)

Alternatively:

1. Select the column(s) to add a footer value to.
2. In the Properties grid, select the Footer type property and choose the footer type.
   

NOTE	To quickly toggle between sum and no footer, you can press the  Footer button on the toolbar.

Save the current configuration as a template

1. Use  Save as template. The dialog to select the name and location for a template file will display.
2. In the dialog specify the name and location of the template file.
   
3. Click Save to save the template or Cancel to close the dialog with no save.