Today the BOM Gather Spreadsheet hits the store!
http://www.ecadinc.com/PDOteam/index.php/store/products/bom-gather-spreadsheet/
To answer your first question, here is what the spreadsheet can do for you.
- Automate the process of formatting your spreadsheet.
- Import a query from a database to the pre-formatted spreadsheet.
- Compare two published spreadsheets and list the differences.
By the way, you may be interested to find out that this is ALL in Excel 2007. No new program to learn, but you can still tweak the settings you need!
At ECAD we decided to go with a blended approach to allow access to database information. Since every company wants their reports, their way, we can customize your project database to include those. Then, by listing the query (report) that you want, you can bring the information directly into a spreadsheet that you have already formatted.
While custom queries sound expensive, we have had a customer spend only ~$1200 for the queries + the spreadsheet. That’s for the entire company to be able to use the spreadsheet!
Take a look at the store, go through the readme, and check out the video. We’d love to help you get the BOM Gather spreadsheet worked into your design process.
YouTube Channel
BOM Gather in the Store
Today I wanted to post a tip on how to share queries. Often users or the PDOTeam will post a query and we want you to know how to use that in your own project (like the query below).
SELECT [Components-Valves].ID_COUNT_, [Components-Valves].DWG_NAME_, [Components-Valves].SIZE_, [Components-Valves].SPEC_, [Components-Valves].CW_RES_01_, [Components-Process Lines].TAG_, [Components-Process Lines].SIZE_ AS [Line Size], IIf([Components-Valves]![SIZE_]=[Line Size],"Y","N") AS [Match]
FROM [Components-Valves] INNER JOIN [Components-Process Lines] ON [Components-Valves].LINE_ID_1_ = [Components-Process Lines].ID_COUNT_;
The query above will display a list of the valves and whether or not their size matches the size of the line they are on. You can quickly see the drawings that have lines you need to fix.
Below follows the technique for adding the query to your project database.
First copy the text to the clipboard.
Next, in Access start a new query in Design View from the Create Tab.
Close the Show Table dialog, right-click on the header and choose SQL View.
Paste the query.
Now, you can use the query by saving it and switching to Datasheet view.
Don’t forget that Exporting to Excel to produce or sort a query is really easy too. Just right-click the query from the Navigation pane, highlight export and choose Excel.
I hope you find this useful!
