I’d like to discuss our integration with SOLIDWORKS. I’ll start by remarking as of today we have two SOLIDWORKS related integrations. One is our free integration for SOLIDWORKS users. It’s available for download in the openBoM app: Tools>Integrations menu. The other integration is with SOLIDWORKS Professional PDM. More details about our integration with PDM available, here. We regularly receive questions about SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM and SOLIDWORKS Standard PDM. If you’re running one of them, please talk to me. We would like to learn more about these and figure out how to support them as well.
Today I will talk about our SOLIDWORKS CAD integration. To download the plugin, navigate to openBoM Tools -> Integration menu and download installation package.
The openBoM Integration plugin with Solidworks is a shell extension that is available when you right click on a Solidworks assembly file in Windows Explorer.
By-the-way, if you think our integration should run within Solidworks, please let us know. We are considering this option and would appreciate getting your perspective.
You configure the SOLIDWORKS integration by entering your openBoM username and password. If you’re experiencing any issues at this stage, please check you signed in to openBom in a browser with the same credentials. If that doesn’t work, please contact support @ openbom.com
Here are details you should be aware of how openBoM extracts BOMs from Solidworks and what happens afterwards. openBoM can extract a BOM based on an assembly-component structure. This is a basic option and works automatically when you export a BOM to openBoM. Nothing is required from you except installing the plug-in and clicking the Export button.
openBoM extracts all data including custom properties you may have created in SOLIDWORKS. In our experience, SOLIDWORKS users create substantial amounts of customer data using custom properties. However, at times using an assembly-component BOM can be overwhelming. The good news is openBoM supports Solidworks BOM Tables. If you’re a SOLIDWORKS user, you’re probably using them. If you add a BOM Table to a SOLIDWORKS assembly, openBoM will be able to create a BOM to match this BOM Table.
Finally, what happens when you update data? The openBoM integration captures data updates when you Export a BOM to openBoM. At the same time, data added in openBoM (for example none geometrical items such as Glue or Grease) will not be changed.
The openBOM integration with SOLIDWORKS CAD is simple and easy to perform. It doesn’t require changes to existing workflows. If you don’t create BOMs in SOLIDWORKS today, openBoM will automatically capture an assembly-component structure. However, if you create dedicated BOM tables, openBoM will capture the exact table and keep it synced with changes in SOLIDWORKS.
Oleg, July 2017