Applied Parameters: ObjectKind=Report|Kind=BOM_PartType|Target=Document
Summary
This command is used to generate a Bill of Materials report for the active PCB document. This report-type document provides an at-a-glance listing of all components required to build the active board – including the bare board, which is essentially the base 'component' upon which all other parts are assembled. The BOM acts as a guide for what needs to be procured to build the product as designed. It also provides a means to calculate costing, based on the required number of assembled boards in a requested spin.
Access
This command is accessed from the PCB Editor by choosing the Reports » Bill of Materials command, from the main menus.
Use
First, ensure that the PCB document you wish to generate a Bill of Materials report for, is the active document in the main design window.
After launching the command, the Report Manager dialog will appear. The data presented in this dialog - used to configure the Bill of Materials report - can come from one of two sources. If there is an ActiveBOM document (*.BomDoc) associated to the design project, then this will be used as the source of the data. Otherwise, the data will be extracted from the source schematic documents for the project.
Use this highly configurable, dedicated, and powerful report generation engine, to configure the content for the BOM report as required. The report can be generated - either printed, or exported into one of several file formats:
- CSV (Comma Delimited) (*.csv)
- Microsoft Excel Worksheet (*.xls;*.xlsx;*.xlt;*.xltx)
- Portable Document Format (*.pdf)
- Tab Delimited Text (*.txt)
- Web Page (*.htm;*.html)
- XML Spreadsheet (*.xml).
An exported file can be saved in any nominated location. In addition, it can be opened in the relevant software application and/or added to the project after it is created.
Use the Report command, from the Report Manager dialog's menus, to access the Report Preview dialog, with the BOM report already loaded. Use the various controls in the window to adjust the view of the report. Click the Print button to launch the Print dialog, from where to determine what is printed and to which printing device the job is sent. The report preview can also be exported into a variety of file formats.
Tips
- The project is automatically compiled before the report is generated.
- All exported output files will be written to the output folder specified in the Output Path field, on the Options tab of the Options for Project dialog. By default, the output path is set to a sub-folder of the folder that contains the project file, and has the name Project Outputs for <ProjectName>. The output path can be changed as required. In the Projects panel, the generated file(s) will be presented under the Generated\Text Documents (.csv, .txt) or Generated\Documents (.xls, .pdf, .htm, .xml) sub-folders.
- If the option to Use separate folder for each output type is enabled (also on the Options tab), output can be written into a further sub-folder, named Reports (e.g. Project Outputs for <ProjectName>\Reports). If exported output is saved to this folder, then in the Projects panel, output will appear under the Generated (Reports)\Text Documents (.csv, .txt) or Generated(Reports)\Documents (.xls, .pdf, .htm, .xml) sub-folders.