Hi Josh...
Before this gets away from me again, I need to write up something comprehensive regarding your question... so here goes. Let's go back to your original question:
Is it possible to use drawing parameters in repeat region relations?
The answer to this question is actually No. Using basic functionality, you cannot use drawing parameters in relations. This is right out of the Pro/E documentation. The trick I was referring to technically doesn't use relations... it uses a Drawing Program. Using a Drawing Program, you actually can use drawing parameters in a "relation-like" programming environment. So... while the Pro/E documentation is technically correct, you can actually can work with drawing parameters in a similar fashion to the way you'd use relations.
If that sounds very carefully worded and muddy, that's because it is. This is where the problem comes in. While I've certainly discovered a way to use drawing parameters in a drawing program to mimic some of the functions of a relation, I can't mimic all of them. Therefore, I have a partial solution to your problem. As I've re-read your messages relating to this thread, I think I understand what you're trying to do. As written, I do not think you can achieve what you're after. I think you may be able to come up with a clever solution that can use the drawing program idea... but you won't be able to do it in a table.
Now, all of this is not to say there's no solution to your problem. There's always the caveat that most things can be accomplished using J-LINK or Pro/TOOLKIT. There are numerous methods to extend the features of Pro/ENGINEER using other programming languages. I've seen people use Pro/PROGRAM, C, Toolkit, J-Link, Web-Develop, the Visual Basic API, Perl, Javascript, ModelCheck, and even software like Excel. If you really want to achieve a specific function in Pro/E, chances are you can do it. We're talking only about out of the box basic functionality here. I'm trying to figure out an out-of-the-box solution for you.
Again, going back to your messages:
... I don't want to add these to every part (we can sometimes have 100's of parts per BOM/drawing), what I am looking to do is put the 2 letter code on the drawing and set up a relation in my BOM to generate the three digit number based on an existing part level parameter and the 2 letter drawing parameter.
You also said:
I would like to drive the value of a column in my BOM tables with a relation that uses both a part level parameter and a drawing level parameter.
So then, my understanding is that you want to create a drawing parameter to contain the two-letter code. You then want to look at each component (part or subassembly) in an assembly BOM. You want to use a relation (specifically a repeat region relation) to compare some component-level parameter to the drawing parameter. This relation would compare the two-letter code and the component parameter to come up with a unique 3-character code for each component. This unique code would be displayed in your assembly BOM.
If I am understanding this correctly, you can't do it. You can't do anything inside a repeat region relation that uses drawing parameters. Again, that's directly confirmed in the documentation. I tried all sorts of crazy workarounds and I couldn't get around this limitation... even using the drawing program. I couldn't make the code pop up in an assembly BOM.
What I was able to do, was perform this operation in a single part. If I had a single drawing with a single part, I could compare a part parameter to a drawing parameter and assign a new, unique parameter based on the comparison. This is exactly what I think you want... except I cannot put the results into a parameter that will report in a BOM.
If you had a drawing of each and every part, you could add the two-digit manufacturing code to the drawing. From this, I can compare the part and the manufacturing code and create the 3 digit routing number. I can display that routing number in a note or anywhere in the title block. The only thing I CAN'T do, is get it in a repeat region BOM.
At first I thought this was enough to solve your problem. When I went back and re-read, that's when I put together your messages and figured out that you need this to happen in an assembly BOM.
Now that we know what cannot be done, we can start asking questions to determine what can be done. For example, you can take your assembly BOM and export it to Excel. You can use a script inside Excel to generate the 3 digit code and dump the whole thing out to a report or some other type of document. If you absolutely must have the BOM inside of Pro/E, I have another suggestion...
Let's say you have an assembly with a BOM that needs the three digit routing numbers added. What if we could take the BOM generated from Pro/E and send it to Excel for processing. Excel would add the routing numbers. Finally, you could display a new BOM on the drawing that contained the routing numbers. Would this work? I'd envision moving the default BOM outside the right-hand border of the drawing and having the new Excel-created BOM in it's place. I'm not sure if that gives you the "automated" process you're after but it's a possibility.
So while I don't have a magic bullet solution, we're close. If we can tweak your requirements a bit, may be we can get there. Or... if we think outside of the box, we might be able to come up with a solution that overcomes the drawing parameter/relation limitation.
Let me know what you think and we'll go from there.
Thanks!
-Brian
I'll write more today...
