Fixing the Index of BOM

We are setting up formats and bills of materials for one of our client companies. The file naming conventions specify that the first character stands for the type of component (i.e., fabricated, purchased, or fastener), the next three are the last three digits of the assembly on which the component is used, and the next three are the item number on that assembly (which will be within a certain range of numbers, also depending on the item type).

The bill of materials will of course have an "item number" column, and I was wondering if there are system parameters which return certain characters of the filename (in this case, the last three, or positions 5,6, and 7 of the filename), so that I could set up a relation which will allow the filename to drive the item number in the BOM, rather than have to fix index and assign each component to the correct item number.

Here is the solution to the problem:

The system parameter REL_MODEL_NAME returns the model file name.  You can use the EXTRACT function to pull out the desired characters.  Set up a relation in the model as follows:

    PARTNO = EXTRACT(REL_MODEL_NAME,5,3)

This will extract three characters, starting at the fifth character, from the model file name, and assign them to a user-defined string parameter called PARTNO (or whatever you choose to call it).