It could be useful, if we could reference key dimensions from a drawing in the BOM.  Maybe the "Formula" annotaton type could be enhanced so that a dimension (maybe marked by a code or prefix in the drawing) could be displayed. 

 Or, there could be a dedicated "Dimension" annotation in the BOM or any annotation. When this was inserted, while activated, a user could just click on a dimension in the drawing and the dimension value would automatically be linked to the annotation. Subsequent changes in the Model would of course be reflected in the annotation, too.

 For many applications (such as the shop floor preparing material for manufacturing) a "Block size" property in the BOM would do most of the trick, if the above seems too complicated. The block size property would just display a parts bounding box dimension in the BOM then. 

There would be many uses, I am sure. 

Martin 

(Too bad we can't attach images here ...)

 Hello Martin,

I am trying to outline this Enhancement for Development, and would like some clarification from you.

One way I see this working would be to allow Associative Notes to display Groups, which would include Driving Dimensions.  You could then display the value of a Driving Dimension in your table.

Another way is closer to what you describe, linking the note to an Annotation Dimension.

While both of these methods would allow you to display a list of parts with associated dimensions, they would be read-only.  You say "changes in the Model would of course be reflected in the annotation," which would work quite nicely.

My question is whether you would expect the dimensions to be linked in the reverse direction.  In other words, would changing the value of the Associative Note tied to your dimension push the new value back to the model?  While I think this could certainly be useful, I am unsure what a user like yourself would expect from this sort of functionality.

 I am creating an enhancement request, and look forward to any other input you can provide.

Regards,

James Saunders 

 Hello James, 

sorry for the delay, it's holiday time, though. 

 When I wrote the above proposal, I was thinking more globally, the dimension in the BOM being more or less an example. I feel that the choices we have in the [XXX] box are just too limited. So, there should be some means of referencing virtually any given model property, text or number to an annotation, be it in the BOM or in the title block. That would possibly eliminate the need for the menu we call by clicking on the [xxx] box. Instead, there could be a means of specifying other objects to be linked, maybe by entering a 'referencing mode' and then simply clicking on them (E.G. a dimension, a material property or whatever there may be). 

 I do not think that reverse-linking them (so that changes in the BOM annotation change the model) would be necessary, because that would be a typical task I would probably use a history based modeler for. So, for me, your first approach (allow annotations to display groups), being read only would be okay, and probably more safe anyway, as changes to a field in the BOM could else create a big mess in the model. I prefer making the changes when I have the model on the screen.

Best regards, 

Martin

(I will be off for another week or so)