3DEXPERIENCE Engineering Release App to Add or Change Properties

Let’s look at a major time-saver - using the Engineering Release app in the 3D3DEXPERIENCE platform to change/add properties (metadata) to parts and assemblies that have already been saved to the platform.

Accessing the Engineering Release App

The Engineering Release app is included with the Product Release Engineer role. This is a role that can be added to your platform for certain users who need it. This role is considered the “BOM Release/Management” role, and its main purpose is to manage product definition from the early stages all the way to final validation.

Users of this app can access the full bills of materials for designs, manipulate and add to them as needed, and export for many downstream uses such as ERP and purchasing. Users can also access engineering items, set ownership of those items, define part numbers, manage content and lifecycle maturity, and save time by creating brand new structures by reusing existing designs with tools to duplicate, exclude, and add them.

• Suggested Reading >> Overcome Barriers with Release Management - 3DEXPERIENCE Works 2023

As mentioned, this app can also be used to change/add properties (metadata) to files.

Using the Engineering Release App

Using the Engineering Release app, open an assembly.

Add/remove any columns you want, using Table Preferences, and arrange them in the desired order by dragging and dropping. 

Do not remove name or revision columns. Those are critical.

In the upper right corner, export to a .csv file and open in Excel.

Delete rows 3 & 4 (as they are not needed for the proper formatting of the file) and shift the remaining rows up.

Type a “0” (zero) in column A (Level) for the upper-level assembly (this cell was initially blank).

All of the other existing 0’s below this need to be changed to 1’s, the 1’s need to be changed to 2’s, and so on…

This can be done by hand if there are only a few rows. Be very careful to only increment by 1!

For an assembly with a lot of rows and a lot of levels deep, the easiest way to do this is to insert a new column to the left of column A.

Fill this entire column with a value of “1” for as many rows as needed.  (Type a “1” in the first cell and flood fill to get the rest.)

Copy the entire column A and Paste Special onto the “Level” column B.

Use the Add operation and click OK.

This should increment all the values in column B by a value of 1.

All of the old 0’s should now be 1’s, the old 1’s will be 2’s, and so on. 

Make sure there is still a “0” in the row for the upper-level assembly at the top.

Now delete column A.

Once everything is in the necessary format, modify the properties that you want to provide new/overridden values for.

Save the file as an .xls or .xlsx file and provide a name so you will know it is the “updated” version.

From the Engineering Release Home (house icon) screen, choose Create from Spreadsheet.

Browse to the spreadsheet with the updated values.

After the file is read, you will likely receive the following screen if ALL the properties you are using in the spreadsheet are not mapped in the platform. This is OK, as long as the ones you are modifying or adding are mapped correctly.  In this case, you will see a green message saying that all mandatory attributes are mapped correctly. The others can be ignored.

Use the dropdowns to change what attribute the column will be mapped to, and the check boxes to turn off ones that you don’t want to modify.

When you hit OK on that window, it will analyze the info in the spreadsheet and notify you if there are any errors.

If you need to return to the previous window showing the mapping, select the Manage Spreadsheet Columns text to make it reappear.

If there are other syntax or formatting errors in your spreadsheet, it will notify you which row the problem is in.

You will need to cancel this command, modify your spreadsheet, re-save it, and try again.

When you are ready to add/overwrite the properties, click the Import button.

After the data has been indexed (or you switch to index mode and refresh the app), you should see the new values for the properties that you changed.

Now that you have the spreadsheet formatted correctly, you can use it for any other assemblies you want to modify. Be very careful when filling it out or copying and pasting from another assembly export. You can severely mess up your assemblies with this method if the data is incorrect.

When performed correctly, this method can be a big time-saver for changing or adding properties to files that are already stored in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Want to learn more? Check out more tips and tutorials listed below or on our 3DEXPERIENCE YouTube Channel. 

Additionally, join the GoEngineer Community to participate in conversations, create forum posts, and answer questions from other 3DEXPERIENCE platform users.

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