Import and Export of Product Data eXchange Packages

Use

You can import and export bills of material (BOMs) and engineering change numbers (ECNs) as XML structures in Product Data eXchange packages ( PDX packages). A PDX package is a zip file with extension .pdx that contains an PDX XML file of the BOM or ECN and the original documents that were attached to the object.

When you import a PDX package, the original attached documents are also uploaded and created in cFolders as documents, and are correctly linked to the BOM or ECN. The original documents can be the following:

Documents linked to the BOM header, to the BOM item, or to a material within a BOM item
An object in an ECN
Document linked to a material that is an object in an ECN
Document attached to the ECN itself

Integration

PDX packages comply with the IPC-2571 and IPC-2578 standards for product data exchange.

Caution Caution

In cFolders, you can attach documents to a BOM at BOM header level and at BOM item level. However, the IPC-2578 standard does not support BOM item attachments (attachments to element "BillOfMaterialItem"), only item element attachments. For item elements, you can make the distinction between a BOM header and BOM item with the "isTopLevel"attribute.

When you download a BOM with documents attached to a BOM item, the BOM item attachments can only be associated to the BOM header item element in the PDX XML. It is therefore not possible to upload BOM item attachments properly, as the reference between attachment and BOM item does not exist, there is only a reference between the attachment and the BOM header.

End of the caution.

Prerequisites

You have defined a field mapping profile in Customizing for Collaboration Folders under Start of the navigation path Settings for cFolders Import and Export Next navigation step Specify Field Mapping Profile forPDXPackage Import and Export End of the navigation path . The field mapping profile defines how cFolders object attributes are to be mapped to XML attributes in the Document Type Description (DTD).

Activities

Import

You import a PDX package containing a BOM or an ECN from the folder overview screen by choosing Upload PDX Package and selecting the object type that you want to import. If you have exported a BOM version as a PDX package, you can import it back into cFolders as a PDX package from the BOM overview screen by choosing Upload Version . The system creates a new BOM version.

You select the required field mapping profile from the XML Profile dropdown box. The dropdown box displays the field mapping profiles that you have have defined in Customizing and specified as either BOM or ECN relevant.

You can specify whether you want also want to import mark-ups. If a PDX package contains a new document that is referenced as attachment mark-up, the system creates a new document and associates the original file to the new document. If a PDX package contains a changed document that is referenced as attachment mark-up, the system creates a new version of the document and associates the original file to this document version.

If you set the From cFolders Document indicator, the system imports a PDX package from a file associated to a cFolders document that you select from the document selection screen. Note that you can only select a document that has file extension .zip or . pdx .

Export

You can export BOMs and ECNs as aPDXpackage from the object version screen by choosing Start of the navigation path Export Next navigation step Export Product Data eXchange Package (PDX) End of the navigation path . You specify your chosen explosion level or leave the field blank if you always want the BOM structure to be exploded. You select the required field mapping profile from the XML Profile dropdown box and select the content that you want to be included in thePDXpackage, for example BOM attributes, ECN mark-ups, or reference designators. If you select the Include Original Files of Documents indicator, the original files of all documents linked to the BOM are also included in the package.

The default file extension is pdx and the default file type is application/zip .

If you select the Generate as cFolders Document indicator, the system creates the PDX package as a document in cFolders in the same folder as the exported object.