AutoCAD Plant 3D (2016) Report Creator Not Updating with Project

[CASk8er]

Hi All,

I'm relatively new to using AutoCAD Plant 3D and have hit a wall. I'm trying to generate a BOM report from the Report Creator, but the information generated does not match what is in the latest pipe model for the project. Specifically, my 3" 300LB flanges in the model are not included in the generated report, and instead I am getting 3" 600LB flanges from a different specification showing up in the report. I went into AutoCAD Plant Report Creator, selected the correct project.xml, chose Project Data as the Data Source, went into Report Configuration, opened the Query Configuration and ran a "Test query result". All the information that resulted from the test is correct, however the report continues to generate the incorrect information. If anyone has some insight into what is going on here it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
CASk8er

[AetrioEngMD]

Hello CASk8er, give this a try:

Instead of selecting "Project Data" in your Report Creator window, select "Drawing Data" and then specify which model you would like the data extracted from.
It could be pulling info from another drawing within your project.

If it's not that then try going into your Report Creator and checking to see if your template is pulling the Long Description (Size) from the parts and then check to see if your long descriptions correct in the model (and your spec) itself.

Hopefully that helps.

[CASk8er]

Thanks for the tip.

At long last I have figured out why the reports were not updating, or missing parts completely. Here's what I found that could hopefully help someone else facing this same problem.

I had two separate problems.

First, in creating a specification for the project, I did not add the ND (Nominal Diameter) in the "Long Description (Size)" for each flange component. This causes the Report Generator to remove these flanges from the Bill of Material report. Instead of adding in the size for each individual component in the "Long Description (Size)" field, I opened the Report Designer in AutoCAD Plant Report Creator, found the "Group and Sort" window and clicked on "Add a Group." Once the field "Engineering Items_PartSizeLongDesc" is added all of the flanges now appeared in the report (I found this tip in the AutoDesk help forums).

Second, by default AutoCAD Plant 3D Report Creator will not include pipe that either has the AutoCAD Properties value of "Use Fixed Length" set to 'True', or does not have a value. This property MUST be set to 'False'. In order to do this open the specification in Spec Editor and select the pipe, then click "Edit Part..." Find the parameter called "Use Fixed Length" and make sure the check boxes are left blank. Save the specification and update the spec in the CAD model.
In addition, you may need to open the Project Manager -> Properties in AutoCAD Plant 3D and navigate in the tree view to Plant 3D DWG Settings->Plant 3D Class Definitions->Piping and Equipment->Pipe Run Component->Pipe. Scroll down to the "UseFixedLength" property and deselect the check box under 'Read Only'. You'll now be able to manually adjust each pipe's properties within the CAD model.

Hope this helps somebody out there in AutoCAD land.:)