I’m thrilled to share the latest updates in OpenBOM’s October 2024 release. From advanced data model enhancements to user experience improvements and CAD integrations, this release brings valuable new features that continue to push the boundaries of what OpenBOM can achieve. Here is a top list of improvements we made during the October release timeframe. 

• Data Modeling Enhancements for Digital Thread and Reference Links 
• Improvements of Undo / Redo mechanism 
• Improvements of Share Dialog with multiple emails 
• User experience for navigating to BOMs 
• Improvements in Design Projects 
• CAD Integrations enhancements 
• Improvements of APIs and bug fixing 

Let’s dive into the key updates.

Reference Links and Data Model for Digital Thread

OpenBOM has always placed a strong emphasis on building a flexible data model that allows organizations to represent their product information in a way that best suits their needs. This October release marks a major milestone with the introduction of Object Reference properties, enabling seamless linking between system and custom objects. These enhanced linking capabilities make it easier to represent complex product structures and enable the creation of a digital thread—a connected web of product information that spans across the entire product lifecycle.

This enhancement is particularly useful for creating flexible product data models connecting data across multiple lifecycle stages. You can now link item catalogs with custom objects like Projects, Tasks, or Requirements, making it easier to navigate through interconnected data. By enabling these object references, OpenBOM unlocks the ability to create a rich, scalable product knowledge graph, which is essential for managing complex product lifecycles and digital thread workflows.

For a step-by-step guide on how to create custom objects and object references, and to see it in action, check out this video walkthrough.

Read more about these enhancements in our article – OpenBOM Data Model Enhancements for Digital Thread

Undo/Redo for Selection Sets

Mistakes happen, and in complex product data environments, the ability to quickly correct them is crucial. That’s why we’ve improved the Undo/Redo functionality. It can now undo-redo multiple operations when you perform them in a sequence. For example, if you remove a line from a catalog with 20 attributes, the Undo function will return all attributes in a single click. 

Whether you’re creating, editing, or modifying selection sets, this feature ensures that users can easily undo or redo their actions, minimizing errors and boosting confidence while working on intricate product structures.

This update provides greater flexibility when managing large sets of data, especially during tasks like editing BOMs, multiple copy/paste, or updating multiple objects simultaneously.

Multiple Emails in the Share Dialog

We understand how important collaboration is in today’s connected environments, which is why the ability to share data seamlessly is key. In response to user feedback, we’ve enhanced our sharing feature to allow multiple emails in the Share dialog. Now, you can easily share your BOMs, catalogs, or other data with multiple collaborators at once, directly from OpenBOM.

This feature is a timesaver for teams that need to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, both internally and externally, ensuring that everyone gets access to the right data quickly and efficiently.

Design Projects 3D Viewer

The Design Project File Viewer is another exciting addition to this release. It provides users with the ability to view files directly within OpenBOM’s interface without needing to download or open them externally. This feature improves collaboration and review cycles, allowing stakeholders to quickly preview design files, drawings, and other documents in one place.

Earlier this year, we announced OpenBOM open viewer architecture and strategy. As part of this strategy, we have been releasing our first viewer integration in collaboration with Autodesk and Autodesk Platform Services Online Viewer. By integrating OpenBOM with Autodesk products such as Fusion, Inventor, and Revit, we now support visualization capabilities powered by Autodesk. This integration enhances the user experience by providing robust visualization tools for all formats supported by Autodesk Online Viewer directly within the OpenBOM platform. More information on accessing these features will be provided soon.

Watch the video with a first preview of OpenBOM Design with Autodesk Online Viewer.

You can enable the viewer by using Design Project Settings where you can bring Autodesk Platform Service identification. 

By integrating file viewing capabilities into the platform, OpenBOM streamlines workflows, reducing the time spent jumping between different tools and enabling teams to focus on decision-making based on up-to-date, easily accessible information.

Design & Workspace Manager

Team and Company accounts have an option to automatically create a file version every time a changed file is Smart Sync’d to OpenOBM Design. This control lets you keep a separate file version for EVERY change allowing you to go back in the history of a file and recover earlier versions when needed.

This setting is controlled by the your company OpenBOM Administrator.

And creates a Version column in the OpenBOM Design Project as shown below

OpenBOM CAD Integration Enhancements

Altium Designer

Create/Update Catalog from INTLIB & PCBLIB

We’ve added INTLIB and PCBLIB to the list of libraries that OPenBOM can Create/Update Catalogs. 

Bringing the list of supported library types to: SCHLIB, PCBLIB, INTLIB, DBLIB

Multiple Table Import of DBLIB

When importing an Altium Library as an OpenBOM Catalog, you may now select the individual tables to import.    Here I am importing two tables from the selected DBLIB

Generate Part Number for DBLIB

In the example below, I am generating Part Numbers for all items in the DBLib/Capacitor – Electrolytics table. 

The Part Number values will be placed in the Part Numebr property specified in the Settings dialog. 

Added an option to disable thumbnail generation

If you are running a lot of Altium imports, or just want the import to run faster without generating Thumbnails, you can now disable generation of Thumbnails.

Autodesk Fusion

There are several enhancements we made for Autodesk Fusion platform. As such we extended OpenBOM support for Phantom & Promote assembly behavior.

Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS

There are a dew important enhancements we made for improvements of OpenBOM Add-in for SOLIDWORKS.

• Improved the way we get Sheetmetal Thumbnails
• Added support for Get Part Number for Weldment Cut List

PTC Creo

OpenBOM for Creo now includes an option to create DXF export of Drawings. Single sheet drawings will be as DXF, Multi Sheet as a ZIP.  Just enable the OpenBOM Storage option under Settings, then tick the “Send Drawing as DXF” option.

PTC Onshape

OpenBOM is excited to announce a major update to our Onshape integration, delivering new features designed to enhance your workflow. This update introduces an intuitive drawing flyout interface, simplified settings for easier configuration, and significant improvements in speed and performance. With these enhancements, users can expect a smoother, faster experience when managing BOMs, assemblies, and derivative files directly within Onshape.

Following a major upgrade in  September 2024, we continue to make improvements in the UI and overall User Experience.   In this release, we have improved the derivative file generation, queuing, and notifications as the process completes.

Read more about OpenBOM’s new Onshape Add-in in the following article – OpenBOM Launches Major Update for Onshape Integration: New Drawing Features, Simplified Settings, and Improved Speed

A notable extension is improvements of Onshape Drawing support and user experience of drawings BOM import. 

OpenBOM REST API

We are continuously investing in the improvements of the public REST API. Many of our customers are using REST API to integrate OpenBOM into the landscape of applications and other system and engineering tools. 

Public REST API to retrieve a single item from a catalog – Get specific item for catalog document by part number. 

Other Bug Fixes and Improvements

We made many fixes and improvements that sometimes, bugs, regressions and just user experience enhancements. Here are a few most notable improvements: 

• Fixed a case when User Defined Commands were not saving
• Fixed a Public API issue when getting merged revisions for a specific item
• Fixed a case when the Support button was very large and ugly
• Fixed a case when SSO users may not get signed in via the REST API
• Fixed the case when long filenames blocked downloading the exported.ZIP  (sorry about that)
• Improved the way Onshapes checks for Purchased assemblies
• Update BOM On Release option is now available to all users (Was admin only)
• The Link to Onshape now displays for non-company accounts – as it should.
• Fixed the Combine by Name option in Onshape
• Fixed a case when Category Mapping was not working properly in Onshape
• Improved the Part Number assignment confirmation message for Onshape
• Fixed a case when Weldment lengths were not reported correctly
• Improved the experience for users running on Solidworks on Mac/Parallels
• Added support to update Solidworks properties in the root assembly (sorry that took so long)

Conclusion

The October 2024 release brings transformative features that enhance OpenBOM’s flexibility and usability, further empowering organizations to manage product data with ease. From the introduction of Object Reference properties that support digital thread workflows to the convenience of multi-email sharing and undo/redo capabilities, this release delivers tools that drive collaboration, efficiency, and innovation. The data management capabilities is a big deal because they provide a robust and scalable solution for many companies looking to connect engineers with manufacturers with supply chain, etc. 

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to expand OpenBOM’s capabilities, including upcoming graph navigation features to fully leverage the new custom objects and Object Reference properties!

REGISTER FOR FREE and Check them out. 

Best, Oleg