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BOM formatting question

 

Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where <t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603
2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603
4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field. Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field. This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell. OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!
 

Have you used the radio button on the BOM export that sets the field separator for spreadsheet import?

Regards,

Robert.

On 04/07/2012 14:27, randyinnc55 wrote:
Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where<t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603
2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603
4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field. Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field. This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell. OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!




------------------------------------

Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your question.
Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of Kicad.
Please visit for details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad library.
For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the kicad-devel group at ! Groups Links





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pcbnew formats BOM?similar to what you asked. Go to "File"->"Fabrication Outputs"->"BOM File".


Check this thread:


________________________________
De: randyinnc55 <rluck1@...>
Para: kicad-users@...
Enviado: mi¨¦rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012 10:27
Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question



Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where <t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603
2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603
4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field.??Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field.??This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell.??OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!
 

Andres-

This does the trick, thanks. My only issue is that they are not organized by reference designator type. All the different types are mixed together. In other words it would be nice if the list was organized by capacitors (Cx), then diodes (Dx), then connectors (Jx), etc, etc, and finally integrated circuits (Ux) instead of mixed together. Oh well, it is close enough.

The other interesting thing I found is that KiCad uses ; as the field delimiter and then saves the file by default as a .csv type. If you then try to open the file that is made with Excel, it assumes that a comma , is the field delimiter (it is a "comma spaced variable" file after all I suppose). Even using Excel's Data > Text to Columns... menu choice and telling Excel that the field delimiter is ; and not , it still wouldn't format properly. The only way I could get that to work was to change the file extension from .csv to .bom. Then Excel opened and formatted the file perfectly. So the lesson learned would be to save the BOM file with an extension other than the default .csv. Maybe .txt or .bom for example.

Thanks!
-Randy

--- In kicad-users@..., Andres Kasulin <andreskasulin@...> wrote:

pcbnew formats BOM??similar to what you asked. Go to "File"->"Fabrication Outputs"->"BOM File".


Check this thread:


________________________________
De: randyinnc55 <rluck1@...>
Para: kicad-users@...
Enviado: mi??rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012 10:27
Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question



Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where <t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603
2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603
4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field.????Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field.????This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell.????OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!


??
 

Randy,

You didn't read my post. I'll repeat it here:

"Have you used the radio button on the BOM export that sets the field
separator for spreadsheet import?"

I'm guessing you are completely ignoring the dialog that gets popped up
when you export the BOM, because it allows you to set how the components
are organised and the field separator. You must also be ignoring the Excel dialogs, because they allow you to select a separator (at least they do on my copy, and Libre/OpenOffice has the same feature).

Regards,

Robert.

On 05/07/2012 07:18, randyinnc55 wrote:
Andres-

This does the trick, thanks. My only issue is that they are not
organized by reference designator type. All the different types are
mixed together. In other words it would be nice if the list was
organized by capacitors (Cx), then diodes (Dx), then connectors (Jx),
etc, etc, and finally integrated circuits (Ux) instead of mixed
together. Oh well, it is close enough.

The other interesting thing I found is that KiCad uses ; as the field
delimiter and then saves the file by default as a .csv type. If you
then try to open the file that is made with Excel, it assumes that a
comma , is the field delimiter (it is a "comma spaced variable" file
after all I suppose). Even using Excel's Data> Text to Columns...
menu choice and telling Excel that the field delimiter is ; and not ,
it still wouldn't format properly. The only way I could get that to
work was to change the file extension from .csv to .bom. Then Excel
opened and formatted the file perfectly. So the lesson learned would
be to save the BOM file with an extension other than the default
.csv. Maybe .txt or .bom for example.

Thanks! -Randy


--- In kicad-users@..., Andres Kasulin<andreskasulin@...>
wrote:

pcbnew formats BOM similar to what you asked. Go to
"File"->"Fabrication Outputs"->"BOM File".


Check this thread:



________________________________ De: randyinnc55<rluck1@...> Para:
kicad-users@... Enviado: mi??rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012
10:27 Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question



Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the
following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where<t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603 2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603 4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit
each field. Notice that all the reference designators in the
RefDesList are all within one field. This way all those of a
particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell. OrCad
can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!





------------------------------------

Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting
your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked
up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit for
details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad
library. For building Kicad from source and other development
questions visit the kicad-devel group at
! Groups Links




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120704-0, 04/07/2012 Tested on: 05/07/2012 08:04:34 avast! -
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/&#92;

 

Robert-

Yes I saw that. Semicolon is fine. And yes it needs to be back annotated so that the BOM that you can generate from the schematic side has all the part values as you said.

The dialog you mention on the schematic side does give you some options. I knew that. I misunderstood what the check box "single part per line" meant. I thought it meant each part instance on a separate line so I didn't try it. But with that unchecked, it was still putting a separate part instance on each line so that option didn't make sense to me. But that option instead means single part type on a separate line which is in fact the behavior I was looking for. Maybe it would be clearer if it said "single part type per line" or "single part value per line", but that's just me ;-)

The BOM dialog on the PCB side does not give you any options for formatting the generated BOM file beyond the file name.

I am now able to get a very similar BOM now from either tool. And the BOM generated on the schematic side still puts each part type line in value order, rather than reference designator order (i.e. first caps (Cx), then diodes (Dx), etc.) no matter how I check the boxes in the List items group box. Oh, well, it's good enough.

With regard to Excel, in my version I get the dialog you are talking about, I mentioned it in my post. But if the file extension is CSV, it will not change away from using the commas as the separator no matter how I set that dialog in my version of Excel. If I save the file from KiCad with any other extension like TXT or BOM for example, then that dialog works, I can set it to use the semicolons as the separator, and all is well.

Thanks,
-Randy

--- In kicad-users@..., Robert <birmingham_spider@...> wrote:

Randy,

You didn't read my post. I'll repeat it here:

"Have you used the radio button on the BOM export that sets the field
separator for spreadsheet import?"

I'm guessing you are completely ignoring the dialog that gets popped up
when you export the BOM, because it allows you to set how the components
are organised and the field separator. You must also be ignoring the
Excel dialogs, because they allow you to select a separator (at least
they do on my copy, and Libre/OpenOffice has the same feature).

Regards,

Robert.

On 05/07/2012 07:18, randyinnc55 wrote:
Andres-

This does the trick, thanks. My only issue is that they are not
organized by reference designator type. All the different types are
mixed together. In other words it would be nice if the list was
organized by capacitors (Cx), then diodes (Dx), then connectors (Jx),
etc, etc, and finally integrated circuits (Ux) instead of mixed
together. Oh well, it is close enough.

The other interesting thing I found is that KiCad uses ; as the field
delimiter and then saves the file by default as a .csv type. If you
then try to open the file that is made with Excel, it assumes that a
comma , is the field delimiter (it is a "comma spaced variable" file
after all I suppose). Even using Excel's Data> Text to Columns...
menu choice and telling Excel that the field delimiter is ; and not ,
it still wouldn't format properly. The only way I could get that to
work was to change the file extension from .csv to .bom. Then Excel
opened and formatted the file perfectly. So the lesson learned would
be to save the BOM file with an extension other than the default
.csv. Maybe .txt or .bom for example.

Thanks! -Randy


--- In kicad-users@..., Andres Kasulin<andreskasulin@>
wrote:

pcbnew formats BOM? similar to what you asked. Go to
"File"->"Fabrication Outputs"->"BOM File".


Check this thread:



________________________________ De: randyinnc55<rluck1@> Para:
kicad-users@... Enviado: mi??rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012
10:27 Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question



Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the
following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where<t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603 2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603 4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit
each field.? ? Notice that all the reference designators in the
RefDesList are all within one field.? ? This way all those of a
particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell.? ? OrCad
can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!


?



------------------------------------

Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting
your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked
up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit for
details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad
library. For building Kicad from source and other development
questions visit the kicad-devel group at
! Groups Links




--- avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS):
120704-0, 04/07/2012 Tested on: 05/07/2012 08:04:34 avast! -
copyright (c) 1988-2012 AVAST Software.



--
() Plain text email - safe, readable, inclusive.
/&#92;

 

for. Maybe it would be clearer if it said "single part type per
line" or "single part value per line", but that's just me ;-)
Some of the (English) wording is kicad is a little curious, and I've always taken that to be because the text was written by someone who doesn't speak English as their first language. If kicad appears to be missing a feature its sometimes best to try all the buttons and see what happens.

I am now able to get a very similar BOM now from either tool. And
the BOM generated on the schematic side still puts each part type
line in value order, rather than reference designator order (i.e.
first caps (Cx), then diodes (Dx), etc.) no matter how I check the
boxes in the List items group box. Oh, well, it's good enough.
The database I've been working on organises BOM by part type, and then places the components in reference order. It'll do this even if you haven't added components to the database. The downside is that this ordering is done by an Access 97 front end, and the export to Excel really sucks. It does create a nice list in Word, however.

With regard to Excel, in my version I get the dialog you are talking
about, I mentioned it in my post. But if the file extension is CSV,
it will not change away from using the commas as the separator no
matter how I set that dialog in my version of Excel. If I save the
file from KiCad with any other extension like TXT or BOM for example,
then that dialog works, I can set it to use the semicolons as the
separator, and all is well.
I've switched to Libre/Open Office and that always pops up a dialog to allow you to select the separator. It can save files in Excel format. You can of course set the separator to comma when you export the BOM from EESchema, but I always use tab as I know there will never be a tab in the exported kicad fields.

Regards,

Robert.

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/&#92;

 

There is a more general way to solve your problem also. Instead of using "BOM", use "Netlist" and then you have access to the xslt processor (xsltproc) where you can write any sort of output format you want using an XML-ish script. I'm brain-dead when it comes to any sort of coding but I stole this from someone and made a few mods. At the risk of polluting the mail list, here is a complete script that creates an output I use for my interface with P&V. The output is similar to the default BOM output, but a little cleaner for my needs.


<!--XSL style sheet that takes EESCHEMA's Generic Netlist Format as input and
? ? outputs a simple BOM in CSV format. ?Feel free to enhance this and submit
? ? patches.

? ? How to use:
? ? ? ? https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg05157.html
-->

?
]>



? ? ,
? ? ,
? ? ,
? ? ,
? ?

? ? &nl;

? ? refdes,value,footprint,lib,part&nl;
? ?




From: randyinnc55
To: kicad-users@...
Sent: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 6:27 AM
Subject: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question

?
Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#QuantityRefDesListPartValueFootprint

where is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

13C1,C2,C50.1uFSM0603
22C3,C4100pF 32R1,R31.0KSM0603
4<t>1R210R0SM1206
51U1<t>LM358AMSOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field. Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field. This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell. OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!
JorgeF_Tech
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

?

Hi

?

This is strictly a M$-Excel question.

This is one of those occasions where, as usual, M$ decided to reinvent the wheel.

?

By default ¡°.csv¡± files are associated with Excel, but what the world understands as ¡°comma separated values¡±, M$ sees ¡° separated ±¹²¹±ô³Ü±ð²õ¡±.

When opening a ¡°.csv¡± file, Excel searches for the list delimiter defined in the windows localization as the field separator.

The result is that it only works well in some countries, the ones where the localization ?as a ¡°,¡± for the list delimiter.

?

When you open any other text file, Excel runs the import wizard and you have the chance of fine tunning the import process from separators to column headers, filed types and so on in a step by step fashion.

But this is not a configuration, is only an interactive wizard, so you have to repeat all the steps each time you open a text file.

?

?

Best regards

Jorge

?

PS: Here in Portugal M$ reads ¡°csv¡± as ¡°semi-colon separated ±¹²¹±ô³Ü±ð²õ¡±. ?L

?

?

?

De: kicad-users@... [mailto:kicad-users@...] Em nome de randyinnc55
Enviada: quinta-feira, 5 de Julho de 2012 07:18
Para: kicad-users@...
Assunto: [kicad-users] Re: BOM formatting question

?

?

Andres-

This does the trick, thanks. My only issue is that they are not organized by reference designator type. All the different types are mixed together. In other words it would be nice if the list was organized by capacitors (Cx), then diodes (Dx), then connectors (Jx), etc, etc, and finally integrated circuits (Ux) instead of mixed together. Oh well, it is close enough.

The other interesting thing I found is that KiCad uses ; as the field delimiter and then saves the file by default as a .csv type. If you then try to open the file that is made with Excel, it assumes that a comma , is the field delimiter (it is a "comma spaced variable" file after all I suppose). Even using Excel's Data > Text to Columns... menu choice and telling Excel that the field delimiter is ; and not , it still wouldn't format properly. The only way I could get that to work was to change the file extension from .csv to .bom. Then Excel opened and formatted the file perfectly. So the lesson learned would be to save the BOM file with an extension other than the default .csv. Maybe .txt or .bom for example.

Thanks!
-Randy


--- In kicad-users@..., Andres Kasulin wrote:
>
> pcbnew formats BOM??similar to what you asked. Go to "File"->"Fabrication Outputs"->"BOM File".
>
>
> Check this thread:
>
>
> ________________________________
> De: randyinnc55
> Para: kicad-users@...
> Enviado: mi??rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012 10:27
> Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question
>
>
>
> Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:
>
> generically:
>
> Item#QuantityRefDesListPartValueFootprint
>
> where is a tab character.
>
> hypothetical example:
>
> 1<t>3C1,C2,C50.1uFSM0603
> 22C3,C4100pFSM0603
> 32R1,R31.0KSM0603
> 41R210R0<t>SM1206
> 51U1LM358AMSOIC8
>
> Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each field.????Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are all within one field.????This way all those of a particular part value they end up all in one Excel cell.????OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> ??
>
Andy Eskelson
 

It's more of a localisation-gone-mad issue than an specifically an excel
problem, however I agree that excel should do as it's told and not what
it thinks it should do :-))

A few solutions:

In the linux world a quick tr woild replace the , with whatever
delimiter you wanted. Cywin would give the same functions on windows

Likewise on most systems any good text editor could do the same, as could
a simple perl, python, basic, or AutoIt script

For windows, Autoit is an VERY useful tool to have around.


If excel is your preferred sheet, then a VBA macro can be used. A good
example is here

ttp://www.cpearson.com/excel/ImpText.aspx


Routines for both import and export, you can use any delimiter you set
up. A quick mod could set the delimiter to a fixed value and not use the
requester to ask the user what to use.


Andy




On Fri, 6 Jul 2012 00:19:03 +0100
"JorgeF_Tech" <jorgef.tech@...> wrote:



Hi



This is strictly a M$-Excel question.

This is one of those occasions where, as usual, M$ decided to reinvent the
wheel.



By default ¡°.csv¡± files are associated with Excel, but what the world
understands as ¡°comma separated values¡±, M$ sees ¡°<list delimiter> separated
±¹²¹±ô³Ü±ð²õ¡±.

When opening a ¡°.csv¡± file, Excel searches for the list delimiter defined in
the windows localization as the field separator.

The result is that it only works well in some countries, the ones where the
localization as a ¡°,¡± for the list delimiter.



When you open any other text file, Excel runs the import wizard and you have
the chance of fine tunning the import process from separators to column
headers, filed types and so on in a step by step fashion.

But this is not a configuration, is only an interactive wizard, so you have
to repeat all the steps each time you open a text file.





Best regards

Jorge



PS: Here in Portugal M$ reads ¡°csv¡± as ¡°semi-colon separated ±¹²¹±ô³Ü±ð²õ¡±. L







De: kicad-users@... [mailto:kicad-users@...] Em nome
de randyinnc55
Enviada: quinta-feira, 5 de Julho de 2012 07:18
Para: kicad-users@...
Assunto: [kicad-users] Re: BOM formatting question





Andres-

This does the trick, thanks. My only issue is that they are not organized by
reference designator type. All the different types are mixed together. In
other words it would be nice if the list was organized by capacitors (Cx),
then diodes (Dx), then connectors (Jx), etc, etc, and finally integrated
circuits (Ux) instead of mixed together. Oh well, it is close enough.

The other interesting thing I found is that KiCad uses ; as the field
delimiter and then saves the file by default as a .csv type. If you then try
to open the file that is made with Excel, it assumes that a comma , is the
field delimiter (it is a "comma spaced variable" file after all I suppose).
Even using Excel's Data > Text to Columns... menu choice and telling Excel
that the field delimiter is ; and not , it still wouldn't format properly.
The only way I could get that to work was to change the file extension from
.csv to .bom. Then Excel opened and formatted the file perfectly. So the
lesson learned would be to save the BOM file with an extension other than
the default .csv. Maybe .txt or .bom for example.

Thanks!
-Randy

--- In kicad-users@... <mailto:kicad-users%40yahoogroups.com> ,
Andres Kasulin <andreskasulin@...> wrote:

pcbnew formats BOM? similar to what you asked. Go to "File"->"Fabrication
Outputs"->"BOM File".


Check this thread:



________________________________
De: randyinnc55 <rluck1@...>
Para: kicad-users@... <mailto:kicad-users%40yahoogroups.com>
Enviado: mi??rcoles, 4 de julio de 2012 10:27
Asunto: [kicad-users] BOM formatting question



Is there a way to get the KiCad BOM output to look like the following:

generically:

Item#<t>Quantity<t>RefDesList<t>PartValue<t>Footprint

where <t> is a tab character.

hypothetical example:

1<t>3<t>C1,C2,C5<t>0.1uF<t>SM0603
2<t>2<t>C3,C4<t>100pF<t>SM0603
3<t>2<t>R1,R3<t>1.0K<t>SM0603
4<t>1<t>R2<t>10R0<t>SM1206
5<t>1<t>U1<t>LM358AM<t>SOIC8

Then I can import this file into Excel and use the tabs to delimit each
field.? ? Notice that all the reference designators in the RefDesList are
all within one field.? ? This way all those of a particular part value they
end up all in one Excel cell.? ? OrCad can make this kind of BOM easily.

Thanks!


?
[email protected]
 

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