Linking multiple structures—overview

To link product to process, or plant to process, you must link the structures in the Microsoft Excel files to each other.

In the first Excel file, you specify some BOM lines that you want to link to in another Excel file. This is done in the column with Header1; ItemID using the syntax M:my_marker.

In the second Excel file, you specify a link to this marker (again in the ItemID column). Instead of creating a new item for the BOM line, the system uses the existing item that is specified using the syntax L:my_marker.

You can specify a specific item ID in the ItemID column. If you do this, the system uses an existing item with this ID. If this item ID does not exist in the database, it generates a new item with ID. If ItemID is not specified, the system always generates a new item and assigns the item ID automatically.

If you specify M:any-marker-label, the system generates a new item and assigns the item ID automatically. Additionally, the newly-generated ID and revision are stored in a text file with the name marker.txt. In Example A, the following marker.txt is generated:

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M:op20_marker 024528 A 
M:op40_marker 024530 A

Note

Markers (specified using <M:marker> and <L:marker>) must be unique.

For each M: entry, the system writes one line to the marker.txt file with the actual ID and revision. If you now load the second Excel file, you must specify the additional marker.txt parameter . The system checks for L: entries in the ItemID column and replaces this label with the correct item ID from the marker.txt file causing the system to reuse the previously generated item, instead of creating a new one.