Get Property Value From An External Data Source

The ExternalValue button in the CustomProperties pane opens the Get Database Item dialog box used to define the database column linked to the custom property value.

When the ExternalValue button is in the clicked state the link is enabled and the property value is composed based on other custom properties. If automatically created value needs to be overridden user may click the button to break the link. Property box becomes enabled and the desired data can be entered. The ExternalValue button state is stored to SOLIDWORKS file.


Search conditions:

Search conditions contains the available database fields which are set to be used for searching data from ERP database.

Info TIP: Enable/disable the automatic insertion of wildchars to the search conditions in the General User Options.

Search conditions Search conditions contain CustomProperties that uses the specific database search group and, that are not excluded from the item search conditions. Select the Exclude from item search condition option in the Database Options of the CustomProperty to exclude the specific CustomProperty from the search conditions.
Info NOTE: Database item search may be case sensitive. Case sensitivity of the database item search depends on the collation settings of an external database associated to the linked CustomProperties.


Execute Executes the search.
Clear Clears all the search conditions.

Each field under the Search conditions can have free search string to be searched from an external data source.

The Database Item Search remembers the last used search conditions so, the search strings you have used on the previous search are pre-filled into the search conditions when you next time search items from the external data source.

Info Search string can be any kind of combination of alpha-numeric characters.


Close Closes the Database Item Search dialog box without making any changes to the custom property values.
Link Creates a link between the selected row and the specific CustomProperty. When the custom property gets its value from the external data source with help of the link, the retrieved value cannot be modified by the user using the CustomProperties pane. To maintain a link, CustomTools writes specified primary key value in the SOLIDWORKS file in order to locate file in the external data source table when needed.

All buttons related to any other properties using the same Database search group goes to the disabled state once the link has been established from the custom property to an external data source. Disabling the buttons of other properties using the same Database search group prevents the unexpected overwriting of the linked values.
Info TIP: A link to the database item can be also created by double clicking the desired row in the Search results.


Remove link Deletes previously created link between the custom property and the row located in an external data source.
Copy Copies the value of selected row into the linked custom property field.

Search results:

The Search results lists the matching rows from the external database based on the Search conditions.


When the lookup list content does not match with the linked database:

Comboboxes reacts to the non-matching value by the following ways:

Editable combobox The current value will be replaced with the one retrieved from the database.
Combobox Clears the value in the related property and leaves it empty.




Related Topics

Resolve Conflicts in Linked Custom Properties
Database Options on CustomProperty Wizard
External Database Options
General User Options

Tutorial: CustomProperty Linked to ERP
Tutorial: Excel Linked CustomProperty

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