Bill Interchange Format

Bill Interchange Format (BIF)

Tool summary :

Lets users of SDS2 programs transfer bill of material information from selected detail sheets to non-SDS2 programs.
You can use a BIF file in, for instance, a spread sheet program or to provide bill of material data to a steel production, ordering and estimating program.
Included in a BIF file will be information such as the name of your job, the names of all sheets output, as well as the information contained in each sheet's bill.
All data is sent in ASCII text, which is a file type read by common word processing programs.
See (on this page):

Also see :

Detail sheets (BIF takes data from bill of material on)
EJE Export (alternative to BIF for exporting bill data)
Estimating/Production Interface (another data interchange format)
KISS Export (another data interchange format)
Exporting from your current Job (index)

modules | home > export > | interface > | interface | exporting

Example :

Three member details were placed onto a detail sheet named sheet 4. One of these details was B_6. Its bill of material (as displayed in the bill editor ) is shown below:

A BIF file was created from sheet 4. The beginning of the BIF file that was generated is shown below:

Notice when comparing the bill of material (shown in this example ) with the BIF file that certain information (e.g. steel grade) is included in the BIF file but is not shown in the bill editor. This is because choices made to " Bill of Material Layout " do not affect what information is compiled in a BIF file. Advance mill number data is not shown in the BIF file pictured above because Modeling > Reports > Advanced Bill of Material > " New " was not used in the Job prior to the time that member detail B_6 was generated.

Variations :

You choose the detail sheets in your current Job whose bill of material information you want output to a BIF file. You can output data from only one sheet, or from as many sheets as you have in your current Job.
Blank spaces will exist in the BIF file when information for which space is allocated does not exist in the member's bill of material. For instance, if an ABM page-line (or system ID) had not yet been assigned when the member detail was generated, the line for Mill Order # is left blank in the BIF file.
Sheet information will be arranged in an arbitrary order in the BIF file. Nested within the sheet information, the detail information will be arranged in the order in which details were originally placed on the sheet (unless that order has been changed using the Sheet Bill Reorder command).
You can output bill data to your hard drive or to a printer or your computer screen.

Step-by-step instructions for outputting a BIF file :

1 . Before outputting a BIF file:

1a : You must have first placed member details onto detail sheets . It is not necessary to have placed a bill of material onto the sheet outline the sheet uses.

2 . Use any one (1) of the following methods to begin output of BIF data:

Method 1 : Home > Export > Bill Interchange Format (BIF)

Methods 2, 3 & 4 : In Modeling or the Drawing Editor , choose Interface > Bif (classic), or use a keyboard shortcut , or click the icon. The lightning command group for Bill Interchange Format is ' Interface '.

3 . A selection dialog opens. On it is a list of all detail sheets in your current Job.

DS_1

DS_2

DS_3

DS_4

DS_5

You can the button under " Destination " to redirect the bif file's output destination. In this example, " File " indicates that output is to a particular file name. " Hide ... " lets you hide sheets that are marked " Detail complete ."

Alternative 1 : Select the names of the detail sheets whose bill information you want included in the BIF file, then press the " OK " button. Go to step 4.

Alternative 2 : Press " Cancel " to end this operation without outputting a bif file. Do not continue.

4 . Bill information included in all of the detail sheets you selected is output to the default destination set for User and Site Options > Output > " BIF " (unless you temporarily overrode that setting in step 3).

Note 1: If the destination set for " BIF " is a file folder instead of a path to a file, the Output Configuration Setup window opens. Press the button next to " File " to open a dialog and choose a file path, then enter a file name.

Note 2: Sheet information is arranged in an arbitrary order in the BIF file. Nested within the sheet information, the detail information will be arranged in the order in which details were originally placed on the sheet (unless that order has been changed using Sheet Bill Reorder ).

General line-by-line explanation of format :

Data transmitted from your current Job to the BIF file will be arranged as follows (where N = number of detail sheets, Z = number of details on a sheet):

File Header

Sheet Header 1

Detail Header 1

Sequence Quantities 1

Bill Lines . . .

Detail Header Z

Sequence Quantities Z

Bill Lines . . .
Sheet Header N

Detail Header 1

Bill Lines
Detail Header Z

Bill Lines

Data is terminated by a carriage return and a line feed.

detailed line-by-line explanation of format :

S = data is a character string.

N = data is numeric.

	ITEM	TYPE	REMARKS
file header	BILL	S	first line of file header, indicates bill data follows
	name	S	Job name, second line in header.
	Job_name$	S	expanded Job name
	location$	S	Job location
	metric	N	0: imperial, inches & lbs. 1: metric, mm & kgs
	hole	N	default bolt diameter
	bolt	S	default bolt type
	sequences	N	number of sequences in Job
	sheets	N	number of sheets that follow
sheet header	name	S	detail sheet name
sheet header	details	N	number of details on sheet
detail header	name	S	name of detail (piecemark)
detail header	lines	N	number of lines on bill
sequence quantities	sequence quantity	N	quantity of this member in each Job sequence will be listed on a separate line
bill lines	total qty	N	" Total Quantity " in bill
	unit qty	N	" Unit Quantity " in bill
	material	S	" Description " in bill
	mtrl spec	S	" Steel Grade " in bill
	length	N	" Length " in bill
	pcmrk	S	" Minor Mark " in bill
	unit weight	N	" Unit Weight " in bill
	total weight	N	" Total Weight " in bill
	remarks	S	" Remarks " " Advance Mill # " " Steel Grade "
	mill order number	S	" Advance Mill # " in bill