Solidworks PDM

SOLIDWORKS PDM is a data management system that helps users store, organize and manage engineering data and documents. Learn more at www.solidworks.com.

We provide two methods for integrating Solidworks PDM part and assembly data into Violet:

1. Manual Import - via .csv file import

2. Live Integration - via direct query to your SQL database

Our live integration fetches data directly from your Solidworks PDM server instead of via the API. This means it works with any tier of Solidworks PDM - it does not require you to have PDM Professional.

Manual Import

In this method, you'll need to export a .csv file of your Bill of Materials (BOM) from Solidworks PDM. When exporting, make sure to:

• Remove any header/title info from your BOM .csv file for proper import. The first row should contain the names of each column.

• Either the 'File Name' or 'Part Number' field should be populated in order to generate a unique identifier for each row.

Then, follow the instructions below to import:

1. In Violet (or VioletGov), navigate to Integrations and click to add a new integration.

2. Select Solidworks PDM

3. Click Upload File, locate your exported BOM, and click Open.

[Optional] You can also provide a unique name for the connection based on the credentials you're using, and you can create restricted permissions to users or groups:

1. Click Create.

2. You can continue to upload new versions of the BOM over time. Each subsequent import will intelligently map and update part data based on either filename or part number.

Live Integration

In this method, Violet queries the SQL server hosting your Solidworks PDM vault directly. Violet fetches part and assembly (BOM) data.

To enable this, you will need to configure access:

1

Enable connectivity to your PDM server

Allow Violet to connect to your server by allowlisting our IP address or setting up a VPN tunnel.

For VPN, we recommend Tailscale. These options are described in further detail here.

2

Provide read-only access to your PDM server

1. First, create a read-only SQL login:

CREATE LOGIN swpdm_bom_user WITH PASSWORD = 'StrongPasswordHere!';

1. Next, create a user in the PDM database

USE YourPDMDatabase;
CREATE USER swpdm_bom_user FOR LOGIN swpdm_bom_user;

1. Last, add the user to the db_datareader role

EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_datareader', 'swpdm_bom_user';

This enables access to the entire PDM database. If you have sensitive and/or non-BOM data that needs to be restricted, follow the instructions below for Advanced SQL access [optional].

3

Create an integration

Navigate to the Integrations page and select Solidworks PDM SQL Server. Provide the username and password created above, the IP address of your server, port (typically 1433) and the name of your database.

Click Connect to configure your integration.

Advanced SQL access [optional]

Instructions for advanced SQL access

If you have sensitive, non-BOM-related data on your server that you need to safeguard, you can enable SQL access to specific tables only.

1. Create a SQL login

CREATE LOGIN swpdm_bom_user WITH PASSWORD = 'StrongPasswordHere!';

1. Create a user in the PDM database

USE YourPDMDatabase;
CREATE USER swpdm_bom_user FOR LOGIN swpdm_bom_user;

1. Grant read-only access to required BOM-related tables

GRANT SELECT ON dbo.Documents          TO swpdm_bom_user;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.DocumentReferences TO swpdm_bom_user;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.Configurations     TO swpdm_bom_user;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.CardVariables      TO swpdm_bom_user;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.Users              TO swpdm_bom_user;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.States             TO swpdm_bom_user;

The names of your tables may be different from those listed above. Use the below query to list all the tables in your PDM database. We'll then identify which ones correspond to the tables we need.

SELECT name 
FROM sys.tables 
ORDER BY name;

Sync Solidworks data to other tools

Your Solidworks PDM data can also be synced to downstream tools. Refer to the below examples for more detail:

• Solidworks PDM to ION

• Solidworks PDM to Boltline