BOM sorter
By David Watling 23 June 2003

For use with Protel99SE SP6
Sorts out a Protel 'Client spreadsheet' or 'CSV' Bill of Materials (BOM) into a useable form within
Excel2000, to make it useable for ordering parts and assembling PCBs.  Note: this will not run in
Excel97.

Loading a BOM into Excel2000:
Generate a BOM, either in 'Client Spreadsheet' format, or in 'CSV' format, and Export to a DOS folder.
Open Excel2000 and load the BOM.
Also load the BOM sorter.xls macro file.  A new toolbar will appear (this will be deleted whan Excel
is closed).

Running the BOM sorter:
Note: BOM sorter will search down the spreadsheet until the Part Type and Designator columns are empty.

Click 'Sort BOM'.  This will arrange similar parts on the same line, and format the designators in a
readable manner.  It then sorts the rows by designator, alphanumerically.

If instead you use 'Sort BOM without formatting', this will simply count up similar parts and put
the designators in the same cell, delimited by a comma.  You can run the 'Sort BOM' routine afterwards,
if required.

Similar parts with different 'Part Type's:
There are cases where you may have similar components with different 'Part Type's.  Test pins, RF
connectors, for example, all require different labels on the PCB marking, and it is common to use the
Part Type for this purpose.  However BOM sorter.xls will see them as different items.  If you wish
them to be listed on the same line, simply run 'Sort BOM' for the first time, re-name the part types
for these components so that they have the same text, and then re-run 'Sort BOM'