API hooks for new BOM reorganization functionality?

Hi folks,

We were looking forward to the new BOM reorganization features inSW 2009, such as combining like items, rearranging, dissolvingassemblies, etc. Unfortunately the UI is extremely slow and crashesoften with our fairly large BOMs (1000+ components in indentedview), even on fairly hefty 64 bit workstations.

What I've been trying to do is to use the API to process the BOMprogrammatically, for instance by hiding/deleting rows based oncustom properties in order to reduce the size. However, in lookingthrough the API docs I can't find any hooks into any but the mostbasic BOM functionality. For example, the BomTableAnnotation classdoesn't appear to have methods for expanding and collapsing levels,rearranging things, combining like items, etc. So my first questionis, am I just out of luck here because SolidWorks doesn't exposethis functionality in the API, or am I looking in the wrong place?(BTW I'm a software engineer but this is my first foray into theSolidWorks API specifically)

Also, I did have some luck traversing the BOM and hinding all butrows of interest with the RowHidden member. However, once I try tomanually manipulate the BOM further, all the rows that were hiddensuddenly become un-hidden. Is there another method call necessaryto make the hidden state "stick", or is this expectedfunctionality?

Finally, one more question: What's the best resource for anexperienced software engineer to get help on API topics such asthis? The sample code included with SolidWorks is helpful, but I'mlooking for something more interactive. Is this forum the bestplace?

Thanks

- rdo
SolidworksApi macros