Intro to Automating Creo with Excel Tables and Power Query

Overview

This video introduces the concept of table-driven Creo automation using Nitro-CELL combined with Excel tables and Power Query. It explains how engineers can use structured Excel tables to define batch operations on multiple Creo models, and how Power Query can dynamically populate those tables from external data sources such as CSV files, databases, or other workbooks. This approach enables scalable, data-driven automation workflows where the list of models and parameters to process is managed outside the Nitro-CELL workbook. The video covers the fundamentals of table structure, Power Query basics, and how the two integrate with Nitro-CELL's tbl_ commands.

Key Steps

1. Understand the structure of Excel tables used by Nitro-CELL tbl_ commands
2. Learn how Power Query connects to external data sources
3. Set up a Power Query to populate a Nitro-CELL data table
4. Link the populated table to a tbl_ command for batch execution
5. Execute the workflow to process models from the Power Query data

Tips

• Power Query refreshes can update your model list before each automation run
• Structure tables with consistent column names matching Nitro-CELL expectations
• Start with simple queries before building complex data transformations