Position part using spreadsheet value

[Trygon]

Hi,

I am new to FreeCAD (2 days in) and going up a very steep learning curve - the answer to this question may be obvious, but I cannot find it.

I want to be able to use master data from a spreadsheet to position some parts. The two ideas I had were:
1) use an expression in the translation vector data for the part
2) use an expression in the coordinate data for the Draft Move tool
however neither take expressions, only values.

A sketch can be positioned because constraints take expressions, but I do not think this allows more complex CSG objects to be moved.

Thanks for any help you can offer.
================
OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.16.6706 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-16
Hash: f86a4e411ff7848dea98d7242f43b7774bee8fa0
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17

[r-frank]

Hello.

Welcome to FreeCAD and the forum.

but I do not think this allows more complex CSG objects to be moved

That depends.
The coordinates of Cut/Fusion-Objects and Compounds can be controlled via spreadsheet ...

Roland

[ickby]

The property editor does accept expressions for objects, hence their placements can be used with expressions there.

[Trygon]

Thanks for your help. Sorry for the slow reply - CalculiX/Win 10 locked up and in the process wiped out part of my Win 10 front end.

I had not realised that there are two ways to access the Placement parameters for an object from the Combo View:
1) click on "Placement" then on the "..." button at the RHS, which opens the Tasks Placement window, where expressions cannot be entered
2) click on the ">" at the LHS of Placement to expand the data view, where expressions can be entered - as required

However it appears to me that method 2 does not give access to the rotation center...?