Manufacturing DevBlog

How to know the version of Vault Server

By Daniel Du

Here is a way to know which version of Vault Server you are running.:

1. log into Vault Server with "Autodesk Data Management Server Console"

2. Open <ServerName> -> Management -> Console Logs -> Today, You will see the Core Server version. Here is mine: 

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM ==================================================================

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM Logging initiated: Core server version 17.0.62.0

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM ==================================================================

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM Connectivity.Request.Common.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStart()

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM Connectivity.Request.Vault.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStart()

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM Connectivity.Request.Foundation.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStart()

1/29/2013 9:15:59 AM Connectivity.Request.Document.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStart()

1/29/2013 9:16:08 AM Checking if a migration is necessary.

1/29/2013 9:16:46 AM All vaults and libraries have already been migrated.

 

If you’d like to get these information by API, you will need Information service , please refer to this post and this one.

Calling translator add-in from external application

By Augusto Goncalves

Actually this can be done with any add-in, including custom add-ins loaded on Inventor, as shown at this blog post.

Here we show how get a built-in Translator add-in and call its SaveAsCopy method. This will create a .igs file for the current open .ipt file. For simplicity, minimal error check is included on the code.

// get the "Translator: IGES" addin

Inventor.ApplicationAddIn addin = _inventorApp.

  ApplicationAddIns.get_ItemById(

  "{90AF7F44-0C01-11D5-8E83-0010B541CD80}");

 

// check if is a valid translator add-in

Inventor.TranslatorAddIn igsSaveAs =

  addin as Inventor.TranslatorAddIn;

if (igsSaveAs == null)

{

  MessageBox.Show(

    "Unable to get the translator add-in");

  return;

}

 

// context object

Inventor.TranslationContext context =

  _inventorApp.TransientObjects.

  CreateTranslationContext();

context.Type = Inventor.

  IOMechanismEnum.kFileBrowseIOMechanism;

 

// and the data parameter

Inventor.DataMedium data =

  _inventorApp.TransientObjects.

  CreateDataMedium();

data.FileName = "c:\\temp\\file.igs";

 

// configure the options...

Inventor.NameValueMap options =

  _inventorApp.TransientObjects.

  CreateNameValueMap();

if (igsSaveAs.get_HasSaveCopyAsOptions(

  _inventorApp.ActiveDocument,

  context, options))

{

  options.Value["GeometryType"] = 1;

  options.Value["SolidFaceType"] = 0;

  options.Value["SurfaceType"] = 0;

}

 

// finally save as the file as .igs

igsSaveAs.SaveCopyAs(

  _inventorApp.ActiveDocument,

  context, options, data);

Get Tags, Prompts and Result strings of Attributes of Acad Block

By Xiaodong Liang

The AutoCAD DWG has a type of entity called Block which can encloses with the attributes. It is similar to the prompt string in the Inventor drawing. API allows you to access the relevant information.

Assume we have a DWG file as below:

The VBA code below dumps the tags, prompts and result strings.

 

Public Sub Test1()

    Dim oDoc As DrawingDocument
    Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    Dim oTags() As String
    Dim oValues() As String
    Dim oAcadBlkDef As AutoCADBlockDefinition
    Dim oCnt As Integer
    Debug.Print ""
    For Each oAcadBlkDef In oDoc.AutoCADBlockDefinitions
        Call oAcadBlkDef.GetPromptTags(oTags, oValues)
        Debug.Print "Block Name=" & oAcadBlkDef.Name
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = LBound(oTags) To UBound(oTags)
            Debug.Print "Tag Name=" & oTags(i) & _
            " Prompt= " & oValues(i)
        Next
    Next
    Debug.Print "----------------------"
    Dim oAcadBlk As AutoCADBlock
    For Each oAcadBlk In oDoc.ActiveSheet.AutoCADBlocks
        Call oAcadBlk.GetPromptTextValues(oTags, oValues)
        Debug.Print "Block Name=" & oAcadBlk.Name
        For i = LBound(oTags) To UBound(oTags)
            Debug.Print "Tag Name=" & oTags(i) & _
            " Prompt= " & oValues(i)
        Next
    Next
    Debug.Print ""

End Sub

 

The code above could be used in .NET directly except one detail. The arguments of GetPromptTags or GetPromptTextValues require array which must be initialized correctly. The following code explains:

 

     Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        ' Connect to a running instance of Inventor.

        Dim invApp As Inventor.Application

 

        ' Check to see if a drawing is active

        invApp = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Inventor.Application")

        If invApp.ActiveDocument.DocumentType <> Inventor.DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject Then

            MsgBox("Need to have a drawing document active")

            Return

            End If

 

        ' Create ref to active drawing document

        Dim oDrawingDoc As Inventor.DrawingDocument

        oDrawingDoc = invApp.ActiveDocument

 

        ' Create ref to AutoCADBlocks collection in the active sheet

        Dim cAcadBlocks As Inventor.AutoCADBlocks

        cAcadBlocks = oDrawingDoc.ActiveSheet.AutoCADBlocks

 

        ' Set the name of the block

            Dim AcadBlockName As String

            AcadBlockName = "Myblock"

 

        ' Create ref to the AutoCAD block object in the active sheet

        Dim oAcadBlock As Inventor.AutoCADBlock

        oAcadBlock = cAcadBlocks.Item(AcadBlockName)

 

        ' check to see if block object code is working (it does)

        Debug.Print(oAcadBlock.Scale)

        Debug.Print(oAcadBlock.LineWeight)

        Debug.Print(oAcadBlock.Name)

        Debug.Print(oAcadBlock.AttributeSets.Count)

 

        ' Try and display block tags and values

 

        'correct

            Dim sTags() As String = New String() {}

            Dim sAttr() As String = New String() {}

 

 

        'wrong

        'Dim sTags() As String = New Object() {}

        'Dim sAttr() As String = New Object() {}

 

        'correct only when  you have known the count of texts

        ' e.g. 23

 

        'Dim sTags(23) As String

        'Dim sAttr(23) As String

 

        'wrong

        'Dim sTags() As String

        'Dim sAttr() As String

 

        oAcadBlock.GetPromptTextValues(sTags, sAttr)

 

            Dim i As Integer

            Dim iCount As Integer

        iCount = UBound(sTags)

        Debug.Print("icount = " & iCount)

 

        ' display attribute tag and value

        For i = 0 To iCount

            MsgBox(sTags(i) & " = " & sAttr(i))

            i = i + 1

        Next

 

        End Sub

 

Deleting the TitleBlockDefinition from a sheet

By Augusto Goncalves

In Inventor, we might have many TitleBlockDefinitions in a drawing under "Drawing Resources". In case you want to replace the TitleBlockDefintion in a sheet with new TitleBlockDefinition, we need to delete the TitleBlockDefinition in the sheet and then add the new TitleBlockDefinition.

Below is a VB.NET code which will delete aTtitleBlockDefinition and add a new one. To try this sample, before you run the code, start Inventor, File->New->Standard.idw (open a new drawing).In this particular drawing, code will delete "ANSI - Large" and then add "ANSI A".

Public Sub DeleteTitleBlockOnSheet()

  ' Set a reference to the drawing document.

  ' This assumes a drawing document is active.

  Dim oDrawDoc As DrawingDocument

  oDrawDoc = m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument

 

  ' Obtain a reference to the desired border defintion.

  Dim oTitleBlockDef1 As TitleBlockDefinition

  oTitleBlockDef1 = oDrawDoc.TitleBlockDefinitions.Item("ANSI A")

 

  ' Val1 will be true because this titleblockdefinition

  ' is present in the drawing doc

  Dim Val1 As Boolean = oTitleBlockDef1.IsReferenced

 

  ' Obtain a reference to the desired border defintion.

  Dim oTitleBlockDef2 As TitleBlockDefinition

  oTitleBlockDef2 = oDrawDoc.TitleBlockDefinitions. _

    Item("ANSI - Large")

 

  ' Val2 will also be true because this titleblockdefinition

  ' oTitleBlockDef2 is present in the drawing doc

  Dim Val2 As Boolean = oTitleBlockDef2.IsReferenced

 

  Dim oSheet As Sheet = oDrawDoc.ActiveSheet

 

  ' Sheet has only ANSI - Large TitleBlockDefinition

  ' (oTitleBlockDef2) -  Check to see if the sheet already

  ' has a title block and delete it if it does.

  If oSheet.TitleBlock.Definition Is oTitleBlockDef1 Then

    oSheet.TitleBlock.Delete()

  End If

 

  If oSheet.TitleBlock.Definition Is oTitleBlockDef2 Then

    oSheet.TitleBlock.Delete()

  End If

 

  Dim oTitleBlock As TitleBlock

  oTitleBlock = oSheet.AddTitleBlock(oTitleBlockDef1)

End Sub

"Edit" a feature in a part using API

By Augusto Goncalves

Each Feature has a method called SetEndOfPart which takes boolean as argument. If you want to "Edit" a particular feature, first you need to call SetEndOfPart(true). This moves the "Part End Marker" to above this feature. After this do the necessary changes in the feature you were looking for. After this do not forget to move the "Part End Marker" to the end of this feature by calling SetEndOfPart (False).

The code below changes the workplane of a hole feature in the attached part.

Public Sub ChangeOfFace()

  Dim oDef As PartComponentDefinition

  oDef = m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument.ComponentDefinition

 

  'Get the hole feature

  Dim oHoleFeat As HoleFeature

  oHoleFeat = oDef.Features.HoleFeatures.Item(1)

 

  'Move the EndofPart position before Hole feature

  oHoleFeat.SetEndOfPart(True)

  Dim oWorkplane As WorkPlane

 

  'Change the workplane

  oWorkplane = oDef.WorkPlanes.Item(5)

  '?Set it to hole feature

  oHoleFeat.SetToFaceExtent(oWorkplane, True)

 

  'Move Back the EndofPart position after last feature

  oDef.Features.Item(oDef.Features.Count).SetEndOfPart(False)

End Sub

Detect In-Place edit session in Inventor

By Augusto Goncalves

"In-place" editing refers to placing a part or sub-assembly document in edit mode, not by directly opening the document, but, via an occurrence in an assembly that the part or sub-assembly represents. It is in this case limited to the context of an assembly, i.e. editing a part or sub-assembly occurrence from within the assembly document.

If an assembly document is open and a part document or a component of the part document (e.g. sketch or feature) has been activated for edit, then the active edit object would be the part document or the component (sketch or feature) respectively, but, the active document would still be the assembly through which the part has been activated for edit. If ?In-place?edit is not active with just the assembly document open then the active document and the active edit object would both be the assembly.

Therefore, in order to determine if you are in an "In-Place" edit session you have to compare the ActiveDocument against the ActiveEditObject. If they are the same, then that would mean some component in the assembly has been activated for edit, as in the following code fragment:

If Not _InvApplication.ActiveDocument Is _

                       _InvApplication.ActiveEditObject Then

  ' Do something here as a result

End If

However in the above code there is a caveat. This code in itself is not enough to determine if you are in an In-Place edit session. The code will work if you are in an In-Place edit session, however it will also work if the active document is a Drawing document or a Part document. Hence we need an additional check to see if the current document that we are working with is an Assembly document. The following code fragment demonstrates this:

If _InvApplication.ActiveDocumentType = _

                   kAssemblyDocumentObject Then

  If Not ThisApplication.ActiveDocument Is _

                         _InvApplication.ActiveEditObject Then

    ' Do something here as a result        

  End If

End If

The above code would be sufficient to suggest if In-place editing is active in versions prior to Inventor R6 but, for later versions which have the ability to create features in assemblies (e.g. we can create (activate) a new sketch in the assembly document) the code would suggest that In-place editing is active when actually an assembly feature is being edited. In order to account for this we could get the ActiveOccurrence and check if indeed an occurrence has been activated for edit. The following code fragment demonstrates this:

If _InvApplication.ActiveDocumentType = _

                   kAssemblyDocumentObject Then

  Dim oAssemDoc As AssemblyDocument

  oAssemDoc = _InvApplication.ActiveDocument

  If Not oAssemDoc.ComponentDefinition. _

                    ActiveOccurrence Is Nothing Then

    MsgBox("In-Place edit session in effect!")

    ' Do something useful       

  End If

End If

As you might have noticed, checking to see if an occurrence has been activated for edit would suggest that In-place editing is active.

Adding general note (.IDW) and obtain its height

By Augusto Goncalves

Basically, the GeneralNote.FittedTextHeight property gives the height of text within a note. It does not necessarily represent the current height of the note. If Fitted property is true, these heights should be the same.

' get the document

Dim oDoc As DrawingDocument = m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument

Dim sNote As String = _

  "<StyleOverride Font='Arial' FontSize='0.5' Bold='True'>"+_

  "Sample note" + _

  "</StyleOverride>"

 

' create a note

Dim oDrawingNote As GeneralNote

oDrawingNote = oDoc.ActiveSheet.DrawingNotes. _

  GeneralNotes.AddFitted( _

    m_inventorApplication.TransientGeometry. _

    CreatePoint2d(10.0#, 10.0#), sNote)

 

' now get the height

Dim textHeight As Double = oDrawingNote.FittedTextHeight

Determine if a document is sheet metal

By Augusto Goncalves

A sheet metal document is a kind of part document, but how to determine whether  a part document is sheet metal or part document?

The part document object has a property SubType, which is nothing but a GUID . This GUID is defined in DocCLSIDs.h in Inventor's Include directory. The sample code shown below demonstrates how to use the same.

Const CLSID_InventorSheetMetalPart_RegGUID = _

  "{9C464203-9BAE-11D3-8BAD-0060B0CE6BB4}"

 

Public Sub CheckPartFile()

  ' is a Part Document

  If (m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocumentType <> _

      DocumentTypeEnum.kPartDocumentObject) Then Exit Sub

 

  Dim opDoc As PartDocument = _

    m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument

 

  ' check the subtype

  If opDoc.SubType = _

           CLSID_InventorSheetMetalPart_RegGUID Then

    MsgBox("Sheet metal part file")

  Else

    MsgBox("The part document is not a sheet metal")

  End If

End Sub

Detail ID in Vault Item BOM

By Wayne Brill

In some cases when you add an ItemBom the Detail ID is not automatically added. You can see this in Vault Explorer on the “Bill of Materials” for the Item. The Detail ID field is blank.

To get a Detail ID the following conditions need to be met:

•  The file has BOM data.
•  The file BOM has detail ID information.
•  You create the items through the “Assign Item” command, Which is the ItemService.PromoteFiles() function in the API.

 

This blog post on has a good description on bill of material data in Vault. Also the "PromoteFiles Method" topic in the SDK help has an example for PromoteFiles().

Use ApprenticeServer API from an Inventor Addin

By Augusto Goncalves

We can create an ActiveX executable, which references the ApprenticeServer API, and which also exposes a suitable API of its own. We can then call into our ActiveX executable from an Inventor AddIn dll to request updates to any file references.

So - as a minimum, the API exposed by our ActiveX executable should allow us to open an Inventor document, update any file references, then save the updated document.

Here are the steps we need to perform in our server:-

(1) Create an Apprentice Server object

(2) Open an Inventor document via the Apprentice Server API

(3) Update relevant file references

(4) Save the modified document

(5) Destroy the Apprentice Server object.

The code sample sample below does exactly this (with the restriction that only Assembly documents can be updated). When an instance of the ActiveX component is initialized, an ApprenticeServerComponent is automatically created.

Then we call the 'OpenAssembly()' method passing in the path to an Assembly file.

Next we call the 'Update()' method - passing in a path to a referenced file that is to be updated, along with the new path.

Once all paths have been updated, we call the 'Save()' method to save our updated file references in the Assembly document.

The ApprenticeServerComponent object is automatically destroyed as our ActiveX server terminates.

To use our Server we firstly need to add a reference to it from our Inventor AddIn project (I've called it 'FileRefUpdater'), then we just add code to call the API we have exposed.

' The path to our Assembly document
Dim sAsmDocPathName As String = ".........."

 

Dim oFileRefUpdater As Object

oFileRefUpdater = CreateObject("FileRefUpdater.clsFileRefUpdater") ' create our Server 

 

' and open the Assembly document

oFileRefUpdater.OpenAssembly(sAsmDocPathName)

 

Dim sOldPath As String

sOldPath = "......" ' the path to a file that is being moved

Dim sNewPath As String

sNewPath = "....." ' the updated location.

 

System.IO.File.Move(sOldPath, sNewPath) ' move the document  
' update the references in our Assembly  

oFileRefUpdater.Update(sOldPath, sNewPath)

oFileRefUpdater.Save() ' and save  

oFileRefUpdater = Nothing ' all done!