Manufacturing DevBlog

Split Feature without SplitFeature

By Xiaodong Liang

SplitFeature is also a type of feature. But if you do not want to split a feature without SplitFeature, you could calcuate the new profiles and create the new splitting features. The following is a small code which converts an extrude feature to two extrude features with a middle line, and also creates a surface of the middle line to represent the split plane.

Assume the orignal extrude feature is based on a profile of a rectangle lines.

Sub test()

    Dim oPartDoc As PartDocument
    Set oPartDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
   
    Dim oDef As PartComponentDefinition
    Set oDef = oPartDoc.ComponentDefinition
   
    Dim oOldF As ExtrudeFeature
    Set oOldF = oDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures(1)
   
    Dim oOldFDef As ExtrudeDefinition
    Set oOldFDef = oOldF.Definition
   
    Dim oPath As ProfilePath
    Set oPath = oOldFDef.Profile(1)
   
    Dim oSketchEnt As SketchEntity
    Dim oSketch As PlanarSketch
  
        
        Dim oSketchLine1 As SketchLine
        Set oSketchLine1 = oPath(1).SketchEntity
       
        Dim oSketchLine2 As SketchLine
        Set oSketchLine2 = oPath(2).SketchEntity
       
        Dim oSketchLine3 As SketchLine
        Set oSketchLine3 = oPath(3).SketchEntity
       
        Dim oSketchLine4 As SketchLine
        Set oSketchLine4 = oPath(4).SketchEntity
       
        'get sketch
        Set oSketch = oSketchLine1.Parent
       
        'get mid pt of line 1
        Dim oMidPtOfLine1 As Point2d
        Set oMidPtOfLine1 = oSketchLine1.Geometry.MidPoint
       
        'add sketch mid pt
        Dim oMidSketchPtLine1 As SketchPoint
        Set oMidSketchPtLine1 = oSketch.SketchPoints.Add(oMidPtOfLine1)
        Call oSketch.GeometricConstraints.AddCoincident(oMidSketchPtLine1, oSketchLine1)
       
        'get mid pt of line3 which is parallel to line 1
        Dim oMidPtOfLine3 As Point2d
        Set oMidPtOfLine3 = oSketchLine3.Geometry.MidPoint
       
        'add sketch mid pt
         Dim oMidSketchPtLine3 As SketchPoint
        Set oMidSketchPtLine3 = oSketch.SketchPoints.Add(oMidPtOfLine3)
         Call oSketch.GeometricConstraints.AddCoincident(oMidSketchPtLine3, oSketchLine3)
       
        ' create mid line
        Dim oMiddleLine As SketchLine
        Set oMiddleLine = oSketch.SketchLines.AddByTwoPoints(oMidPtOfLine1, oMidPtOfLine3)
     
        Call oMiddleLine.StartSketchPoint.Merge(oMidSketchPtLine1)
        Call oMiddleLine.EndSketchPoint.Merge(oMidSketchPtLine3)
       
        ' create new extrude 1: just change the old feature's profile
        Dim oNewPaths1 As ObjectCollection
        Set oNewPaths1 = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection
        oNewPaths1.Add oSketchLine1
        oNewPaths1.Add oSketchLine2
        oNewPaths1.Add oSketchLine3
        oNewPaths1.Add oMiddleLine
       
        Dim oNewProfile1 As Profile
        Set oNewProfile1 = oSketch.Profiles.AddForSolid(False, oNewPaths1)

        oOldFDef.Profile = oNewProfile1
       
        'create the other extrude feature
         Dim oNewPaths2 As ObjectCollection
        Set oNewPaths2 = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection
        oNewPaths2.Add oSketchLine1
        oNewPaths2.Add oSketchLine4
        oNewPaths2.Add oSketchLine3
        oNewPaths2.Add oMiddleLine
       
        Dim oNewProfile2 As Profile
        Set oNewProfile2 = oSketch.Profiles.AddForSolid(False, oNewPaths2)
        
        Dim oNewExtrudeDef As ExtrudeDefinition
        Set oNewExtrudeDef = oDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures.CreateExtrudeDefinition(oNewProfile2, kJoinOperation)
        Call oNewExtrudeDef.SetDistanceExtent(1, kNegativeExtentDirection)
        Dim oNewExtrude As ExtrudeFeature
        Set oNewExtrude = oDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures.Add(oNewExtrudeDef)
       
        'create surface on
          Dim oNewPaths3 As ObjectCollection
        Set oNewPaths3 = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection
        oNewPaths3.Add oMiddleLine
       
        Dim oNewProfile3 As Profile
        Set oNewProfile3 = oSketch.Profiles.AddForSurface(oMiddleLine)
       
         Dim oSurfaceDef As ExtrudeDefinition
        Set oSurfaceDef = oDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures.CreateExtrudeDefinition(oNewProfile3, kSurfaceOperation)
        Call oSurfaceDef.SetDistanceExtent(10, kSymmetricExtentDirection)
        Dim oSurface As ExtrudeFeature
        Set oSurface = oDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures.Add(oSurfaceDef)

   
End Sub

 

After the code, the feature becomes:

Connecting an Inventor plug-in to an external application using WCF

By Philippe Leefsma

We have many references on how to connect an Inventor plug-in to an external executable using COM, but as it becomes an antique technology as years are passing I though it would be useful to illustrate how to achieve the same (and potentially much more) using WCF.

The idea is to have a WCF server that is hosted by an Inventor .Net plug-in. One or several client executables running on the same machine will be able to connect to that server and exchange data. Eventually the server can also dispatch data send by one client to the other.

To make the thing more fun I created a little chat application where clients can send messages between each other. You will find the complete code attached with the download at the bottom of that blog post. For more details about the implementation, take a look at the initial post I created on our Cloud & Mobile blog:

Inter-process communication using WCF

The InventorServer plug-in is loaded in Inventor and can start processing requests from the clients:

ADN Pipe Demo.zip

Generate Permanent Link of Entities in Vault and Open in Thin Client

By Daniel Du

You probablay have noticed that Vault 2014 releases a new client – Thin Client with completely new UI. It is really a light one, you do not need to install anything on client side, a broswer is good enough. Thin Client performs read-access tasks in a vault, such as searching the vault and viewing file history using a web browser. If you have not noticed this, try it now, goto http://servername/AutodeskTC in your broswer, where servername is either the IP address or the name of the computer hosting Autodesk Data Management Server.

In this post, I will introduce how to integerate Vault Explorere and Vault ThinClient. I will create a Vault Explorer plugin, which enable users to right click a file or folder in Explorer and view it in Vault ThinClient. This is a just a demonstration, you may have better idea to use this permnent link, for example, save it into your database or ERP systems. In Autodesk Vault 2014 API, KnowledgeVaultService provides functions to get/set the persistent ID of entites.  GetPersistentIds and ResolvePersistentIds in the KnowledgeVaultService are the functions to use for converting between file IDs and the persistent IDs.  Keep in mind that there are two types of persistent IDs for files.  If EntPersistOpt is History, the Persistent ID is for a specific file version.  If EntPersistOpt is Latest, the Persistent ID is for the latest version of the file.  The caller has to know which type to use.  There is no way to tell the type by looking at the Persistent ID itself. Another tricky part is that, the PersistentId retrieved from Vault API is not the exact id of ThinClient URL, here is the core snippet of generating url of files and folders in ThinClient:

string[] ids = webMgr.KnowledgeVaultService.GetPersistentIds(
  VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.EntityClassIds.Files,
  new long[] { file.Id },
  Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.EntPersistOpt.Latest);
 
string id = ids[0];
id = id.TrimEnd('=');
url = string.Format("{0}://{1}/AutodeskTC/{1}/{2}#/Entity/
            Details?id=m{3}=&itemtype=File",
  serverUri.Scheme, serverUri.Host, currentConnection.Vault, id);

 

 

string[] ids = webMgr.KnowledgeVaultService.GetPersistentIds(
  VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.EntityClassIds.Folder,
  new long[] { folder.Id },
  Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.EntPersistOpt.Latest);
 
string id = ids[0];
id = id.TrimEnd('=');
url = string.Format("{0}://{1}/AutodeskTC/{1}/{2}#/Entity/
         Entities?folder=m{3}=&start=0",
  serverUri.Scheme, serverUri.Host, currentConnection.Vault, id);

 

Please note that there is “m” in front of the persistent ID, which may confuse you, but it is how it works :) Following is the comple code for this plugin:

 

using Autodesk.Connectivity.Explorer.Extensibility;
using Autodesk.Connectivity.Extensibility.Framework;
using Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices;
using Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServicesTools;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using VDF = Autodesk.DataManagement.Client.Framework;
 
 
 
[assembly: ApiVersion("6.0")]
[assembly: ExtensionId("76491449-B3FB-4570-81C4-17FE48BF50CB")]
 
namespace ThinClientUrlExtension
{
  public class ThinClientUrlGenerator : IExplorerExtension
  {
 
    VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection currentConnection;
 
 
    public IEnumerable<CommandSite> CommandSites()
    {
 
      CommandItem ThinClientUrlCmd = new CommandItem(
        "Autodesk.ADN.PermaLink", "View in Thin Client...")
      {
        NavigationTypes = new SelectionTypeId[] { 
          SelectionTypeId.File, 
          SelectionTypeId.FileVersion, 
          SelectionTypeId.Folder },
        MultiSelectEnabled = false
      };
 
      ThinClientUrlCmd.Execute += ThinClientUrlCmd_Execute;
      CommandSite permaLinkFileContextSite = new CommandSite(
        "Autodesk.ADN.PermaLinkFileContext", "PermaLinkFileContext")
      {
        DeployAsPulldownMenu = false,
        Location = CommandSiteLocation.FileContextMenu
      };
      permaLinkFileContextSite.AddCommand(ThinClientUrlCmd);
 
      CommandSite permaLinkFolderContextSite = new CommandSite(
        "Autodesk.ADN.PermaLinkFolderContext", "PermaLinkFolderContext")
      {
        DeployAsPulldownMenu = false,
        Location = CommandSiteLocation.FolderContextMenu
      };
      permaLinkFolderContextSite.AddCommand(ThinClientUrlCmd);
 
      List<CommandSite> sites = new List<CommandSite>();
      sites.Add(permaLinkFileContextSite);
      sites.Add(permaLinkFolderContextSite);
 
      return sites;
    }
 
    void ThinClientUrlCmd_Execute(object sender, CommandItemEventArgs e)
    {
 
      WebServiceManager webMgr = currentConnection.WebServiceManager;
 
      ISelection selectedItem = e.Context.CurrentSelectionSet.FirstOrDefault<ISelection>();
      if (selectedItem != null)
      {
        Uri serverUri = new Uri(webMgr.InformationService.Url);
        string url;
 
        if (selectedItem.TypeId == SelectionTypeId.File)
        {
          File file = webMgr.DocumentService.GetLatestFileByMasterId(selectedItem.Id);
          if (file == null)
          {
            return;
          }
 
          string[] ids = webMgr.KnowledgeVaultService.GetPersistentIds(
            VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.EntityClassIds.Files,
           new long[] { file.Id },
           Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.EntPersistOpt.Latest);
 
          string id = ids[0];
          id = id.TrimEnd('=');
          url = string.Format("{0}://{1}/AutodeskTC/{1}/{2}#/Entity/Details?id=m{3}=&itemtype=File",
               serverUri.Scheme, serverUri.Host, currentConnection.Vault, id);
 
          //Open with default broswer
          Process.Start(url);
 
          //copy url to clipboard
          Clipboard.SetText(url);
        }
 
        if (selectedItem.TypeId == SelectionTypeId.Folder)
        {
          Folder folder = webMgr.DocumentService.GetFolderById(selectedItem.Id);
          if (folder == null)
          {
            return;
          }
 
          string[] ids = webMgr.KnowledgeVaultService.GetPersistentIds(
            VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.EntityClassIds.Folder,
            new long[] { folder.Id },
            Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.EntPersistOpt.Latest);
 
          string id = ids[0];
          id = id.TrimEnd('=');
          url = string.Format("{0}://{1}/AutodeskTC/{1}/{2}#/Entity/Entities?folder=m{3}=&start=0",
            serverUri.Scheme, serverUri.Host, currentConnection.Vault, id);
 
          //Open with default broswer
          Process.Start(url);
 
          //copy url to clipboard
          Clipboard.SetText(url);
        }
 
 
 
      }
 
 
 
    }
 
    public void OnLogOn(IApplication application)
    {
      currentConnection = application.Connection;
 
    }
 
    public IEnumerable<CustomEntityHandler> CustomEntityHandlers()
    {
      throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
 
    public IEnumerable<DetailPaneTab> DetailTabs()
    {
      throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
 
    public IEnumerable<string> HiddenCommands()
    {
      throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
 
    public void OnLogOff(IApplication application)
    {
 
    }
 
    public void OnShutdown(IApplication application)
    {
 
    }
 
    public void OnStartup(IApplication application)
    {
 
    }
  }
}

 

 

Let’s take a look at how it works:

 

 

 

Hope it helps!

Progressive Tooltip with Button

By Xiaodong Liang

Progressive Tooltip provides the expanded help tip with more various information.

 

Inventor 2011 has exposed the relevant API. The ControlDefinition.ProgressiveToolTip allows you to customize your button. Although we normally create button in an add-in, the following VBA code is a demo how the workflow could be. I have answered a forum question last year with such code. It adds a button in Part>>3D Model >> Work Features with the progressive tooltip.

Public Sub ProgressiveToolTips()   
   Dim g_FilePath As String
   g_FilePath = "C:\temp\"
 
    ' Create the button definition.
    Dim smallIcon As IPictureDisp
    Set smallIcon = LoadPicture(g_FilePath & "SmallProgTooltip.bmp")
   
    Dim largeIcon As IPictureDisp
    Set largeIcon = LoadPicture(g_FilePath & "LargeProgTooltip.bmp")
   
    Dim buttonDef As ButtonDefinition
    Set buttonDef = ThisApplication.CommandManager.ControlDefinitions.AddButtonDefinition("Sample1", "SampleCommand", kQueryOnlyCmdType, "", "Sample command to show progressive tool tips.", "Sample", smallIcon, largeIcon)
   
    ' Add a control to the Work Feature panel of the Model tab of the Part ribbon.
    Call ThisApplication.UserInterfaceManager.Ribbons.Item("Part").RibbonTabs.Item("id_TabModel").RibbonPanels.Item("id_PanelA_ModelWorkFeatures").CommandControls.AddButton(buttonDef, True)
   
    ' Define the progressive tooltip.  This would typically be done in the
    ' same section of code where the button definition is created but there's
    ' a problem with the beta version where the progressive tooltip can only
    ' be defined on a control has been created.
    With buttonDef.ProgressiveToolTip
        .Description = "The short description."
        .ExpandedDescription = "This is the long expaned version of the description that could have a more complete description to accompany the picture."
        Dim progImage As IPictureDisp
        Set progImage = LoadPicture(g_FilePath & "koala.jpg")
         .Image = progImage
        .IsProgressive = True
        .Title = "Sample1"
      
    End With
End Sub

 

How to reverse an Insert Constraint Axes?

By Philippe Leefsma

The AxesOpposed property of an InsertConstraint is a ReadOnly property, however it is possible to workaround that limitation using the “ConvertToInsertConstraint” method.

Here is the VBA code for that. It assumes that the constraint(1) is an insert:

Sub ToggleInsertAxes()

    Dim doc As AssemblyDocument
    Set doc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
   
    Dim insert As InsertConstraint
    Set insert = doc.ComponentDefinition.Constraints(1)

    Call insert.ConvertToInsertConstraint( _
        insert.EntityOne, _
        insert.EntityTwo, _
        Not insert.AxesOpposed, _
        insert.Distance.value)
  
End Sub

Different capbilities of Vault API between different vault versions

By Daniel Du

As you know, We have different flavors of vault 2014( Basic, Workgroup, Professional), the difference of different vault version can be find here in product page. But I am always asked whether one specific API(or simple requirement) can be used on specific vault version, For example, does vault basic support adding UDP? I understand that customer always wants to minimize their investment.

For the most part, the differences in the APIs between the various flavors of Vault are made by including or excluding different supported services. The “Web Services” article in the SDK documentation, which gives an overview of all the different web services that make up the Vault web service API, has information about which services are available in which flavors of Vault. I make follow table for convenience.

	Vault Basic	Vault Workgroup	Vault Professional
AdminService Contains methods for manipulating users and groups.	✓	✓	✓
AuthService A service for authenticating to the Vault server.	✓	✓	✓
DocumentService Contains methods for manipulating files and folders within a vault.	✓	✓	✓
FilestoreService A service for uploading and downloading binary file data.	✓	✓	✓
FilestoreVaultService Information on the Knowledge Vaults.	✓	✓	✓
KnowledgeVaultService Contains methods for getting information about the vaults and options settings.	✓	✓	✓
InformationService Contains methods to determine information about the server and supported products	✓	✓	✓
IdentificationService Provides the locations of the data server and the filestore server.	✓	✓	✓
ItemService Contains methods for manipulating items.	✓	✓	✓
BehaviorService Contains methods for manipulating behaviors on Entities.	Limited	✓	✓
CategoryService Contains methods for manipulating categories.	Limited	✓	✓
JobService Contains methods for manipulating the job queue.	Limited	✓	✓
LifeCycleService Contains methods for manipulating lifecycles on Entities.	Limited	✓	✓
PropertyService Contains methods for manipulating properties on Entities.	Limited	✓	✓
ReplicationService Contains methods for transfering ownerhsip between workgroups.	Limited	✓	✓
RevisionService Contains methods for manipulating revision values and schemes for Entities.	Limited	✓	✓
SecurityService Contains methods for setting security on specific Entities.	Limited	✓	✓
ReplicationService Contains methods for transfering ownerhsip between workgroups.	Limited	Limited	✓
DocumentServiceExtensions Contains more methods for manipulating files and folders within a vault.	-	✓	✓
ChangeOrderService Contains methods for creating and manipulating change orders.	-	-	✓
CustomEntityService Contains methods for creating and manipulating custom entities.	-	-	✓
ForumService Contains methods for posting messages.	-	-	✓
ItemService Contains methods for manipulating items.	-	-	✓
PackageService Contains methods for importing and exporting item data	-	-	✓
WinAuthService Contains methods for logging into and out of vaults using Windows credentials.	-	-	✓

(Please refer to the document in Vault SDK for more information about these services.)

 

Furthermore, we do provide a way to check which flavor of the server you are connected to. The web service API’s InformationService has a GetSupportedProducts() method which can be used to see which flavors of Vault the server supports. Alternatively, the VDF layer of the SDK provides some helpful features for checking if you’re working with the correct level of Vault. On the VDF’s IVaultConnectionManagerService, you can specify product requirements for your application using the SetProductRequirements() method. This will prevent your application from allowing a connection to be established to a Vault that doesn’t meet your applications minimum features. Also, you can use the same VDF server to check if a specific server supports certain versions of Vault with the IsProductSupported() method. Please read the SDK documentation for more details on these methods.

Get Profile Path of Feature

By Xiaodong Liang

Typically, a feature is created from a profile. Assume we have got the feature, the Feature.Profile can return a set of connected curves (ProfilePath) used as input for a feature., ProfilePath.TextBoxPath tells if the profile is a TextBox, and ProfilePath.TextBox will return the TextBox object. The following is a code demo.

      Private Sub Test()

        Try

            oApp =

                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.

                GetActiveObject("Inventor.Application")

 

            'assume a feature is selected

            Dim extFeature As ExtrudeFeature

            extFeature =

                oApp.ActiveDocument.SelectSet(1)

 

            Dim path As ProfilePath

            For Each path In extFeature.Profile

                If path.TextBoxPath Then

                    ' if the profile is a textbox

                    'get the textbox object

                    Dim oTB As TextBox = path.TextBox

                   

                Else

                    ' if it is from other sketch entities.

                    If path.Count > 0 Then

 

                        For Each entity As

                        Inventor.ProfileEntity In path

         'iterate each sketch entity in the path

                            If entity.CurveType =

            Curve2dTypeEnum.kLineSegmentCurve2d Then

 

                       'if it is a sketch line.

                      Dim oSkE As SketchEntity =

                                    entity.SketchEntity

                      Dim oLine As SketchLine =

                                    CType(oSkE, SketchLine)

                      Dim startpt As Inventor.Point2d =

                    oLine.StartSketchPoint.Geometry

                   Dim endpt As Inventor.Point2d =

                     oLine.EndSketchPoint.Geometry

 

                            End If

 

                            ''other sketch types

                            ''

 

                        Next

                    End If

                End If

            Next

        Catch ex As Exception

 

        End Try

 

    End Sub

Getting properties of file interation with Vault Development Framework in Vault 2014 API

By Daniel Du

 

I am playing with the Vault Development Framwork(VDF) which is provided from Autodesk Vault 2014, here is a demo of getting file’s properties with VDF. I am doing in C#, and I just noticed that Wayne did a similar sample in VB.net here.

In Vault 2013 or earlier version, we can get properties with PropertyService PropertyManager. While in Vault 2014, with VDF we have a new way to do that, we can get the properties with PropertyManager, following code snippet demos how to login to Vault and get property manager. With VDF, it is easy to login vault with a built-in well designed UI, or a non-UI way if prefer:

////login with UI
//VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection = VDF.Vault.Forms.Library.Login(new VDF.Vault.Forms.Settings.LoginSettings());
 
//Another way to log into Vault without UI
VDF.Vault.Results.LogInResult results =
		VDF.Vault.Library.ConnectionManager.LogIn(
				"localhost", "Vault", "Administrator", "",
				VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.AuthenticationFlags.Standard, null);
if (!results.Success)
{
	Console.WriteLine("Login failed. exit...");
	Console.ReadLine();
	return;
}
 
VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection = results.Connection;
 
VDF.Vault.Services.Connection.IPropertyManager propMgr = connection.PropertyManager;

 

In this sample, I firstly get all folders/file entities in vault, talking about this, the first idea comes to my head is to use FolderManager and FileManager, but with help of Daniel Dulzo, one of my Vault API expert colleauges, I will use

IEntityOperationManager, which can be accessed off of a connection object through the EntityOperations property, provides a set of methods that can be used on generic IEntity instances. So while I checked for a method to get child files in both the FileManager and the FolderManager, the method to get child entities actually exists on the IEntityOperationManager because it is generic to all entities.

 

OK, here are the code snippet:

 

using Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using VDF = Autodesk.DataManagement.Client.Framework;
 
namespace VaultLabs
{
  class Lab03
  {
    // We will collect Property Definitions here
    static VDF.Vault.Currency.Properties.PropertyDefinitionDictionary propDefs;
 
    // The entry point of the program
    //==========================================================================
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      try
      {
 
        ////login with UI
        //VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection 
          = VDF.Vault.Forms.Library.Login(new VDF.Vault.Forms.Settings.LoginSettings());
 
        //Another way to log into Vault without UI
        VDF.Vault.Results.LogInResult results =
            VDF.Vault.Library.ConnectionManager.LogIn(
                "localhost", "Vault", "Administrator", "",
                VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.AuthenticationFlags.Standard, null);
        if (!results.Success)
        {
          Console.WriteLine("Login failed. exit...");
          Console.ReadLine();
          return;
        }
 
        VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection = results.Connection;
 
 
        if (connection.IsConnected)
        {
          ReadProperties(connection);
 
          VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.Folder folder = connection.FolderManager.RootFolder;
 
          PrintChildren(connection, folder);
 
 
 
          Console.ResetColor();
          Console.WriteLine("");
          Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit...");
          Console.ReadKey();
        }
 
 
 
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
        Console.WriteLine("ERROR: {0}", ex.Message);
      }
    } // Main()
 
 
    // Read all the Property Definitions for the "FILE" Entity Class
    //===============================================================================
    static void ReadProperties(VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection)
    {
      propDefs =
        connection.PropertyManager.GetPropertyDefinitions(
          VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.EntityClassIds.Files,
          null,
          VDF.Vault.Currency.Properties.PropertyDefinitionFilter.IncludeUserDefined
        );
 
 
    }
 
 
    // Output information about each file in a folder along with its properties
    //===========================================================================
    static void PrintChildren(VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection,
          VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.Folder parentFolder)
    {
      Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
      Console.WriteLine("{0}", parentFolder.FullName);
 
 
      IEnumerable<VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.IEntity> entities = connection
        .EntityOperations.GetBrowseChildren(parentFolder);
      if (entities != null && entities.Count<VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.IEntity>() > 0)
      {
        foreach (var ent in entities)
        {
          if (ent is VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.FileIteration)
          {
            VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.FileIteration fileIteration
              = ent as VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.FileIteration;
 
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
            Console.WriteLine(" {0}", fileIteration.EntityName);
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
 
            //Now print the properties of the file
            PrintProperties(connection, fileIteration);
 
 
          }
          else if (ent is VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.Folder)
          {
            // Recursively print info about subfolders and files in them
            //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
            VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.Folder folder
              = ent as VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.Folder;
            PrintChildren(connection, folder);
 
          }
        }
      }
 
    }
 
 
    static void PrintProperties(VDF.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection,
                      VDF.Vault.Currency.Entities.FileIteration fileInteration)
    {
      foreach (var key in propDefs.Keys)
      {
        // Print the Name from the Definition and the Value from the Property
        object propValue = connection.PropertyManager.GetPropertyValue(
                  fileInteration, propDefs[key], null);
        Console.WriteLine("  '{0}' = '{1}'",
                        key.ToString(),
                        propValue == null ? "" : propValue.ToString());
      }
    }
 
 
  } // class Lab03
 
} // namespace VaultLabs

Copy iProperties of Model Document to Drawing Document When Placing View

By Xiaodong Liang

Question:
Within the document settings for a drawing, on the drawing tab, there is a button called "Copy Model iProperty Settings... " this brings you to the settings dialog box which has a check box to enable Copy Model iProperties. Checking the box will enable a list of iProperties found in the drawing which you would like to enable inventor to copy from the model to the drawing's iProperties.

I am looking for a way within the API to check the box highlighted in red and then any iProperties in the list.

Solution:
The DrawingSettings object has not exposed the relevant API to toogle the [Copy Model Properties]. But with current API, it is feasible to implement the copying when placing the drawing view. The following is a VBA code demo which watches the event of document changing. If it is “Create Drawing View”, get the model document of the drawing view, and copy the specific iProperties to the drawing document.

Module:

Private cls As clsDocEvent
Sub startcmd()
    Set cls = New clsDocEvent
End Sub

Sub Endcmd()
    Set cls = Nothing
End Sub

Event Class:

'document event
Private WithEvents DocEvts As DocumentEvents
'current drawing document
Private thisDrawingDoc As DrawingDocument

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    'get the current document
    Set thisDrawingDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    'get document event
    Set DocEvts = thisDrawingDoc.DocumentEvents
  
End Sub

Private Sub Class_Terminate()
    Set DocEvts = Nothing
End Sub

Private Sub DocEvts_OnChange(ByVal ReasonsForChange As CommandTypesEnum, _
            ByVal BeforeOrAfter As EventTimingEnum, _
            ByVal Context As NameValueMap, _
            HandlingCode As HandlingCodeEnum)

If BeforeOrAfter = kAfter Then
       
        'check the context
        Dim i As Integer
        Dim oEachObj As Variant
        For i = 1 To Context.Count
      
       On Error Resume Next
       Set oEachObj = Context.Item(i)
      
       If Err Then
         Dim oName As String
         oName = Context.Item(i)
        
         'if this is fired by placing drawing view
         If oName = "Create Drawing View" Then
           
            'get the document the drawing view refers to
            Dim oLastView As DrawingView
            Set oLastView = thisDrawingDoc.ActiveSheet.DrawingViews(thisDrawingDoc.ActiveSheet.DrawingViews.Count)
           
            Dim oRefDoc As Document
            Set oRefDoc = oLastView.ReferencedDocumentDescriptor.ReferencedDocument
           
            'copy some specific iProperties to the drawing document
           
            ' document title
             Dim oTitle As String
             oTitle = oRefDoc.PropertySets("Summary Information").ItemByPropId(kTitleSummaryInformation).value
             'copy to drawing document
             thisDrawingDoc.PropertySets("Summary Information").ItemByPropId(kTitleSummaryInformation).value = oTitle
           
            ' document description
              Dim oDesc As String
             oDesc = oRefDoc.PropertySets("Design Tracking Properties").ItemByPropId(kDescriptionDesignTrackingProperties).value
              'copy to drawing document
             thisDrawingDoc.PropertySets("Design Tracking Properties").ItemByPropId(kDescriptionDesignTrackingProperties).value = oDesc
         End If
        
         Err.Clear
       Else
          'if context item is also a NamedValueMap
       End If
    
    Next
  
    End If
End Sub

How to use GoExcel.FindRowStart

By Xiaodong Liang

Question
In an Excel file, the cells are defined as below. I wanted to get the row which aaa =111. I thought the first is to call
GoExcel.FindRowStart = 3, because GoExcel.FindRowStart is 2 in default. But, FindRow failed after FindRowStart = 3. It says:
Could not match the column title: "aaa"

GoExcel.Open("Book1.xlsx", "Sheet1")
GoExcel.FindRowStart = 3
i = GoExcel.FindRow("Book1.xlsx", "Sheet1", "aaa", "=", 111)
MessageBox.Show(i.Tostring(), "Title")

Solution
There is another property: TitleRow. You also have to set that.  (Or you can set TitleRow only, and FindRowStart will be set automatically to TitleRow+ 1). Here’s a modified version of the rule:

GoExcel.Open("Book1.xlsx", "Sheet1")
GoExcel.TitleRow = 2
GoExcel.FindRowStart = 3
' or set TitleRow only if you are sure the start row is TitleRow +1 
i = GoExcel.FindRow("Book1.xlsx", "Sheet1", "aaa", "=", 111)
MessageBox.Show(i.Tostring(), "Title")