Manufacturing DevBlog

How to Set the Color of a Sketched Symbol

Q: I’m using the following code to set the color of a sketched symbol but nothing happens. How do I set the color of a sketched symbol?

   sketchedSym.Color.SetColor(255, 0, 0)

A: Properties that return transient objects return a "tear off" object that's not associated to the original object it was obtained from.  For example, if you have a work plane and call the Plane property, it returns a Plane object that provides the geometric information of the plane.  Or if you call the Geometry property of a cylindrical face it will return a Cylinder object which provides the geometric information for a cylinder.  These objects serve as a way to conveniently pass a set of related information.  A Color object is also a transient that provides a convenient way to pass color information in the API.

When Color property of the SketchedSymbol object is called the API creates a new Color object using the color information associated with the symbol and returns it.  The Color object returned is not associated with the symbol.  When you change any of the properties of the Color object, you are changing the color object but since it's not associated with the symbol, it doesn’t affect the sketched symbol and you don't see anything happen.  The way to set the color of the symbol is to use a Color object to set the Color property. A common way is to create a new Color object to pass in, as shown below.

   Dim transObjs As TransientObjects
   Set transObjs = ThisApplication.TransientObjects
   sketchedSym.Color = transObjs.CreateColor(255, 0, 0)

When FileUIEvents::OnPopulateFileMetadata is exactly invoked ?

By Xiaodong Liang

This event is invoked when internal workflow of Inventor sets the filename and properties. Currently, the support workflow contains frame generator, create substitute, shrink wrap, add assembly / part in assembly, copy component, mirror component etc.

The usage is very straightforward: delegate the event and suggest your custom name in the event, and tell Inventor this event is handled. The following is a small VBA code demo.

Event Class:

Private WithEvents fileUIEvts As FileUIEvents

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    Set fileUIEvts = ThisApplication.FileUIEvents
End Sub

Private Sub Class_Terminate()
    Set fileUIEvts = Nothing
End Sub

Private Sub fileUIEvts_OnPopulateFileMetadata(ByVal FileMetadataObjects As ObjectsEnumerator, ByVal Formulae As String, ByVal Context As NameValueMap, HandlingCode As HandlingCodeEnum)
    Dim oMetaData As FileMetadata
    If FileMetadataObjects.Count > 0 Then
        For Each oMetaData In FileMetadataObjects
            'suggest custom name
            oMetaData.FileName = "asdk_" & oMetaData.FileName
            oMetaData.FileNameOverridden = True
        Next oMetaData
        'tell Inventor the event is handled
        HandlingCode = kEventHandled
    End If
End Sub

Module:

Private cls As clsFileE

Sub startcmd()
    Set cls = New clsFileE
End Sub

Sub Endcmd()
    Set cls = Nothing
End Sub

The figure below is a demo when the event suggests a custom name for "mirror component” command.

BOM Item total quantity by sub-assemby

By Xiaodong Liang

Question:
I would like to obtain, in a structured parts list, the total number of ITEM in the sub-assembly.
I have found an iLogic rule to create an user ipropertie in each part, with the total nomber of this part in all the assemby (included all sub-assemblies).
I would like to know if it is possible to obtain the total of this part only in the sub-assembly. Is it possible with an iLogic rule or VBA ? 

Solution:
You can recurse the referenced documents of the top assembly, filter out the sub assemblies. And iterate the occurrences of the assemblies to count each part. iLogic is based on VB.NET, so you could take advantage the Dictionary object to make the worflow more clear.

The following code is a demo to dump an assembly, get the part count of each sub assembly.

 Sub Main()

    'get top assembly
    Dim oTopAss As AssemblyDocument
    oTopAss = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

    'store part info for each sub assembly,
    ' including decedent Sub Assembly
    Dim oTotalDict As     _
       New Dictionary(Of String, _
       Dictionary(Of String, Integer)) 
     
    Dim oEachRefDoc As Document
    For Each oEachRefDoc In  _
        oTopAss.ReferencedDocuments
        If TypeOf oEachRefDoc Is _
            AssemblyDocument Then
            'get full path of the assembly
            Dim oSubAssFullPath As String
            oSubAssFullPath =  _
                oEachRefDoc.FullFileName

            If oTotalDict.ContainsKey(oSubAssFullPath) Then
                ' should have iterated, do nothing
            Else
                'store each unique part per its full path
                Dim oSubDict =  _
                    New Dictionary(Of String, _ 
                                    Integer)

                'add a dictionary for the sub assembly
                oTotalDict.Add(oSubAssFullPath, _
                                oSubDict)

                'iterate the parts within the sub assembly
                recurseSubAss(oEachRefDoc, _
                             oTotalDict, _
                             oSubDict)
            End If

        End If
    Next 

    'dump the count statistic of the assemblies
    Dim oMsg As String

    Dim iAssKey As String
    Dim oEachAssDic As  _
        Dictionary(Of String, Integer) = Nothing
    For Each iAssKey In _
        oTotalDict.Keys
        'each sub assembly, including the decendent assembly
        oMsg += vbCr + "***" + _
            iAssKey + "***"
        oEachAssDic = _
            oTotalDict(iAssKey)

        Dim iPartKey As String
        For Each iPartKey In  _
            oEachAssDic.Keys
            Dim quantity  As Integer =  _
                oEachAssDic(iPartKey)
            oMsg += vbCr + "    " +  _
                iPartKey + "  [count: " + _
                    quantity .ToString() + "]"
        Next
    Next

    'message the info
    System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(oMsg) 

End Sub

Sub recurseSubAss(ByVal oParentDoc As AssemblyDocument, _
                  ByRef oTotalDict As _
                      Dictionary(Of String, _
                        Dictionary(Of String, Integer)), _
                  ByRef oSubDict As _
                      Dictionary(Of String, _
                        Integer))

    Dim oAssDef As AssemblyComponentDefinition
    oAssDef = oParentDoc.ComponentDefinition

    Dim oEachOcc As ComponentOccurrence
    For Each oEachOcc In oAssDef.Occurrences
        Dim oEachRefDoc As Document
        oEachRefDoc = oEachOcc.Definition.Document

        If TypeOf oEachRefDoc Is  _
            AssemblyDocument Then
            'get full path of the assembly
            Dim oSubAssFullPath As String
            oSubAssFullPath =  _
                oEachRefDoc.FullFileName

            If oTotalDict.ContainsKey(oSubAssFullPath) Then
                ' should have iterated, do nothing
            Else
                'store each unique part per its full path
                Dim oSubSubDict = _
                    New Dictionary(Of String, Integer) 

                'add a dictionary for the sub assembly
                oTotalDict.Add(oSubAssFullPath, _
                    oSubSubDict)

                'iterate the documents within the sub assembly
                recurseSubAss(oEachRefDoc, _
                    oTotalDict, _
                        oSubSubDict)
            End If

        Else

            ' it is part

            'get full path of the part
            Dim oPartFullPath As String
            oPartFullPath = oEachRefDoc.FullFileName


            'add this part to the dictionary
            If oSubDict.ContainsKey(oPartFullPath) Then
                ' if the part has existed in the dictionary
                'quantity  + 1
                oSubDict(oPartFullPath) = _
                    oSubDict(oPartFullPath) + 1
            Else
                ' add this part, quantity  =1
                oSubDict.Add(oPartFullPath, 1)
            End If
        End If

    Next

End Sub