ClientGraphics in SketchBlockDefinitions

[lstyra]

Hello,

I'm writing a little c# tool, where a user can mark sketch points in PlanarSketches and SketchBlockDefinitions.
The points will be marked by attributes and actually represent the bounding box of the profile for CAM processing.

While my command is active, the location and  description of the points should be visible to the user, upon end of the command this info should be invisble again.

So, when the user has selected a SketchPoint, I will write a text description of the point (f.e. Origin, MaxX, MaxY, MaxXY) next to it using ClientGraphics/TextGraphics.

This works fine, as long as the user selects Points inside a PlanarSketch, but when the user edits a SketchBlockDefinition, the TextGraphics can not be seen.

here is a small example of my code:
void createClientGfx()
{
 ComponentDefinition compDef = null;
 Inventor.Document doc = m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument;

 if (m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument is PartDocument)
 {
  compDef = (ComponentDefinition)((PartDocument)m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument).ComponentDefinition;
 }
 else if (m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument is AssemblyDocument)
 {
  compDef = (ComponentDefinition)((AssemblyDocument)m_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument).ComponentDefinition;
 }
 
 try
 {
  m_clientGraphics = compDef.ClientGraphicsCollection[CAMP_POS_GFX];
 }
 catch (System.Exception) { }
 if (m_clientGraphics == null)
 {
  m_clientGraphics = compDef.ClientGraphicsCollection.Add(CAMP_POS_GFX);
 }          

 m_node = m_clientGraphics.AddNode(1);           
}

TextGraphics addtextGfx(string strText, Point2d position)
{
 TextGraphics textGfx1 = m_node.AddTextGraphics();
 textGfx1.Text = strText;
 textGfx1.Anchor = m_inventorApplication.TransientGeometry.CreatePoint(position.X + OFFSET, position.Y, 0.0);
 textGfx1.Font = "Arial";
 textGfx1.FontSize = 20;
 textGfx1.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalTextAlignmentEnum.kAlignTextLeft;
 textGfx1.Italic = false;
 textGfx1.PutTextColor(255,255,0);
 //textGfx1.VerticalAlignment = VerticalTextAlignmentEnum.kAlignTextBaseline;

 //Call oTextGraphics(3).SetTransformBehavior(oModelAnchorPoint, kFrontFacingAndPixelScaling)                                   
 m_inventorApplication.ActiveView.Update();
 return textGfx1;
}

Any help, why the code isn't working in SketchBlockDefinitions would be appreciated.

regards

Ludger

[philippe.leefsma]

Hi Ludger,

Which version of Inventor are you using? Under 2014 I don't reproduce that behavior. Here is my workflow:

- Create a sketchblock and exit from the sketch

- Double click the sketch in Inventor browser to activate the definition

- Run following VBA:

Sub TestProcGraphics()

    Dim doc As Document
    Set doc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    
    Dim Tg As TransientGeometry
    Set Tg = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry
    
    Dim compDef As ComponentDefinition
    Set compDef = doc.ComponentDefinition
       
    On Error Resume Next
       
    Dim dataSets As GraphicsDataSets
    Set dataSets = doc.GraphicsDataSetsCollection.Add("TestCG")

    If Err Then
        Set dataSets = doc.GraphicsDataSetsCollection("TestCG")
    End If
    
    Dim cg As clientGraphics
    Set cg = compDef.ClientGraphicsCollection.Add("TestCG")

    If Err Then
        Set cg = compDef.ClientGraphicsCollection("TestCG")
    End If
    
    Call TextClientGraphics( _
        dataSets, cg, _
        Tg.CreatePoint(0, 0, 0), _
        "Client Graphics Text")    
    ThisApplication.ActiveView.Update

End Sub

Sub TextClientGraphics( _
    dataSets As GraphicsDataSets, _
    cg As clientGraphics, _
    position As point, _
    text As String)
    
    Dim node As GraphicsNode
    Set node = cg.AddNode(cg.count + 1)
    
    'Rotate node
    Dim Matrix As Matrix
    Set Matrix = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry.CreateMatrix
    
    Call Matrix.SetTranslation( _
        ThisApplication.TransientGeometry.CreateVector(10, 5, 5))
    
    Dim axe As vector
    Set axe = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry.CreateVector(1, 0, 0)
    
    Call Matrix.SetToRotation(4 * Atn(1) / 2, axe, position)
    
    node.Transformation = Matrix
    
    
    Dim Tg As TextGraphics
    Set Tg = node.AddTextGraphics

    'Set the properties of the text
    Tg.DepthPriority = 0
    Tg.text = text
    Tg.Anchor = position
    Tg.Bold = True
    Tg.Font = "Arial"
    Tg.FontSize = 40
    Tg.HorizontalAlignment = kAlignTextCenter
    Tg.Italic = True
    Call Tg.PutTextColor(0, 255, 0)
    Tg.VerticalAlignment = kAlignTextMiddle
    
    Tg.RemoveViewSpaceAnchor

End Sub

Philippe.

[lstyra]

Hi Philippe,

thank you for your reply.

I am using Inventor 2012.

I have modified your example, so it prints the SketchpointNumber of the first 10 SketchPoints, and it works fine!

But I have still to find out why my c# code would run fine for PlanarSketches and doesn't display anything for SketchBlockDefs...

For i = 1 To 10
        Dim oPoint As SketchPoint
        Set oPoint = oBlockDef.SketchPoints(i)
        Call TextClientGraphics( _
          dataSets, cg, _
          Tg.CreatePoint(oPoint.Geometry.X, oPoint.Geometry.Y, 0), _
          "Pt_" & i)
        ThisApplication.ActiveView.Update
Next i

best regards

Ludger