Component Edit in 2013

[thomaskennedy]

I've just upgraded from 2011 to 2013 and come across this problem.

In 2011 I could edit a component from the top level anywhere in the tree - i.e. From an iLogic rule in the top level, I could edit a component in a subassembly.

This doesn't seem to work in 2013 - I can only edit the first child of a component.

In 2011 I could simply use :

compo = Component.InventorComponent("TOP")
compo.Edit

Has anybody else come across this? Is there a workaround?

Thanks for any help,

Tom

[xiaodong_liang]

Hi,

I seemed not to reproduce this issue. Probably I did not get the scenario correctly. Could you elaborate the steps and provide a copy of the assemblies you are using?

[thomaskennedy]

Hi,

I have attached a simple example of the issue. The rule in the top level demonstrates it.

Thanks

Tom

[thomaskennedy]

ps. I'm running SP1.1

[xiaodong_liang]

Hi,

I have no Inventror 2012 at this moment, so cannot test how Inventor 2012 works. But firstly, I do not think this line is correct  

    oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("Part1:1")
    oOcc.Edit

becasue Component.InventorComponent returns the occurrence in the current context. In this case, it is top assembly. While part1:1 is in sub assembly. So I thought it should be

   
    oOcc = Component.InventorComponent(MakePath("subassy","Part1:1"))

    oOcc.Edit

this does not work either. But it is not strange to me because the occurrence got by this line is still in the context of sub assembly. While in top assembly, it should be proxy occurrence. So I thought it should be

  ' Try To Get proxy occurrence In top Assembly
   oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("subassy")
   oSubOcc = Component.InventorComponent(MakePath("subassy","Part1:1"))
  Dim oTempObj As Object
   'oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc,oTempObj) ' failed at this line 
   Dim oProxyOcc as ComponentOccurrenceProxy
   oProxyOcc = oTempObj
   oProxyOcc.Edit

Unfortunetly, it failed at CreateGeometryProxy. Finally, I have to use Inventor API directly. i.e. get the occurrence from assembly, instead of using the wrapped functions of iLogic. It works well.

I cannot say if there is problems with InventorComponent. These are what I can see. Hope the final workaround helps you.

'works :
'oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("subassy")
'oOcc.Edit
' does not work
'oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("Part1:1")
'oOcc.Edit
'doesn't work either because the occurrence is in the context of sub assembly
'oOcc = Component.InventorComponent(MakePath("subassy","Part1:1"))
'oOcc.Edit

'Try To Get proxy occurrence In top Assembly
'oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("subassy")
'oSubOcc = Component.InventorComponent(MakePath("subassy","Part1:1")) 
'Dim oTempObj As Object
''oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc,oTempObj)  ' failed at this line
' Dim oProxyOcc as ComponentOccurrenceProxy
'oProxyOcc = oTempObj
' oProxyOcc.Edit


' use Inventor API directly
' works!Dim oAssDef As AssemblyComponentDefinition
oAssDef = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.ComponentDefinition

Dim oOcc As ComponentOccurrence
oOcc = oAssDef.Occurrences.ItemByName("subassy")

Dim oSubOcc As ComponentOccurrence
'oSubOcc = oOcc.SubOccurrences(1)   'SubOccurrences does not support ItemByName
oSubOcc = oOcc.Definition.Occurrences.ItemByName("Part1:1")

'oSubOcc is  in the context of sub assembly
' to edit it in the context of top assembly, need  proxy of occurrenceDim oTempObj As Object
oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc, oTempObj)
Dim oSubOccProxy As ComponentOccurrenceProxy
oSubOccProxy = oTempObj

oSubOccProxy.Edit

[thomaskennedy]

Thanks for that, it's interesting.

In iLogic I don't HAVE to explicitly declare my variables, so in theory I should be able to use :

oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("subassy")
oSubOcc = oOcc.Definition.Occurrences.ItemByName("Part1:1")
oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc, oTempObj)

oTempObj.Edit()

However, I get a Type Mismatch error.

If I declare oOcc as ComponentOccurrence it works fine :

Dim oOcc As ComponentOccurrence
oOcc = Component.InventorComponent("subassy")
oSubOcc = oOcc.Definition.Occurrences.ItemByName("Part1:1")
oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc, oTempObj)

oTempObj.Edit()

Does that suggest that there is an issue with the object being returned from the Component.InventorComponent() function ?

Thanks

Tom

[thomaskennedy]

Ps. The type mismatch error comes from the line :

oOcc.CreateGeometryProxy(oSubOcc, oTempObj)

[xiaodong_liang]

this was why I commented it as "failed at this line".  I do not know how the wrapped function Component.InventorComponent is implemented, however it looks problematic in this scenario, at least from what we saw.

[MjDeck · Accepted solution]

Tom,
 The behavior of Component.InventorComponent changed in 2013. There's a new function:

compo = Component.InventorComponentInThisContext("TOP")
compo.Edit

It will give you a ComponentOccurrenceProxy if the component is in a subassembly.

[thomaskennedy]

Mike,

Thanks very much for the reply, that's exaclty what I was looking for.

Are these iLogic / API changes documented anywhere?

I ask because we have another issue with Constraint.IsActive() sometimes returning an error "Cannot complete the function ConstraintIsActive("XX")" which we never had in 2011, and I can't figure out why.

Thanks again,

Tom

[MjDeck]

InventorComponentInThisContext is not documented yet.
Can you post more details about the Constraint.IsActive failure, maybe with a sample model?

[thomaskennedy]

The ConstraintIsActive error is a strange one and has been bugging me for months.

I THINK it happens when the Design Doctor is showing an issue.

Anyway, I posted a topic about it here :

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor-Customization/Strange-Constraint-IsActive-Error/m-p/...

In which I've just uploaded an example model.

Thanks,

Tom