VBA: Distinguis​h hole features from other circles in drawing, add centermark​s.

[CragMonkey]

I'm attempting to use VBA to put center marks on each hole in my drawing.

So far I have the following code:

    Dim oIntent As GeometryIntent
    Dim oCenterOfPart As Centermark
    
    'Add center marks to base view
    For Each oCurve In oBaseView.DrawingCurves ' <- need to identify Hole Features
        If Not oCurve.CenterPoint Is Nothing Then
            If oCurve.CurveType = kCircleCurve Then 'CurveTypeEnum
                Set oIntent = oSheet.CreateGeometryIntent(oCurve)
                Set oCenterOfPart = oSheet.Centermarks.Add(oIntent, True, True)
            End If
        End If
    Next oCurve
    
    'Add center marks to top view
    For Each oCurve In oTopView.DrawingCurves ' <- need to identify Hole Features
        If Not oCurve.CenterPoint Is Nothing Then
            If oCurve.CurveType = kCircleCurve Then 'CurveTypeEnum
                Set oIntent = oSheet.CreateGeometryIntent(oCurve)
                Set oCenterOfPart = oSheet.Centermarks.Add(oIntent, True, True)
            End If
        End If
    Next oCurve
    
    'Add center marks to right view
    For Each oCurve In oRightView.DrawingCurves ' <- need to identify Hole Features
        If Not oCurve.CenterPoint Is Nothing Then
            If oCurve.CurveType = kCircleCurve Then 'CurveTypeEnum
                Set oIntent = oSheet.CreateGeometryIntent(oCurve)
                Set oCenterOfPart = oSheet.Centermarks.Add(oIntent, True, True)
            End If
        End If
    Next oCurve

oBaseView is the DrawingView object representing the base view the code just placed. I also used VBA to place the projected views oTopView and oRightView. I want to add center marks to each hole when viewed from the end (as circles) and add centerlines when viewed from the top or side (as hidden lines).

I will be iterating through several models representing various handhold styles. The feet can be in many orientations, 99% of them are paralel to one of the origin planes (XY,YZ, or XZ).

This is what my code generates:

 (The centermarks that are selected are the ones I don't want the code to generate)

 This is what I WANT the code to generate:

 1) How do I distinguish whether a circle curve originated because of a hole or because of another cilindrical feature?

2) How to I identify the correspoding hidden lines in the other views so I can add a center line?

(Reposted from: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/VBA-Distinguish-hole-features-from-other-circles-in-...)

[00ash00]

Hi CragMonkey 

With my automatic drawing program I call up the automatedCenterlines, the same as if you were to RMB on each view and select automated center lines.  

Code:

oSheet is the active drawing sheet,

oSheet.DrawingViews.Item(1).SetAutomatedCenterlineSettings()
oSheet.DrawingViews.Item(2).SetAutomatedCenterlineSettings()
oSheet.DrawingViews.Item(3).SetAutomatedCenterlineSettings()

In your drawing template yo need to set your default Automated centerlines,

Tools > Document Settings > Automated Centerlines > Select required centerlines.

This should set all your default centerlines for the three views

Ash

[CragMonkey]

The holes were created not by using the hole function, but instead by excluding that area during the extrusion. Inventor is seeing them both as "Cylindrical Features" - the result is the same as the other code.

However, when I create a hole table it knows the difference and correctly identifies the holes. I'm just not sure how to leverage that for this purpose.

[xiaodong_liang]

Hi,

I did no find a direct way, but at least you can get DrawingCurve.ModelGeometry which is an edge. Next iterate Edge.Faces. If the face is a cylinder, get Face.CreateByFeature. Thus you can know if the feature is a hole feature or other features. Hope this helps.

[b.gyure · Accepted solution]

Hi CragMonkey 2000 !

I realize this is an old post but it might come in handy for others too. I was looking for the same thing so I wrote the code for it. Granted I'm not done, since I would need it for drawing which has an an assembly in it, so far I only did it for a drawing that has a part file in it. I'll try and finish it for both, for now with a part file, it works.
You might have to tweak it a bit for it to do for all of the sheets and all of the partfiles but I think that's going to be a piece of cake. Here is my code:

If you can use this please give a thumbs up, or accept it as a solution, thank you!

Sub CenterMark()

Dim oDrawDoc As DrawingDocument
Set oDrawDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

Dim oSheet As Sheet
Set oSheet = oDrawDoc.ActiveSheet

Dim oBaseView As DrawingView
Set oBaseView = oSheet.DrawingViews.Item(1)

Dim oDoc As PartDocument
Set oDoc = oBaseView.ReferencedDocumentDescriptor.ReferencedDocument

Dim oDef As PartComponentDefinition
Set oDef = oDoc.ComponentDefinition

Dim oHoleFeatures As HoleFeatures
Set oHoleFeatures = oDef.Features.HoleFeatures

Dim oColl As ObjectCollection
Set oColl = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection

Dim oHole As HoleFeature
For Each oHole In oHoleFeatures

Dim oCurves As DrawingCurvesEnumerator
Set oCurves = oBaseView.DrawingCurves(oHole)
For Each oCurve In oCurves 'oBaseView.DrawingCurves ' <- need to identify Hole Features
If Not oCurve.CenterPoint Is Nothing Then
'If oCurve.Type = kHoleFeatureObject Then
If oCurve.CurveType = kCircleCurve Then 'CurveTypeEnum
Set oIntent = oSheet.CreateGeometryIntent(oCurve)
Set oCenterOfPart = oSheet.Centermarks.Add(oIntent, True, True)
End If
End If
Next oCurve
'oColl.Add (oCurves.Item(1)
'''IMMEDIATE WINDOW
Debug.Print oHole.Name, oCurves.Count
Next


' Dim oIntent As GeometryIntent
' Dim oCenterOfPart As CenterMark

'Dim oCurve As DrawingCurve
'Add center marks to base view

End Sub

And I wrote a delete centermark too, so we can play around:

Sub DeleteCenterMarks()

'Dim oDoc As DrawingDocument
Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

Dim oSheet As Sheet
Set oSheet = oDoc.ActiveSheet

Dim oBaseView As DrawingView
Set oBaseView = oSheet.DrawingViews.Item(1)

Dim oCenterMark As CenterMark
For Each oCenterMark In oSheet.Centermarks
oCenterMark.Delete
Next
End Sub