Reference key the same on different faces in assembly

[Big_Mack]

I am creating an addin to add the area of selected faces in an assembly to get the square meterage for painting.

The addin works but to make it a bit more user friendly i would like keep a track of the faces selected so that there is no duplication. I want to use the reference keys for the faces selected to achieve this however the reference keys are identicle for a number of faces.

I am using a collection to save the reference keys and String.Compare to compare the selected face with the collection.

Why are the reference keys the same for different faces?

   Public Global_SelectedFace As New Collection

   Public Global_AreaTotal As Double

Private Sub oSelect_OnSelect(ByVal JustSelectedEntities As Inventor.ObjectsEnumerator, _

                               ByVal SelectionDevice As Inventor.SelectionDeviceEnum, _

                               ByVal ModelPosition As Inventor.Point, _

                               ByVal ViewPosition As Inventor.Point2d, _

                               ByVal View As Inventor.View) Handles oSelect.OnSelect

       If TypeOf JustSelectedEntities.Item(1) Is Inventor.Face Then

           Dim I As Integer

           Dim oFace As Face

           Dim sFace As String

           Dim bool As Boolean = True

           Dim bKey() As Byte = New Byte() {}

           Dim oAssm As Inventor.AssemblyDocument

            oAssm = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

           Dim oRefKeyManager As ReferenceKeyManager

           oRefKeyManager = oAssm.ReferenceKeyManager

           ' Get the key context

           ' Calling this method is a must

           Dim nKeyCont As Integer

           nKeyCont = oRefKeyManager.CreateKeyContext()

           oFace = JustSelectedEntities.Item(1)

           oFace.GetReferenceKey(bKey, nKeyCont)

           sFace = oRefKeyManager.KeyToString(bKey)

           If Global_SelectedFace.Count > 0 Then

               For I = 1 To Global_SelectedFace.Count

                   If String.Compare(sFace, Global_SelectedFace(I)) = 0 Then

                       bool = False

                        Exit For

                   End If

               Next

               If bool Then

                   'Save the key and add the area of this face

                   Global_SelectedFace.Add(sFace)

                   Global_AreaTotal = Global_AreaTotal + JustSelectedEntities.Item(1).Evaluator.Area

               Else

                   MsgBox("This face has already been selected.")

               End If

           Else

               'Save the key and add the area of this the first face

               Global_SelectedFace.Add(sFace)

               Global_AreaTotal = Global_AreaTotal + JustSelectedEntities.Item(1).Evaluator.Area

           End If

       End If

   End Sub

[Big_Mack]

I'm sorry to be a pain but can anyone help with my problem? As i understand it reference keys should be unique for each face so why is my code comming up with the sane key for different faces? Has it got something to do with assemblies or my method of comparing the keys?

Thanks in advance

Malcolm

[16101972]

Hi Big_Mack

I recommend you to use property InternalName to compare. That property you can find in PartDocument.ComponentDefinition.SurfaceBodies(1).Faces(Y).InternalName

Y=1...number of faces.

Regards,

Nedeljko.

[Big_Mack]

Hi Nedeljko

Thanks for the sugestion it is better than I had but multiple faces bo turn up in the assembly because a part can be present more than once. However I may be able to multiply the face area by the number of parts now there is consistency to the duplication.

Regards Malcolm