Use iLogic to fill in iPart table values from Excel sheet?

[LT.Rusty]

So I have a series of large projects here, and I'm trying to build a template for it.  As part of this template I've got a series of iParts which go together to make iAssemblies (there's potentially a couple hundred instances of each iAssembly in each one of these projects, and up to 25 different versions.  Because there's up to 25 different versions of the assembly, there's also up to 25 different versions of each iPart which goes into the assembly.

The top-level assembly will have a form which outputs values to the excel spreadsheet, and the goal here is for each sub-iAssembly and iPart to draw values from that table to fill in their own author tables.

I'm having a hard time right now figuring out how to draw the data from Excel into the iPart / iAssembly tables.  I can get the information from Excel and set parameters with it, but I haven't figured out how to use it to populate the iPart / iAssembly table.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

If you can reach data from excel and want to put them in iPart table you can do that through PartDocument.ComponentDefinition.iPartFactory.CreateMember(Row)

Regards,

Nedeljko.

[philippe.leefsma]

I don't think the suggestion from Nedeljko will help here, CreateMember will just generate a member file corresponding to the specified row, which is not what you are looking for if I understand correctly the question.

You need to edit programmatically the iPart table, which is not doable directly from the available API but you can do it by editing the embedded Excel document that defines the table.

Below are VBA examples that illustrates how to dump content of the table and create a basic iPart from scratch. What you need to do is to edit a row of the table as you would wish from the UI and observe the syntax, so you can reproduce it from API:

Public Sub DumpiPartTable()

    Dim doc As PartDocument
    Set doc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    
    If (Not doc.ComponentDefinition.IsiPartFactory) Then Exit Sub
    
    Dim factory As iPartFactory
    Set factory = doc.ComponentDefinition.iPartFactory
    
    Dim ws As Variant 'WorkSheet
    Set ws = factory.ExcelWorkSheet
    
    Dim rowIdx As Integer
    Dim colIdx As Integer
    
    For rowIdx = 1 To factory.TableRows.count + 1
        
        Debug.Print "-------------------------------------------------"
    
        For colIdx = 1 To factory.TableColumns.count
        
            Debug.Print "Cell[" & rowIdx & "," & colIdx & "]: " & _
                ws.Cells(rowIdx, colIdx).text
            
        Next
    Next
    
End Sub

Public Sub DumpiAssemblyTable()

    Dim doc As AssemblyDocument
    Set doc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    
    If (Not doc.ComponentDefinition.IsiAssemblyFactory) Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    Dim factory As iAssemblyFactory
    Set factory = doc.ComponentDefinition.iAssemblyFactory
    
    Dim ws As Variant ' WorkSheet
    Set ws = factory.ExcelWorkSheet
    
    Dim rowIdx As Integer
    Dim colIdx As Integer
    
    For rowIdx = 1 To factory.TableRows.count + 1
        
        Debug.Print "-------------------------------------------------"
    
        For colIdx = 1 To factory.TableColumns.count
        
            Debug.Print "Cell[" & rowIdx & "," & colIdx & "]: " & _
                ws.Cells(rowIdx, colIdx).text
            
        Next
    Next
    
End Sub

Public Sub CreateiPart()

    Dim oPartDoc As PartDocument
    Set oPartDoc = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(kPartDocumentObject, _
               ThisApplication.FileManager.GetTemplateFile(kPartDocumentObject), _
               True)
               
    oPartDoc.SaveAs "c:\Temp\APIiPart.ipt", False
               
    Dim oTG As TransientGeometry
    Set oTG = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry
               
    Dim oCompDef As PartComponentDefinition
    Set oCompDef = oPartDoc.ComponentDefinition
               
    Dim oPoints(3) As point2d
    
    Set oPoints(0) = oTG.CreatePoint2d(0, 0)
    Set oPoints(1) = oTG.CreatePoint2d(5, 0)
    Set oPoints(2) = oTG.CreatePoint2d(5, 5)
    Set oPoints(3) = oTG.CreatePoint2d(0, 5)
    
    Dim oSketch As PlanarSketch
    Set oSketch = oCompDef.Sketches.Add(oCompDef.WorkPlanes(1))

    Dim oLines(3) As SketchLine
    
    Set oLines(0) = oSketch.SketchLines.AddByTwoPoints( _
        oPoints(0), oPoints(1))

    Set oLines(1) = oSketch.SketchLines.AddByTwoPoints( _
        oLines(0).EndSketchPoint, oPoints(2))

    Set oLines(2) = oSketch.SketchLines.AddByTwoPoints( _
        oLines(1).EndSketchPoint, oPoints(3))

    Set oLines(3) = oSketch.SketchLines.AddByTwoPoints( _
        oLines(2).EndSketchPoint, oLines(0).StartSketchPoint)
    
    Dim oProfile As profile
    Set oProfile = oSketch.Profiles.AddForSolid
    
    Dim oExtrude As ExtrudeFeature
    Set oExtrude = _
        oCompDef.features.ExtrudeFeatures.AddByDistanceExtent( _
            oProfile, 15, kPositiveExtentDirection, kNewBodyOperation, 0)
    
    oExtrude.FeatureDimensions(1).parameter.Name = "Length"
    oExtrude.FeatureDimensions(2).parameter.Name = "TaperAngle"
    
    Dim oFactory As iPartFactory
    Set oFactory = oCompDef.CreateFactory
    
    Dim oWS As WorkSheet
    Set oWS = oFactory.ExcelWorkSheet
    
    oWS.Cells(1, 1) = "Member<defaultRow>1</defaultRow><filename></filename>"
    oWS.Cells(1, 2) = "Part Number [Project]"
    oWS.Cells(1, 3) = "Length<free>150 mm</free>"
    oWS.Cells(1, 4) = "TaperAngle"
    
    oWS.Cells(2, 1) = "APIiPart-01"
    oWS.Cells(2, 2) = "APIiPart-01"
    oWS.Cells(2, 3) = "150 mm"
    oWS.Cells(2, 4) = "0 deg"
 
    oWS.Cells(3, 1) = "APIiPart-02"
    oWS.Cells(3, 2) = "APIiPart-02"
    oWS.Cells(3, 3) = "100 mm"
    oWS.Cells(3, 4) = "5 deg"
    
    oWS.Cells(4, 1) = "APIiPart-03"
    oWS.Cells(4, 2) = "APIiPart-03"
    oWS.Cells(4, 3) = "50 mm"
    oWS.Cells(4, 4) = "10 deg"
    
    Dim oWB As workbook
    Set oWB = oWS.Parent
    
    oWB.Save
    oWB.Close
    
    oPartDoc.Update
    oPartDoc.Save
    
End Sub

Take care not to mess up with the table as you could corrupt the document.

Hope that helps,

Philippe.

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[LT.Rusty]

Wow.  That's ... a little more complicated than what I was expecting / hoping, to be perfectly honest.

I can pre-create all ~25 rows in my template file no problem.  I just need to edit the data that exists in the table.  There's no way to do it without getting into the API?

If not, that's okay too ... If I've already got to take a dip in the iLogic pool, I might as well go all the way off the deep end and find an excuse to learn the whole API thing too.  🙂

[philippe.leefsma]

I don't think iLogic can do it, but it supports direct Vb.Net syntax in a rule, so you could pretty much cut and paste that code in a rule. To make it work you would need to migrate the syntax to Vb.Net, which is rather straightforward: 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/aa192490%28v=office.11%29.aspx

It's actually not so complicated than it may look, that's just a matter of accessing the Excel document and edit the values. The API itself for iPart isn't very powerful in terms of manipulating the iPart table, editing through Excel is the only to achieve table modifications.

The API being much more powerful and flexible than iLogic, I think it would be a good investment if you want to get started with it, we have multiple resources to help you with:

http://www.autodesk.com/developinventor

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=17324828

https://github.com/ADN-DevTech/Inventor-Training-Material

Feel free to report your progress.

Good luck,

Philippe.

[ametemre]

dear sir

    it has been 4 years since the topic was opened and im having trouble with smiliar situation

i got an ipart  that have 20 diffrent variations and each variation is used in a sub assambley, i figured to calculate the dimentions inside excel infact i have to enter just 3 inputs to excel formula so i need to change a specific shell in excel from a rule nested inside top level assambley or maybe just a code set to open ipart excel spreadsheet from top level assambley, but pls less user interract

     i dont wanna be a lazy student thats why i will try to figure my way through API but time is essance could you pls light my way out ?