Inventor'2013 with Embedded Excel'2010 spreadsheet problem

[AERE]

Hello everyone,

PLEASE HELP! - this problem drves me crazy. It seems to be trivial but I cannot resolve it.

I created a part ROD.ipt; a cylinder. In it's Parameters table, d0=3 ( stands for diameter) and d1=12 (length). Next, I made Excel spreadsheet (file name: DATA.xlsx) which looks like this:

          A                     B

ROD_DIAMETER        3

ROD_LENGTH          12

Then, I embedded the DATA.xlsx using "Link" in Parameters table.

iLoic rule to assign parameters (named ASSIGN_PARAMETERS) was created:

d0=GoExcel.CellValue ( "3rdParty: Embedding 1", "Sheet1",  "B2" )

d1=GoExcel.CellValue ( "3rdParty: Embedding 1", "Sheet1",  "B3" )

After I ran the rule, the following message appears:

Error in rule: ASSIGN_PARAMETERS, in document: ROD.ipt

The given path's format is not supported

Please take a look at the attached .ipt and .xlsx files. I 'commented all lines in  the ASSIGN_PARAMETERS rule and changed DATA.xlsx to DATA.xls for files to be transferred.

Please let me know what I am doing wrong.

Thank you.

[pcrawley · Accepted solution]

You've put this in your rule:

d0=GoExcel.CellValue("3rdParty: Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "B1")
d1=GoExcel.CellValue("3rdParty: Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "B2")

But it should read:

d0=GoExcel.CellValue("3rd Party:Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "B1")
d1=GoExcel.CellValue("3rd Party:Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "B2")

The difference is the space after "3rd" and the space before "Embedding"

Subtle - but critical 🙂  That's all it was.

Don't forget you can put sensible parameter names in Inventor - you'll get lost pretty quickly if you keep using d0, d1, d2 etc.

[AERE]

Good Evening pcrawley,
Thank you so much - that all it was!  - Such problem wouldn't be a problem from now on.
Could you please suggest any technique to make my part updating automatically as soon as I click the "save" button in Excel? - I would really appreciate your help.

[pcrawley]

Glad I could help!  (Feel free to mark the response as a solution and give Kudos!!)

Since your spread sheet is embedded, the link should be "live" - ie Change the parameter in Excel and the model will update as you type.  However, after embedding the spread sheet, a common mistake is to think that you should be editing the .XLSX file to change your parameters.  You don't.  Delete the .XLSX file - it is no longer needed.

If you have embedded the spreadsheet, you'll see it is available under the "3rd Party" folder at the top of your model browser.  Expand it and double-click the "Embedded1" (or whatever it's now called) to edit the spreadsheet.  You should find the updates are immediate.  Be careful with this though - if your model starts getting big and you have a lot of parameters, your performance can bog down.  If you are heading towards bigger models, I strongly advise you get into skeletal modelling and passing parameters between parts that way rather than embedded spread sheets.

If it doesn't update dynamically, check:

1. Check this setting in your parameters dialogue box:

2.  Check this in your iLogic Rules Editor:

Peter

[AERE]

Thank you Peter,

I have everything you mentioned checked... the Parameters table updates immediately; regardless, the part is "waiting" for the rule to be ran again, before it changes shape visibly. To the rule, I added following:

InventorVb.DocumentUpdate(True)

and also listed the rule in all Event Triggers. Yet, after the spreadsheet values are changed and the Excel file is saved, once again - part is not changing unless the rule is ran; which doesn't happen automatically.

If  you think it could be a way to fix it, please let me know.

Thank you again Peter.

[pcrawley]

Oops - my mistake.  It works dynamically when you write data from Inventor to Excel, not the other way round sorry.