topic Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing? in Fusion API and Scripts Forum

Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:54:31 GMT

Is there anyway to automatically create a PDF of a drawing upon save? Basically I want it to export as a PDF and possibly have the version # in the PDF file name?

Is that possible? From what I can see it seems simple via an Add-in or using Python but I am no clue what to do.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

kandennti — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 14:16:10 GMT

Hi @gobluejd -San.

Interesting idea.

The UserInterface.commandTerminated event is fired when all commands are finished.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=GUID-E381414E-1CFF-4007-B1DF-C413D7E6841A

This event should be used to export PDF files when the following conditions are met
・When a save command is executed.
・When the active document is a drawing.

We have created a simple add-in.
When you start the add-in execution, a dialog will appear to select a folder to export the PDF file.
After that, the PDF file will be exported every time the drawing is saved.
If you want to stop the function, please exit the add-in.

#FusionAPI_python addin import traceback import adsk.core as core import adsk.drawing as drawing import pathlib _handlers = [] _exportDir = "" _target_cmd_ids = [ "PLM360SaveCommand", ] def run(context): ui: core.UserInterface = None try: app: core.Application = core.Application.get() ui = app.userInterface global _exportDir _exportDir = get_export_folder_path() if len(_exportDir) < 1: return global _handlers onCommandTerminated = MyCommandTerminatedHandler() ui.commandTerminated.add(onCommandTerminated) _handlers.append(onCommandTerminated) app.log( "Start addin(AutoPdfOnSave)" ) except: if ui: ui.messageBox('Failed:\n{}'.format(traceback.format_exc())) def stop(context): try: core.Application.get().log( "Stop addin(AutoPdfOnSave)" ) except: print('Failed:\n{}'.format(traceback.format_exc())) class MyCommandTerminatedHandler(core.ApplicationCommandEventHandler): def __init__(self): super().__init__() def notify(self, args: core.ApplicationCommandEventArgs): global _target_cmd_ids if args.commandId not in _target_cmd_ids: return app: core.Application = core.Application.get() doc: drawing.DrawingDocument = drawing.DrawingDocument.cast(app.activeDocument) if not doc: return dataFile: core.DataFile = doc.dataFile filename = f"{dataFile.name} v{dataFile.versionNumber}.pdf" global _exportDir exportPath = str( pathlib.Path(_exportDir) / filename ) drawExpMgr: drawing.DrawingExportManager = doc.drawing.exportManager expOpt: drawing.DrawingExportOptions = drawExpMgr.createPDFExportOptions( exportPath ) drawExpMgr.execute(expOpt) app.log( f"Export PDF:{exportPath}" ) def get_export_folder_path( ) -> str: app: core.Application = core.Application.get() ui: core.UserInterface = app.userInterface dialog: core.FolderDialog = ui.createFolderDialog() dialog.title = "PDF Export Folder" res = dialog.showDialog() if res == core.DialogResults.DialogOK: return dialog.folder else: return ""

Each time you save, the exported log is written to a TextCommands window.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:41:45 GMT

Thank you! Going to look at now and try.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:49:40 GMT

I do not think it is working. If it matters, I am on MAC. Also the folder will be:

/Users/jeffreydickerson/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/Drawings

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

kandennti — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:10:55 GMT

@gobluejd -San.

I don't use Dropbox, so I tried using OneDrive and was able to export PDFs without any problems.
I ran it on Win10, but since it doesn't do any OS-dependent processing, it should work on MAC as well, so there may be other problems.

Can I export to another local folder?
Also, PDF export is not supported by the personal license.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:29:47 GMT

I have never installed a script before. So I may have done wrong. I have a license and not the free one.

maybe give brief description of how to install? All I did was unzip and put in Dropbox (maybe that’s it and has to be on local drive???)

I am at home now and will look at again tomorrow.

thank you again!!!

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:30:50 GMT

I also loaded it via the tools menu (I think) where you can upload scripts and point to directory.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

kandennti — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 06:07:53 GMT

@gobluejd -San.

Attached here is not a script but an add-in.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-api-and-scripts/automatically-create-a-pdf-upon-save-of-a-drawing/m-p/12135436#M19655

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:13:09 GMT

I can not seem to get it to work. I extract to my Documents on MAC. I the open Fusion, go to Utilities, click add ins, then at top of menu select Add-Ins. At the bottom, I select CREATE, made sure Add-In Radial button is selected. Select Python, bane the add-in and select folder location on my MAC (Documents) (select the file folder (

Users/jeffreydickerson/Documents/AutoPdfOnSave) and then hit create. I have tried opening an existing drawing, changing something minor and hit save and it doesn't do anything. I have also tried creating a new part and drawing, I do not get any dialog on where to save.

I also have the text commands open and do not see anything happening.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

kandennti — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:17:48 GMT

@gobluejd -San.

The add-in may not be registered properly.

Extract the zip file. After pressing the green +, specify the following folder

└ AutoPdfOnSave/ └ AutoPdfOnSave/ <--here └ AutoPdfOnSave.manifest └ AutoPdfOnSave.py

The folders containing "xx.manifest" and "xx.py" must all have the same name, including the folder name.

If you see the following, registration is complete.

Re: Automatically create a PDF upon save of a Drawing?

gobluejd — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:29:33 GMT

Got it! Thank you so much.