topic Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings in Inventor Forum

Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

Hubert_Los — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:08:55 GMT

Is it possible to copy fittings from one run to another using connect fittings?
I'm not going to copy the whole run, just a few fittings.
When I do this, the connections are visible, but the fittings are not adaptive and do not change position.

I often have repetitive fittings that I need to connect and would like to insert whole groups. Maybe there is another solution.

Program : Inventor Professional 2018

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

CGBenner — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 11:51:22 GMT

@Hubert_Los

I always recommend to users, do not ever use COPY when working with Tube & Pipe. It will only cause problems. I don't know why, but nothing good ever comes from copying fittings in T&P.

What I do recommend is: select the Fitting you want multiple copies of, and then use "Place Fitting". It should place the selected fittings until you cancel the command.

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

A.Acheson — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 02:52:58 GMT

I think you need to enter the run your copying from and copy the fitting then enter the run and paste. It does bring with it the bug of not being able to delete but I have an ilogic rule to delete them if needed.

The other safe manual route is part priority and place fitting as Chris suggested.

I will look into a select and place multiple fitting as it seems like a handy tool

Edit:

Copying from another run gives the part a different icon and the delete button goes missing from right mouse click menu. It can however be deleted from the delete button on the keyboard.

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

A.Acheson — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 02:50:48 GMT

(view in My Videos)

It would be great if this functionality was fixed so you can use copy and paste as one normally would. There seems to be workflow issue that only placing from content center/ highlighting the occurrence and using place fitting will work. Tube and pipe addin is not recognizing these fittings are for this use. This bug needs a fix as it is a real time drain selecting one by one.

There is also the method to select multiple fittings in the browser and drag them on screen but for some reason this also doesn't bring the fitting in as a tube and pipe fitting at least in inventor 2020. In Inventor 2023 the fitting still has the T&P icon but for some reason is grounded and may have other issues. I thought this functionality was working on some versions of Inv 2020 but seems to have regressed from version to version. @CGBenner could you have someone look into this?

In the mean time here is a rule that will allow you to select multiple fittings from other runs and place them in the current run.

If you have part priority set you can window all the fittings or alternatively just select them one by one and press ESC then when the new fitting pops up press ESC again for the next and repeat.

'[Select Components Dim comps As ObjectCollection = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection Dim comp As Object 'Set a reference to the select set of the active document. Dim oSelectSet As SelectSet = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.SelectSet If oSelectSet.Count = 0 Then ' Check to make sure items were pre selected in browser pane or windowing compoonents. '[Selecting Component using Pick. While True comp = ThisApplication.CommandManager.Pick(SelectionFilterEnum.kAssemblyLeafOccurrenceFilter,"Select a component to add to the folder, Press Esc when Complete") 'If nothing gets selected then we're done. If IsNothing(comp) Then Exit While comps.Add(comp) End While '] 'Allow the user to select manually occurrences in advance of running the rule. ElseIf oSelectSet.Count > 0 Then For Each comp In oSelectSet If TypeOf comp Is ComponentOccurrence comps.Add(comp) Else End If Next '[Pause Inventor between selections 'https://ekinssolutions.com/selecting-multiple-entities-using-pick-in-inventor/ System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents() System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(300) System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents() '] End If For Each comp In comps Dim NewPart As String = comp.Definition.Document.FullFileName ThisApplication.CommandManager.PostPrivateEvent(Inventor.PrivateEventTypeEnum.kFileNameEvent, NewPart) Dim ctrlDef As Inventor.ControlDefinition = ThisApplication.CommandManager.ControlDefinitions.Item("HSL:Piping:PlaceFitting") 'Execute the command. ctrlDef.Execute2(True) '[Pause Inventor between selections. System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents() System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(300) System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents() '] Next

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

Hubert_Los — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 14:22:15 GMT

@A.Acheson
Hello,
Have you had any problems because of the content center icon?
I think this rule is not necessary if only the "delete" option disappears. Unless there are other problems.

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

A.Acheson — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:45:40 GMT

Hi @Hubert_Los the grounding of the part in Inventor 2022 and 2023 is an issue. It stops you from just moving fittings out of the way so frustrating when modelling. The connections do work but I really don't know what are the other issues it could bring.

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

CGBenner — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 11:57:34 GMT

@A.Acheson

Thank you for sharing the code.

I'm pretty sure this issue (copy and paste fittings)has come up in the past and is probably somewhere in the Ideas forum... probably with my name on it! LOL At one time my T&P wish list was quite extensive.

If it's not there, it probably could be added as a legitimate T&P enhancement request.

Re: Tube&Pipe Copy Fittings

A.Acheson — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 01:33:35 GMT

Your not wrong Chris . I would say it is a bug that needs to be removed. Massive productivity killer.

Here is the link.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/tube-amp-pipe-copy-paste-fittings-allow-or-allow-delete/idi-p/5539539

As the ilogic code shows there isn't a whole lot that the programmers need to do to make it work. How we can get more visibility on the idea when it is buried back in 2015 I don't know.

And a similar concept for grouped fittings.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/tube-amp-pipe-062-tp-reuse-fitting-sets/idi-p/7184751

And the big list with not all implemented either.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/tube-and-pipe-overhaul/idi-p/5518269

Maybe you might be able to slip a few of these improvements in across the desk at the programmers while there on coffee.