topic Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side) in Inventor Programming Forum

After looking at this a bit more, I'm thinking I may have been wrong about that property. I believe that is the direction of the 'extent' (shown in lower, right area of the dialog). I am not sure which of these would control which side of the Path geometry the material will be on. Pretty much all the 'methods' are for getting or setting the 'extent', not the material offset from the path geometry. When I look at all the properties of the feature, then look at all the properties of its definition, I am not seeing a property for that specification.

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

michael_janssenCN38L — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 18:36:56 GMT

The more I deal intensively with Inventor, the more you get the impression that the Inventor programmers do not program cleanly! What I am asking for here should be possible with ease!

The Inventor programmers simply forgot to implement it. I'm reaching its limits with the program. Instead of launching a new Inventor version every year, it should first be programmed cleanly!

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

chris — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:41:48 GMT

@michael_janssenCN38L For stuff like that it would be nice to have a 4th parameter type (Numeric, Text, True/False, and "Direction")?

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

JelteDeJong — Wed, 01 May 2024 19:53:37 GMT

have a look at the following iLogic rule. It will ask you to select a contour flange feature. Then it will flip the direction for you.

Dim doc As PartDocument = ThisDoc.Document Dim def As SheetMetalComponentDefinition = doc.ComponentDefinition Dim selectedFeature = ThisApplication.CommandManager.Pick(SelectionFilterEnum.kPartFeatureFilter, "Select a contour flange feature") If (not TypeOf selectedFeature Is ContourFlangeFeature) Then MsgBox("Plz select a contour flage feature!") Return End If Dim flangeFeature As ContourFlangeFeature = selectedFeature Dim flangeFeatureDef As ContourFlangeDefinition = flangeFeature.Definition If (flangeFeatureDef.ExtentDirection <> PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kNegativeExtentDirection) Then flangeFeature.Definition.ExtentDirection = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kNegativeExtentDirection Else flangeFeature.Definition.ExtentDirection = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kPositiveExtentDirection End If

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

WCrihfield — Thu, 02 May 2024 11:50:12 GMT

That was pretty close to the example code I was about to post right after I posted Message 2 above, but then I noticed that property controls which way the flange will go from the sketch plane, like what the icons in the lower right of that dialog are for. But it does not control which side of the open sketch profile that the 'thickness' of the sheet metal will be on, like what the icons in the mid left portion of the dialog control. I could not find anything in the 2024 API for controlling that. It seems like I had seen this before, but I may be wrong. Just the other day someone showed me a property of a common API object that was only shown in the 2023 help, but not in 2022 or 2024 help, so maybe it is something like that...not sure.

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

chris — Fri, 03 May 2024 02:32:48 GMT

@JelteDeJong I want to make sure I understand this rule, when I run this and pick a counter flange, it flips the "offset direction", not the "width extents"? Because in the code it references the knegative/kpositive "extent direction", not the "offset direction"?

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

chris — Fri, 03 May 2024 02:43:00 GMT

@JelteDeJong (or anyone else), could I please trouble you to make a video that walks through how you wrote the above code and how someone new to Inventor API/iLogic would be able to write this code using the API 2022 object Model?

I was trying to see how easy it would be to change this code to effect the width extents direction, vs. the Offset direction

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

michael_janssenCN38L — Thu, 23 May 2024 05:56:07 GMT

I solved it differently. About a formula and ilogic code. Here is the file to try out.

There is also an Ilogic mask. Should only serve as a help and suggestion to suggest improvements.

But it's always a huge effort to get there until Inventor does what you want.

greetings Michael

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

WCrihfield — Thu, 23 May 2024 11:56:36 GMT

Hi @michael_janssenCN38L. Thanks for posting an example part. I did not really see anything in there that made me understand how to control which side of the sketch lines the materials thickness will offset to. But it did remind me of another aspect of the design that I could check out, in an effort to figure this behavior out, or at least be able to 'predict' which side it will offset to. And I did figure something useful out.

I started a new sheet metal part, created a new sketch on the X/Y plane, and sketched a straight line starting from negative X towards positive X (left to right). I drew it at a slight angle on purpose, then used the horizontal geometric constraint on it, then constrained its mid point to the origin point, then added a 3 inch dimension to control its length (now fully constrained). Ended that sketch. Then clicked on the Contour Flange feature. I observed that the material thickness was naturally offset on the bottom (negative Y) side of the line. Then I used UNDO multiple times to get back to before the sketch line was drawn. Then I did everything exactly the same again, but this time, I drew the line from positive X towards negative X (right to left). Now when I start the Contour Flange command, the material thickness is naturally offset on the upper side (positive Y) of the line. So, this proves that the natural offset direction is dictated by the 'direction' that the sketch geometry was drawn in, by default.

With that in mind, if we were generating the sketch geometry by code, we could do so in a way that ensures its direction is the way we want it, so that the material offset will be on the side we want. However, if the sketch geometry already exists, and we have no idea which direction it was drawn in, we could still potentially inspect that sketch geometry by code to figure that out (which end of line segment is 'start' or 'end'). But if it is going the wrong direction, I am not sure how we could reverse it, in order to get the material offset to go the way we want it. And I still do not know of a good way to flip that offset from one side to the other by code, during feature creation or after the feature has been created. I know that in some CAM software we have a tool for reversing the direction of sketch geometry, because geometry direction is often important to the direction the cutting tool will travel, but I do not recall seeing a tool like that in Inventor. And even if we did have a tool like that, I still would not want to include a whole block of code for having to inspect possibly non-linear sketch geometry to figure out its direction before creating a feature like this.

Re: Ilogic Code to change in a contour flange the Offset Direction (Flip Side)

michael_janssenCN38L — Fri, 24 May 2024 07:43:13 GMT

Hello Wesley, I may have solved it more simply.

My way of working is always!
1. First, work planes and axes
2. Sketches (also radii)
3. If necessary, features.

The big advantage with the working levels is that you can set them in the “plus” and “minus” range. (e.g. with Ilogic)

Never do a sketch on a solid model (if possible)

As you can see in the FX parameter, there are the following user parameters: "height:formula:thickness" + width:formula:thickness.

Let's focus on "width:formula:thickness". This is important for edging the material to the left or right.

Now look at the Ilogic rule “Folding side”. Then you should see that I have set the working levels once with plus and once in the minus area.

All of this has the advantage that if you change the material thickness, it will be taken into account immediately.

I hope you understand my approach.

Greetings Michael