topic Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...? in Inventor Programming Forum

VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 15:48:08 GMT

It's amazing... searching the web 30 minutes for a good VBA/Inventor book yields nothing.

What's a man to do?

I have enjoyed the "Mastering series" in other products, Excel, VBA etc..., but can't find anything on vba/IV. What's up with that?

Without good books, where did all you veterans get your feet wet?

Dave

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 16:14:03 GMT

Do you really want to know? Joe -- "nashville" wrote in message news:24772094.1074181754657.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > It's amazing... searching the web 30 minutes for a good VBA/Inventor book yields nothing. > > What's a man to do? > > I have enjoyed the "Mastering series" in other products, Excel, VBA etc..., but can't find anything on vba/IV. What's up with that? > > Without good books, where did all you veterans get your feet wet? > > Dave

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 16:34:35 GMT

PLEASE

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 17:12:15 GMT

> It's amazing... searching the web 30 minutes for a good VBA/Inventor book yields nothing. > > What's a man to do? > > I have enjoyed the "Mastering series" in other products, Excel, VBA etc..., but can't find anything on vba/IV. What's up with that? > > Without good books, where did all you veterans get your feet wet? These only one Inventor VBA/API book that I'm aware of that exists and it's put out by a guy in Quebec. Haven't bought it myself or seen it so I can't speak for it's accuracy. It was based on r6 I believe. -- Darren J. Young CAD/CAM Systems Developer Cold Spring Granite Company 202 South Third Avenue Cold Spring, Minnesota 56320 Email: dyoung@coldspringgranite.com Phone: (320) 685-5045 Fax: (320) 685-5052

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 17:26:33 GMT

API code can be lengthy and has a higher level of difficulty and hierarchy. Is there not just a simple VBA/IV book?

Without books, where did you guys learn your stuff?

Dave

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 17:41:43 GMT

Dave,

What all of us in this group have learned from are the samples that come with IV and trial and error.

The guy who wrote a books address is: http://www.thalheim.ca/

I don't know of anyone who has bought it, or if they did buy it no one has admitted to it. I think Joe Sutphin (who responded first) is writing one. If so Joe, when is it due out.

Mike

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 17:57:08 GMT

> Without books, where did you guys learn your stuff? I hear and I forget. I read and I remember. I do and I learn.

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 15:36:24 GMT

> API code can be lengthy and has a higher level of difficulty and hierarchy. Is there not just a simple VBA/IV book? I think you're misunderstanding slightly. API stands for Application Programming Interface. That's what VBA inside Inventor does. VBA, AutoLISP, ARX in AutoCAD, they are all APIs. A book in VBA/Inventor would be an API book. > Without books, where did you guys learn your stuff? If you want to know how to program inventor. Pick up a good book on Visual Basic. (I learned from VB in 21 days but as Sean said, it takes more than 21 days). Once you know the programming language, you need to use Inventor's Object Model with it. If you have documentation of the object model, you theoretically can program any software be it AutoCAD, Excel, Outlook or Inventor. The trouble with Inventor is that internally, it's a complex application despite having a great easy to learn GUI (Graphical User Interface). Inventor's Object model is complex and it takes a lot of trial and error for all of us for much of it. The rest is learned from other people who've done the "trial and error" method on something before you did. As an example, an Inventor IDW to AutoCAD DWG conversion utility I wrote about 6 months ago was written by a combination the following... 1) Prior knowledge of Visual Basic and Win32 programming 2) Prior AutoCAD VB experience (learned at the time from others and trial & error) 3) Inventor code I examined from I believe Kent Kellers site. 4) A web site explaining how to launch an ActiveX.Exe process so that the actual processing of the files were done in a separate memory thread so that the main interface didn't bog down because of the heavy duty processing Inventor & AutoCAD were doing. My "Pause/Resume" buttons then very responsive and not dependent on what Inventor or AutoCAD was doing at the time. 5) Trial & Error experimentation of the Inventor Object Model 6) Tid Bits I picked up here from lurking. So as you can see, some was a piece of cake, I'd dome similar things. Others were nothing more that beating my head against the wall for 18 hour days so I'd meet my deadline and get to go on vacation. And others were handed to me on a silver platter, like some of the ideas I got from looking at code on Kent Keller's site (thanks Kent) who I assume beat his head against the wall with trial & error or got it from someone else who did. At least that's how I "learned" even though I don't consider myself as having "learned" I still know nothing because the object model is so huge. We all just know "parts" with possibly the exception of Brian Ekins @ Autodesk who created most of the Inventor API's anyway. We all then come here to share our "parts". Is there a task that you'd like to do and don't know where to get started? -- Darren J. Young CAD/CAM Systems Developer Cold Spring Granite Company 202 South Third Avenue Cold Spring, Minnesota 56320 Email: dyoung@coldspringgranite.com Phone: (320) 685-5045 Fax: (320) 685-5052

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:23:36 GMT

An excellent description of the learning process Darren!!! (I, myself have a legible keyboard permanently embedded into my forehead) -- Perry Leets Inovec Optimization and Control Systems Eugene, Oregon "Darren J. Young" wrote in message news:MPG.1a71c0f6efaf94869896c3@discussion.autodesk.com... > > API code can be lengthy and has a higher level of difficulty and hierarchy. Is there not just a simple VBA/IV book? > > I think you're misunderstanding slightly. API stands for Application > Programming Interface. That's what VBA inside Inventor does. VBA, > AutoLISP, ARX in AutoCAD, they are all APIs. > > A book in VBA/Inventor would be an API book. > > > Without books, where did you guys learn your stuff? > > If you want to know how to program inventor. Pick up a good book on > Visual Basic. (I learned from VB in 21 days but as Sean said, it takes > more than 21 days). > > Once you know the programming language, you need to use Inventor's > Object Model with it. If you have documentation of the object model, you > theoretically can program any software be it AutoCAD, Excel, Outlook or > Inventor. > > The trouble with Inventor is that internally, it's a complex application > despite having a great easy to learn GUI (Graphical User Interface). > Inventor's Object model is complex and it takes a lot of trial and error > for all of us for much of it. The rest is learned from other people > who've done the "trial and error" method on something before you did. > > As an example, an Inventor IDW to AutoCAD DWG conversion utility I wrote > about 6 months ago was written by a combination the following... > > 1) Prior knowledge of Visual Basic and Win32 programming > 2) Prior AutoCAD VB experience (learned at the time from others and > trial & error) > 3) Inventor code I examined from I believe Kent Kellers site. > 4) A web site explaining how to launch an ActiveX.Exe process so that > the actual processing of the files were done in a separate memory thread > so that the main interface didn't bog down because of the heavy duty > processing Inventor & AutoCAD were doing. My "Pause/Resume" buttons then > very responsive and not dependent on what Inventor or AutoCAD was doing > at the time. > 5) Trial & Error experimentation of the Inventor Object Model > 6) Tid Bits I picked up here from lurking. > > So as you can see, some was a piece of cake, I'd dome similar things. > Others were nothing more that beating my head against the wall for 18 > hour days so I'd meet my deadline and get to go on vacation. And others > were handed to me on a silver platter, like some of the ideas I got from > looking at code on Kent Keller's site (thanks Kent) who I assume beat > his head against the wall with trial & error or got it from someone else > who did. > > > At least that's how I "learned" even though I don't consider myself as > having "learned" I still know nothing because the object model is so > huge. We all just know "parts" with possibly the exception of Brian > Ekins @ Autodesk who created most of the Inventor API's anyway. We all > then come here to share our "parts". > > Is there a task that you'd like to do and don't know where to get > started? > > -- > Darren J. Young > CAD/CAM Systems Developer > > Cold Spring Granite Company > 202 South Third Avenue > Cold Spring, Minnesota 56320 > > Email: dyoung@coldspringgranite.com > Phone: (320) 685-5045 > Fax: (320) 685-5052

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:45:53 GMT

Darren,

What you wrote was a bit contradictory to what I have always read on API's.

For instance I just pulled up the first website I could find...
http://www.linktionary.com/a/api.html
...and this is the first paragraph:

***API (Application Programming Interface)

APIs are the language and messaging formats that define how programs interact with an operating system, with functions in other programs, with communication systems, or with hardware drivers. For example, an operating system provides a set of standard APIs that programmers can use to access common functions such as accepting user input, writing information to the screen, or managing files. The APIs in Microsoft Windows are quite sophisticated because they allow programmers to build programs that easily access features such as pull-down menus, icons, scroll bars, and more. In the network environment, APIs are available that interface network services for delivering data across communication systems. A cross-platform API provides an interface for building applications or products that work across multiple operating systems or platforms.***

I have been programming in Excel VBA for 10 years without API's. It sounds like API's work on a higher level with added complication and longer code. Is this not true?

Dave
(nashville)

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:54:39 GMT

I have found a good supply of rubber helmets helps when beating ones head against the wall. 8^) Trouble is a few of them have holes and so now I a constant buzzing noise coming from my head. Good post Darren. IMO it takes learning VB or VBA, it doesn't matter what you are doing with it, even using it in Word or Excel will help you learn VBA. Once you start feeling comfortable in the Environment, then you can start picking up the Inventor API. -- Kent Assistant Moderator Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program "Darren J. Young" wrote in message like some of the ideas I got from > looking at code on Kent Keller's site (thanks Kent) who I assume beat > his head against the wall with trial & error

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 17:09:39 GMT

That is not true If you have been doing Excel VBA for 10 years then you have been using the Excel API for 10 years. Each program that exposes its Interface through VB/VBA is considered to have a API. Application = Excel Programming = VBA programming Interface=the VBA IDE that you work in. Maybe not completely correct, but I consider what you see when you look in the Object Browser and select one library such as Excel or Inventor to be its API. Those are the things that they have exposed to us to be able to work with. -- Kent Assistant Moderator Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program "nashville" wrote in message news:6771086.1074271626748.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > I have been programming in Excel VBA for 10 years without API's. It sounds like API's work on a higher level with added complication and longer code. Is this not true? > > Dave > (nashville)

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 17:40:35 GMT

> I have been programming in Excel VBA for 10 years without API's. It sounds like API's work on a higher level with added complication and longer code. Is this not true? To open a workbook programmatically in Excel, how do you do it? Workbooks.Open(filename), right? You can do that because of Excel's API. The collection of Workbooks has an Open function that is exposed by the API. It is via the API that functionality is exposed to the programmer. Not all things can necessarily be done via an API that can be done manually. If the API doesn't expose it, you can't do it. This is the case with just about anything anyone wants to do within Inventor's drawing environment. For example, you can't add a sheet to an Inventor drawing using Inventor's API, because the Sheets collection does not yet expose an .Add method. (yes, I know it can be done with the CommandManager - I'm just trying to help out an API n00b).

Re: VBA - Inventor.... books...?

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:49:03 GMT

Have a look at the posting 'Q 4 Charles, Kent,Neil, Sean & other prog gurus' above. Duncan "nashville" wrote in message news:24772094.1074181754657.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > It's amazing... searching the web 30 minutes for a good VBA/Inventor book yields nothing. > > What's a man to do? > > I have enjoyed the "Mastering series" in other products, Excel, VBA etc..., but can't find anything on vba/IV. What's up with that? > > Without good books, where did all you veterans get your feet wet? > > Dave