Using Named Entities to Automate Dimension using Inventor API.

basavaraj.bFBQWV — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:18:24 GMT

Hello Developers,

I’ve recently started working with iLogic and the Inventor API, and I’m currently trying to automate the process of adding drawing dimensions and annotations using named entities—specifically Faces, Edges, and Vertices.

However, I’m facing issues getting the code to work as expected. I suspect I’m missing something fundamental, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint the problem. I’ve attached both the iLogic code and the corresponding Inventor geometry for reference.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could provide a working example that demonstrates how to use named Faces, Edges, and Vertices to create drawing dimensions using the Inventor API or iLogic.

Dim doc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument Dim osheet = doc.ActiveSheet Dim oview = osheet.DrawingViews.Item(1) ' Get the referenced document from the drawing view Dim refDoc Try refDoc = oview.ReferencedDocumentDescriptor.ReferencedDocument Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show("Unable to get referenced document: " & ex.Message) Return End Try If refDoc Is Nothing Then MessageBox.Show("Referenced document not available.") Return End If ' Get named entities from the referenced document Dim namedEntities Try namedEntities = iLogicVb.Automation.GetNamedEntities(refDoc) Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show("Failed to get named entities: " & ex.Message) Return End Try ' Find named entities Dim ent1 = namedEntities.FindEntity("BottomEdge") Dim ent2 = namedEntities.FindEntity("TopEdge") If ent1 Is Nothing Or ent2 Is Nothing Then MessageBox.Show("Named entity 'BottomEdge' or 'TopEdge' not found.") Return End If ' Create geometry intents for dimensioning Dim wp1 = osheet.CreateGeometryIntent(ent1) Dim wp2 = osheet.CreateGeometryIntent(ent2) ' Set position of dimension Dim tg = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry Dim dimpos = tg.CreatePoint2d(oview.Position.X / 2, oview.Position.Y + 1) ' Add linear dimension osheet.DrawingDimensions.GeneralDimensions.AddLinear(dimpos, wp1, wp2)

Thank you in advance for your time and support!

Re: Using Named Entities to Automate Dimension using Inventor API.

JelteDeJong — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:21:27 GMT

I created an idw and added a first view with your model. Then I added the following iLogic rule to the idw:

Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1") Dim VIEW1 = Sheet_1.DrawingViews.ItemByName("VIEW1") Dim namedGeometry1 = VIEW1.GetIntent("BackFace") Dim namedGeometry2 = VIEW1.GetIntent("FrontFace") Dim genDims = Sheet_1.DrawingDimensions.GeneralDimensions ThisDrawing.BeginManage() If True Then Dim linDim1 = genDims.AddLinear("Dimension 1", VIEW1.SheetPoint(1.1, 0.5), namedGeometry1) Dim linDim2 = genDims.AddLinear("Dimension 2", VIEW1.SheetPoint(-0.1, 0.5), namedGeometry2) Dim linDim3 = genDims.AddLinear("Dimension 3", VIEW1.SheetPoint(0.5, 1.2), namedGeometry1, namedGeometry2) End If ThisDrawing.EndManage()

This is the result:

topic Using Named Entities to Automate Dimension using Inventor API. in Inventor Programming Forum

Using Named Entities to Automate Dimension using Inventor API.

Re: Using Named Entities to Automate Dimension using Inventor API.