topic Re: How to Make the Opened Assembly the Current Document When Running an External iLogic Rule in Inventor Programming Forum

How to Make the Opened Assembly the Current Document When Running an External iLogic Rule

leebrg — Thu, 22 May 2025 08:44:00 GMT

Hello,

To make the question easy to understand, let's assume the following file names:

Assembly1.iam
Assembly2.iam
EXRule1.iLogicVb
EXRule2.iLogicVb

Assembly1.iam is currently open.
While this document is active, I run the external rule EXRule1.iLogicVb.
Inside EXRule1, it opens Assembly2.iam and runs another external rule called EXRule2.

Here’s the simplified code:

Dim oDocName As String
oDocName = "C:\Temp\Assembly2.iam"
Dim openDocument As AssemblyDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.Open(oDocName, True)
openDocument.Activate()
iLogicVb.RunExternalRule("EXRule2")

The Problem:

In EXRule2.iLogicVb, when I try to access parameters or properties using ThisDoc,
it still points to Assembly1.iam, not the newly opened Assembly2.iam.

However, all logic inside EXRule2 is written assuming that the current document is Assembly2.iam,
so most parameter calls are like this:

Parameter("MyParam")

If I use ThisApplication.ActiveDocument instead, then I'd need to rewrite all parameter calls like:

Dim oDoc As AssemblyDocument = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
Dim myParam As String = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.Parameters("MyParam").Value

But the problem is, there are hundreds of parameters used in EXRule2, and rewriting all of them is not realistic.

Is there any way to make the newly opened Assembly2.iam be recognized as ThisDoc in EXRule2?
Or any workaround that allows me to keep using short form like Parameter("MyParam") inside the rule
as if Assembly2.iam is the current document?

Any ideas or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Re: How to Make the Opened Assembly the Current Document When Running an External iLogic Rule

Curtis_W — Thu, 22 May 2025 10:58:30 GMT

Hi @leebrg

I think we can do this but we’d need to get the document as an ilogic document object in the 2nd rule.

I’m about to hop on a flight, but I’ll ask to get this moved to ilogic forum where one of our ilogic focused community members can have a look at you question.

hope that help,

curtis

Re: How to Make the Opened Assembly the Current Document When Running an External iLogic Rule

WCrihfield — Thu, 22 May 2025 15:19:14 GMT

Instead of using this:

iLogicVb.RunExternalRule("EXRule2")

...another option would be to use this:

Dim oArgs As Inventor.NameValueMap = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateNameValueMap() oArgs.Value("Document") = openDocument iLogicVb.Automation.RunExternalRuleWithArguments(openDocument, "EXRule2", oArgs)

Now, when 'EXRule2' runs, its 'ThisDoc.Document' should be pointing to that 'openDocument' that you specified as the first 'input' to that method.

And, if you wanted to, you could use the 'arguments' to 'receive' the Document object that was 'sent' to that second rule, like the following...as an optional.

Dim oDoc As Inventor.Document = Nothing If RuleArguments.Exists("Document") Then oDoc = RuleArguments.Value("Document") Else oDoc = ThisDoc.Document End If If oDoc Is Nothing Then Return 'exit if no document

The 'RuleArguments' is unique to the iLogic add-in, and is its way to 'share' data between rules. Another tool for that purpose that is also unique to the iLogic add-in is the Rule Object named 'SharedVariable'. The SharedVariable system is essentially a temporary 2-factor (each item/entry has 2 parts) collection of objects that the iLogic add-in creates for us. The data in it does not survive after Inventor quits, because it is just being held in Inventor's session memory.

Re: How to Make the Opened Assembly the Current Document When Running an External iLogic Rule

leebrg — Wed, 28 May 2025 00:01:02 GMT

Thank you. I tried the code you provided, and it solved the problem. I'm really grateful. 🙂