Change Feature Direction with iLogic

[josephcooley]

How do you change a features direction (extrusion) with ilogic?

2011 win 7 x64

[Anonymous]

if you search the Autodesk Inventor Customization forum for ExtentDirection I think you'll find some examples.

I think you'll use kPositiveExtentDirection or kNegativeExtentDirection or kSymmetricExtentDirection

ExtentDirection

Input constant that indicates which side of the sketch plane to extrude toward. kPositiveExtentDirection defines the offset direction to be in the same direction as the normal of the sketch plane.

edit: my search didn't turn up much, but here's an example from the COM API Reference

found at: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2011\Help\admapi_15_0.chm (I think on WinXP at least)

    ' Create a base extrusion 1cm thick.
    Dim oExtrude As ExtrudeFeature
    Set oExtrude = oCompDef.Features.ExtrudeFeatures.AddByDistanceExtent( _
                        oProfile, 0.25, kNegativeExtentDirection, kJoinOperation)

[MjDeck · Accepted solution]

Here's a rule to do it.  It will work on an extrusion with Distance extents. 

In this sample, Extrusion1_direction is a numeric parameter.  The function only cares about the sign (positive or negative) of this parameter.

Sub Main
 ChangeExtrusionDirection("Extrusion1", Extrusion1_direction)
End Sub

Sub ChangeExtrusionDirection(featureName As String, direction As Double)
  app = ThisApplication
  Dim extrude As ExtrudeFeature = TryCast(Feature.InventorFeature(featureName), ExtrudeFeature)
  If (extrude Is Nothing) Then Return
  If (extrude.ExtentType <> PartFeatureExtentEnum.kDistanceExtent) Then Return
  Dim extent As DistanceExtent = TryCast(extrude.Extent, DistanceExtent)
  If (extent.Direction = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kPositiveExtentDirection And direction < 0) Then
     extent.Direction = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kNegativeExtentDirection
  ElseIf (extent.Direction = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kNegativeExtentDirection And direction > 0) Then
     extent.Direction = PartFeatureExtentDirectionEnum.kPositiveExtentDirection
  End If
End Sub

[josephcooley]

Hi @MjDeck I've got follow up question.  This is for a sheet metal face if that matters.

How can I make my ilogic code do the following psudocode

Value will be a multivalue text pull down in the ilogic form

If Value=A

Then Extrude one way

IF Value = B

Then Extrude other way

EndIf

[MjDeck]

@josephcooley , unfortunately the API function to flip the direction on a face feature doesn't work at this time. We have a work item named INVGEN-9652 for this.

[JBerns]

@MjDeck,

What is the status of this "flip direction" request for sheet metal features?

I am working on sheet metal flanges, contour flanges, and cuts, and have discovered several limitations related to feature editing.

For example, see this post:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ilogic-and-vb-net-forum/control-sheet-metal-cut-direction/m-... 

I look forward to your reply.

Regards,

Jerry

[MjDeck]

Hi Jerry - it looks like it has not been implemented yet. I'm trying to find out what the plans are.