Weldbead Information

[dba78]

I needed the length and size (the size entered by the user at creating the weldbead) of the welds to sum the lengths by size. 

Since Weldbeads are not exposed as features, so I can't access their definition, resp. their Parameters (the Weldbead Object in the API is a kind of abstraction for the feature with very limited information....).

So I tried to go around by getting the size via the Parameters, since the usage is displayed in the GUI, I thought there was an API method, or Property for those. The Parameter.Dependents show the dependent Parameters only (whilst the ObjectCollection Type implies a variant content....).

The idea was a compromise of getting the first parameter for the given Weld-Name and assume this is the Size-Definition. It's still a terrible hack, but it's more then nothing.... But currently not even this is possible

So currently I see no way to collect my needed information .

So please either:

1. expand Parameter.Dependents by the Objects relying on this particular Parameter, or
2. expose Welds as Feature for accessing (editing...?) them via the API (this would be the most valuable solution )
3. provide extended Information in the existing Weldinfo Property (I could live with parsing an XML-formatted string...), currently it only holds the annotation info, if there is one...

[philip1009]

Have you found the Bead Report function useful?  Maybe just exposing that in the API would solve this issue.  I still agree that the Weld environment, among many other environments that come with Inventor either need an API or have the API for each exposed and documentation provided in the Help section.

[dba78]

No, the weld report shows Volume, length and mass only. These I could obtain already by the WeldBead.Length, and calculations with the faces provided. I believe, the report rely on these data.

The missing part is the size of the bead as user inputs. 

The real solution was to expose welds as features (since they are features) in the API in the "regular" way. There also should be distinguished between the two types of welding (sorry, I am on german inventor, so I don't have the english terms on hand) as the cosmetic weld is handled as separate FeatureType already.