A Unit of Measure Question

[Anonymous]

I have a question about a problem that I'm having with units of measure.

Let me begin by stating the obvious and providing a little background. I am
neither a mechanical engineer nor a drafter, I am a programmer. Our company
designs and builds power transformers. About a year ago I wrote a AutoLisp
program to create a 3D solid model of each transformer. I read the
dimensions and design information from a text file that was created by our
main electrical / mechanical design program (written in FORTRAN).

I have now been assigned the task recreating that application in Inventor.
Since AutoLisp isn't available to Inventor, I'm using VBA (which I'm also
learning). So you see, I'm learning as I go.

Now let's get on to my problem and subsequent question. I've got a test
module created where I'm experimenting with different shapes and techniques.
Most of the code was lifted from the last part an Inventor VBA tutorial
written by Joe Sutphin that I downloaded from the sdotson.com site. Thanks
to Sean for the site and to Joe for the tutorial.

My problem is this. It seems that the object was created using the metric
system of measurement, while I'm looking at it interactively using the
English system of measurement. Since we do all our work here using the
English system, I need to create my part documents to be English. How can I
do that?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Eric Schultz

PS. I apologize in advance because I'll probably turn into a real
pain-in-the-butt as I work (struggle) to learn both Inventor and VBA
simultaneously. I'm an old dog and these are definitely new tricks.

[Anonymous]

Eric,

You will need to make use of the GetValueFromExpression method. There is a pretty good example of how to use it in the help files.

Joe
--

[Anonymous]

Joe,

Thanks for the direction. As is usually the case, the answer opened doors
that I probably wouldn't have stumbled across for a while.

You gotta love the Internet!

Eric

[Anonymous]

There's a entire section on Units of Measure in the "API Overview" section
of the online help. I assume that's what Joe is referring to.

-Brian

"Eric Schultz" wrote in message
news:6C1EAC19E47B99EBB3D156536D2AEFB5@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Joe,
>
> Thanks for the direction. As is usually the case, the answer opened doors
> that I probably wouldn't have stumbled across for a while.
>
> You gotta love the Internet!
>
> Eric
>
>

[Anonymous]

Yes, and that's what I found. It really cleared this issue up for me.

Thanks!

Eric


"Brian Ekins (Autodesk)" wrote in message
news:B2653509149B3AA31A7A0E5F404A6BE9@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> There's a entire section on Units of Measure in the "API Overview" section
> of the online help. I assume that's what Joe is referring to.
>
> -Brian
>

[Anonymous]

Eric,

I'm not sure exactly what you are doing, but it seems like you should look
at Iparts, it sounds like Iparts could already be set up to do what you want
to do.

Ed



"Eric Schultz" wrote in message
news:045825F7006E5DA59CCB80018AF66120@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I have a question about a problem that I'm having with units of measure.
>
> Let me begin by stating the obvious and providing a little background. I
am
> neither a mechanical engineer nor a drafter, I am a programmer. Our
company
> designs and builds power transformers. About a year ago I wrote a AutoLisp
> program to create a 3D solid model of each transformer. I read the
> dimensions and design information from a text file that was created by our
> main electrical / mechanical design program (written in FORTRAN).
>
> I have now been assigned the task recreating that application in Inventor.
> Since AutoLisp isn't available to Inventor, I'm using VBA (which I'm also
> learning). So you see, I'm learning as I go.
>
> Now let's get on to my problem and subsequent question. I've got a test
> module created where I'm experimenting with different shapes and
techniques.
> Most of the code was lifted from the last part an Inventor VBA tutorial
> written by Joe Sutphin that I downloaded from the sdotson.com site. Thanks
> to Sean for the site and to Joe for the tutorial.
>
> My problem is this. It seems that the object was created using the metric
> system of measurement, while I'm looking at it interactively using the
> English system of measurement. Since we do all our work here using the
> English system, I need to create my part documents to be English. How can
I
> do that?
>
> Thanks in advance for any responses.
>
> Eric Schultz
>
> PS. I apologize in advance because I'll probably turn into a real
> pain-in-the-butt as I work (struggle) to learn both Inventor and VBA
> simultaneously. I'm an old dog and these are definitely new tricks.
>
>

[Anonymous]

Ed,

Yes, I was just wondering about iParts. I'm going to have to look into it a
little more.

Thanks!

Eric

"Ed Thompson" wrote in message
news:2B4A996779F53028FD0CA1977CAAEE79@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Eric,
>
> I'm not sure exactly what you are doing, but it seems like you should look
> at Iparts, it sounds like Iparts could already be set up to do what you
want
> to do.
>
> Ed
>
>
>
> "Eric Schultz" wrote in message
> news:045825F7006E5DA59CCB80018AF66120@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > I have a question about a problem that I'm having with units of measure.
> >
> > Let me begin by stating the obvious and providing a little background. I
> am
> > neither a mechanical engineer nor a drafter, I am a programmer. Our
> company
> > designs and builds power transformers. About a year ago I wrote a
AutoLisp
> > program to create a 3D solid model of each transformer. I read the
> > dimensions and design information from a text file that was created by
our
> > main electrical / mechanical design program (written in FORTRAN).
> >
> > I have now been assigned the task recreating that application in
Inventor.
> > Since AutoLisp isn't available to Inventor, I'm using VBA (which I'm
also
> > learning). So you see, I'm learning as I go.
> >
> > Now let's get on to my problem and subsequent question. I've got a test
> > module created where I'm experimenting with different shapes and
> techniques.
> > Most of the code was lifted from the last part an Inventor VBA tutorial
> > written by Joe Sutphin that I downloaded from the sdotson.com site.
Thanks
> > to Sean for the site and to Joe for the tutorial.
> >
> > My problem is this. It seems that the object was created using the
metric
> > system of measurement, while I'm looking at it interactively using the
> > English system of measurement. Since we do all our work here using the
> > English system, I need to create my part documents to be English. How
can
> I
> > do that?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any responses.
> >
> > Eric Schultz
> >
> > PS. I apologize in advance because I'll probably turn into a real
> > pain-in-the-butt as I work (struggle) to learn both Inventor and VBA
> > simultaneously. I'm an old dog and these are definitely new tricks.
> >
> >
>
>