External files

[GeorgK]

Hello together,

how could I get all the external files like xls, bmp, jpg and derived files?

Thank you

Georg

[CCarreiras]

HI!

Save as "Pack and Go" and activate "Include Linked Files"

[GeorgK]

Hello CarlosC,

do you have a solution for VBA?

Georg

[CCarreiras]

No... i don't know how toit with VB or iLogic... 😞

[Vladimir.Ananyev]

Look at the "Pack and go" sample in the Inventor API Help.

Set this option to True:

oPacknGo.IncludeLinkedFiles = True

cheers,

[MechMachineMan]

Perhaps this may be what you are looking for:

PartDocument.ReferencedOLEFileDescriptors Property
Parent Object: PartDocument
Description
Property that returns the collection of linked and embedded files in the document.
Syntax
PartDocument.ReferencedOLEFileDescriptors() As ReferencedOLEFileDescriptors
Version
Introduced in Inventor version 4

[GeorgK]

Hello Vladimir,

but how could I get all the file names and paths? Do you have a sample code?

Thanks

Georg

[Vladimir.Ananyev]

As Pack’n’Go uses Apprentice Server functionality (as Design Assistant does) it cannot run in-process with Inventor.  The most simple way is to develop a standalone exe application that executes out-of-process.  So you should create a VB.Net project (Express version would be fine) and add the reference to the pack and go type interop binary Autodesk.PackAndGo.Interop.dll which is in the Bin folder of Inventor installation folder.

Here is the VB .NET code sample from the Inventor API help:

Public Sub PackAndGoSample()
    Dim oPacknGoComp As New PackAndGoLib.PackAndGoComponent
 
    Dim oPacknGo As PackAndGoLib.PackAndGo
    oPacknGo = oPacknGoComp.CreatePackAndGo("C:\Temp\Source\Assembly1.iam", "C:\Temp\Destination")
 
    ' Set the design project. This defaults to the current active project.
    oPacknGo.ProjectFile = "C:\Temp\Source\Test.ipj"
 
    Dim sRefFiles = New String() {}
    Dim sMissFiles = New Object
 
    ' Set the options
    oPacknGo.IsSkippingLibraries = True
    oPacknGo.IsSkippingStyles = True
    oPacknGo.IsSkippingTemplates = True
    oPacknGo.IsCollectingWorkgroups = False
    oPacknGo.IsKeepingFolderHierarchy = True
    oPacknGo.IncludeLinkedFiles = True
 
    ' Get the referenced files
    oPacknGo.SearchForReferencedFiles(sRefFiles, sMissFiles)
 
    ' Add the referenced files for package
    oPacknGo.AddFilesToPackage (sRefFiles)
 
    ' Start the pack and go to create the package
    oPacknGo.CreatePackage()
End Sub

Linked files should be gathered for you by SearchForReferencedFiles method if you set  IncludeLinkedFiles option to True.

If you want to get an idea what is happening behind the scene look at the CopyDesign sample from the Inventor API SDK. 

Default location:  C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2015\SDK\UserTools\ CopyDesign

This is a quite simple application that copies the set of specified drawing files from an existing directory location to a new directory location. In addition to copying the drawing files, it also copies all the referenced files for each drawing and updates the references in the copied drawing files to point to these newly copied files.  

Real-life file sets could be more complicated, so you may want to take into account substitute parts, referenced bitmps, etc. – a lot of stuff that require good knowledge of Inventor API. 
So I would recommend to test PackAndGoComponent first.

cheers,

[GeorgK]

Hello Vladimir,

thanks for the sample from the api help. I know the sample. But I need the files in an add-in.

Cheers

Georg

[Vladimir.Ananyev]

Justin is right. Please use ReferencedOLEFileDescriptors property on the document object.