iLogic - Check flat pattern shapes

[Anonymous]

Need to finish up my Sheet Metal Processing code to check the shape of the flat pattern, and have been stuck  for a while now. soooo help?

NOTE: some of this is very specific for our workplace so please don't ask why.. to populate and sort our Shop's Cut Lists, we add custom properties that denotes whether the sheet metal needs to be formed/bent or not (Y or N) & a S or P for "Process" depending on if it is a Shear Part (square) or a Plasma Table part. *THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP

What I have so far: 

1. ilogic scans Assembly for Sheetmetal components.
2. opens each and checks for Flat Pattern, If nothing, one is created
3. checks for Bends, If so, adds a "Y" to its "FORM" iProperty
4. (runs external rule) Flips Flat Pattern so the bend "UP" is set to front (since Inventor always chooses the opposite side) so that when placed in drawing, the first(FRONT) view is default (99%) of the time.
5. Creates a folder for DXF files
6. Exports DXFs to that Folder
7. Closes Part

What I Need (Want):

somewhere in there I would like to look at the flat pattern, if it has holes, cutouts or is not square, add a "P".... if not add "S"... Initially I was going to check the Flat Pattern or dxf for Inner & Outer Profiles Layers, but wont account for square cut-outs (ie: Stair Stringers, Bench Profiles) since they aren't inner profile and they are square...maybe number of corners/angles... I'm also not sure if it would be better to add the code to my main rule, run external or add it to the sm part templates and trigger it.

This may not even be possible, but if anyone knows how, I would greatly appreciate any help.

[WCrihfield]

Suggestion:  I would recommend that you keep the different main processes separated, for similicity.  How is up to you, but what I often do (for some more complex scenarios) is create multiple external rules (one for each main process), then have one rule (usually local, and tied to Event Triggers) that either simply runs all the other rules, or runs the needed ones as they are needed throughout this rule.  You can send and receive data to and from other rules too, if needed, using either SharedVariables, NameValueMaps, or RuleArguments (IRuleArguments).

[Anonymous]

rules that don't require the part to be activated or open, I usually imbed in our templates and call them through a global rule or itrigger... these dealing with flat patterns require the part be opened (unless there is another way)... not too familiar with arguments yet.

[moveworkforward]

Hi @Anonymous ,

What I understood you basically have to separate parts with flat patterns completely square (S) and other shapes (P).

So I would try to approach this problem by looking at the flat pattern face area.

Assuming that flat pattern is square shape then we can calculate it by multiplying extents Area=Width*Length.

Then we need to measure actual flat pattern area.

Next step we compare both values.

If there is at least one hole or shape deviation then measured value will be less then calculated.

Please, try to run this in the part with active flat pattern:

If Not TypeOf ThisApplication.ActiveEditObject Is FlatPattern Then
	MessageBox.Show ("A flat pattern must be active.")
	Exit Sub
End If

Dim oPartDoc As PartDocument:   oPartDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
Dim oFlatPattern As FlatPattern:  oFlatPattern = ThisApplication.ActiveEditObject
Dim flatPatternArea As Double: flatPatternArea = Round(oFlatPattern.Width * oFlatPattern.Length, 2)
Dim squareArea As Double: squareArea = Round(oFlatPattern.TopFace.Evaluator.Area, 2)
'MessageBox.Show("flatPatternArea = " & flatPatternArea & "; " & "squareArea = " & squareArea)

If flatPatternArea = squareArea Then
	MessageBox.Show("S-type")
Else
 	MessageBox.Show("P-type")
End If