More Reasons Why iLogic is Not Intuitive, And Plain Old Silly

[MechMachineMan]

Practice for the reader:

1) Make a BOM Customization File (one that set the column order/view displays)

2) Insert that file path in the rule below over top of the current one.

3) Write a simple external rule

4) Paste that path over top of the "Sort Browser" rule in both of it's locations.

The fun part:

5) Run the rule using the native iLogicvb.RunExternalRule line and the Call Run iLogic line commented out

6) Take notes.

7) Rune the rule using the "Call Run iLogic" line, and the iLogicvb.RunExternalRule commented out.

8) Note differences.

9) Report back.

Seems pretty silly how even with the rest of it coded as close to native iLogic as it can be, the native iLogic calls still break apart and throw random errors seemingly without any explanation - or documentation - whereas using the fully coded method returns expected results.

Sub Main()
	Dim oDoc As Document = ThisDoc.Document
	Dim i = 0 
	
	For Each oSubDoc in oDoc.AllReferencedDocuments
		
		If i > 3 Then Exit Sub
		If oSubDoc.IsModifiable = False Then Continue For
		
		If oSubDoc.DocumentType = kAssemblyDocumentObject
			i = i+1
			oSubDoc = ThisApplication.Documents.Open(oSubDoc.FullFileName, True)
			oSubDoc.Activate
			
			Call StandardizeBOM(oSubDoc)
			MsgBox("Hurrr")
			
			Call RuniLogic (oSubDoc, "Z:\iLogic\Sort Browser.txt")
			'iLogicVb.RunExternalRule(oSubDoc, "Z:\iLogic\Sort Browser.txt")
			
			oSubDoc.ReleaseReference
		End If
	Next

End Sub

Sub StandardizeBOM(invDoc As Document)
    On Error Resume Next
    
    Dim oBOM As BOM
    oBOM = invDoc.ComponentDefinition.BOM

    Call oBOM.ImportBOMCustomization("Z:\iLogic\BOM_Style.xml")

    oBOM.StructuredViewFirstLevelOnly = False
    oBOM.StructuredViewEnabled = True
 	oBOM.PartsOnlyViewEnabled = True
	
    Dim oStructuredBOMView
    oStructuredBOMView = oBOM.BOMViews.Item("Structured")
    Call oStructuredBOMView.Sort("Part Number", True)
	Call oStructuredBOMView.Renumber(1,1,)
End Sub


	

Private Sub RuniLogic(oDoc As Document, ByVal RuleName As String)
	Dim iLogicAuto As Object
	
	If oDoc Is Nothing Then
		MsgBox("Missing Inventor Document")
		Exit Sub
	End If
	
	iLogicAuto = GetiLogicAddin(ThisApplication)
	If (iLogicAuto Is Nothing) Then Exit Sub
	iLogicAuto.RunExternalRule(oDoc, RuleName)
End Sub
 
Private Function GetiLogicAddin(oApplication As Inventor.Application) As Object
	Dim addIn As ApplicationAddIn
	On Error Goto NotFound
	addIn = oApplication.ApplicationAddIns.ItemById("{3bdd8d79-2179-4b11-8a5a-257b1c0263ac}")
	
	If (addIn Is Nothing) Then Exit Function
		addIn.Activate
		GetiLogicAddin = addIn.Automation
		Exit Function
	NotFound:
End Function

[MjDeck]

The iLogicVb.RunExternalRule function is documented. It doesn't accept an argument of type Inventor.Document. Most of the standard iLogic functions don't accept Document objects as arguments. To keep things simple, they assume that you want to work with the current document.
 But yes, you can specify another document to use as the base when running an external rule with the iLogic API (automation) function.

There's an easier way to access the iLogic automation object in a rule. This will do it:

Dim iLogicAuto = iLogicVb.Automation