Woohoo! I found the solution!
It seemed like I was having no problem creating reference keys for the faces. The problem I had occurred when I retrieved the faces using the reference keys. I kept getting a "parameter incorrect" error. I will step through the process in hopes that it will help someone else out.
1) I generated reference keys for all the faces created from a Revolve feature. Here is that code.
Dim ContextData() As Byte
Dim ContextDataString As String
Dim FaceObject As Inventor.Face
Dim FacesToSplit As Inventor.ObjectCollection
Dim KeyContextObj As Long
Dim ReferenceKeyObj() As Byte
Dim ReferenceKeys As List(Of String)
Dim ReferenceKeyString As String
FacesToSplit = InventorApp.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection
ReferenceKeys = New List(Of String)
ReferenceKeyObj = New Byte() {}
ContextData = New Byte() {}
KeyContextObj = RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.CreateKeyContext
For I = 1 To RepadComponentDefObject.WorkSurfaces.Item(1).SurfaceBodies.Item(1).Faces.Count
FaceObject = RepadComponentDefObject.WorkSurfaces.Item(1).SurfaceBodies.Item(1).Faces.Item(I)
FaceObject.GetReferenceKey(ReferenceKeyObj, KeyContextObj)
ReferenceKeyString = RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.KeyToString(ReferenceKeyObj)
ReferenceKeys.Add(ReferenceKeyString)
FacesToSplit.Add(FaceObject)
Next
RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.SaveContextToArray(KeyContextObj, ContextData)
ContextDataString = RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.KeyToString(ContextData)
Yes, I know that I probably don't need to create a key from the KeyContextObj object and the translate that key into a string. I did it because all the examples I could find showed doing that and I didn't have a chance to test the process without doing that.
2) Okay, so after I created reference keys for all the original faces, I performed a Split operation. Now I want to delete what's left of the original faces and only keep what was created by the Split.
3) To collect the faces I want to delete, I use the BindKeyToObject method to retrieve them. Here is where I was having issues. There is a parameter passed to the BindKeyToObject called MatchType which is typed as an Object. This should be set to Nothing EACH time you call BindKeyToObject. I wasn't doing that and that's why I was getting an error. Here is the working code.
Dim BoundObject As Object
Dim FacesToDelete As Inventor.FaceCollection
Dim MatchTypeObj As Object
FacesToDelete = InventorApp.TransientObjects.CreateFaceCollection
ReferenceKeyObj = New Byte() {}
ContextData = New Byte() {}
RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.StringToKey(ContextDataString, ContextData)
KeyContextObj = RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.LoadContextFromArray(ContextData)
For I = 0 To ReferenceKeys.Count - 1
MatchTypeObj = Nothing 'this has to be set to nothing for each BindKeyToObject call
ReferenceKeyString = ReferenceKeys.Item(I)
RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.StringToKey(ReferenceKeyString, ReferenceKeyObj)
BoundObject = RepadPartDocument.ReferenceKeyManager.BindKeyToObject(ReferenceKeyObj, KeyContextObj, MatchTypeObj)
'If one of the original faces is split, the reference key will identify both it and the new faces
'made from the split. So an object collection is returned instead of just a face.
'In this case, I assume that the face I need to delete is the first one in the collection
If TypeOf BoundObject Is Inventor.ObjectCollection Then
ReturnedObjCollection = CType(BoundObject, Inventor.ObjectCollection)
FaceObject = ReturnedObjCollection.Item(1)
Else
FaceObject = CType(BoundObject, Inventor.Face)
End If
FacesToDelete.Add(FaceObject)
Next
Before I fixed it, I was setting MatchTypeObj to nothing outside of the loop that iterates through the saved reference keys. The procedure would work for the first iteration and always crash on the second one. That's because MatchTypeObj was no longer nothing. Once I moved that declaration inside the For Loop, the problem was solved.
Anway...I have tested this code against a few different scenarios and it worked in all of them. Hopefully, it will continue to work.
Glad this is over!
Darren Haverstick
Paul Mueller Company
