New at 'Macros' & Programming

[cadman777]

Hi All,

I'm new at programming, and not so quick whitted any longer.

But I want to write little programs to do things in Inventor like I used to write in AutoLISP, Diesel and AutoCAD scripts. But after about 40 hours of Internet reading and watching videos, I'm even more lost.

Here's what I have been led to believe thus far:

1. iLogic is designed for manipulating 3d modeling, but not for system and I/O stuff

2. VB.Net is needed for system and I/O stuff

3. iLogic + VB.Net is for both.

I've looked at a few programs from people in here and other programs I found on the internet, but they make absolutely no sense to me b/c they're in VB.Net or VBA. The reason is b/c I do not understand the WORDS. I found Reference 'books' for iLogic on the Autodesk HELP web page, but can't find VB.Net References except the ga'zillions of pages on the Microsoft web site (similar to the Autodesk HELP pages). This is NO WAY to 'help' people learn this stuff. It's absurd to think that it is.

For me, this stuff is very difficult to absorb, b/c it's like learning a foreign language, and I'm not very good at languages. But I need to learn it to accomplish what I need to do. So, I need to find the REFERENCE BOOKS for VB.net that I can quickly and simply refer to when trying to understand code that other people have written. And I need a primer written from a COMMON SENSE approach for LINEAR THINKERS to learn the basics of VB.Net. I can't learn it by force of memory like I learned LISP when I was young.

Can anybody help me get this stuff learned so I can write my programs to end the repetitive tasks and streamline modeling and file processing?

Thanx ...

[matt_jlt]

You will find that VBA and vb.net are almost identical. It is very easy to convert between the two. Most of the code can stay the same.

[cadman777]

OK Matt, thanx.

HUGE learning curve!!

Not sure yet if I can climb this mountain!

[cadman777]

OK, thanx.

Just like everything else in this complex and convoluted world of words, there's a gigantic mass of information hidden in your brain cells behind the simple questions that we novices ask. The only way to learn it is to learn it FROM SCRATCH. That's when you really find out how much information you have to absorb and use. It's really not 'easy'. I'm making a point of it b/c everybody in here makes it sound easy to learn to use when it isn't. It's like finding a pretty gal and marrying her b/c you 'feel it'. You soon find out that she's a high-dollar mama. Then you realize the DEEP HOLE you put yourself into (no pun), b/c you didn't 'look before you lept'. Only difference btw that and learning VBA is, I KNOW what I'm getting myself into, and I really don't like it! Every answer to every question I post proves that.

Here's what I found, so far, to be the BEST intro to the subject. It's the Help File for iLogic 2010. See attached. The previous video I posted is garbage compared to this. The existing online Help is worse than garbage compared to this. I read (and digested) all this is less than 5 hours. The complex and convoluted online 'Help' file was impossibel for me to make any sense of, let alone 'digest'. Who are the fools writing this garbage? And to think they get paid for it! Maybe I should sign-up for technical writing of Online Help files?? The online Help is beyond useless as a teaching tool. It's typical Autodesk CHAOS AND CONFUSION. I am convinced they do this to force you to PAY FOR LESSONS.

Anyways, that's my contribution to KISS people like me who need to learn things that make sense, and that connect to reality before we can make sense of them.

If there's one thing I learned over the years, it's this:

COMPLEX AND CONVOLUTED COMES FROM EVIL OR IT COMES FROM STUPIDITY.

SIMPLICITY AND GOOD SENSE COMES FROM GENIUS.

Thanx for your input ...

[cadman777]

For all you novices to iLogic, here's a file providing the KEY code numbers for all the iProperty  entities you want to identify in your Macros. I got this off one of the forum posts, as kindly provided by Brian Ekins. Thanx Brian!

This info should be readily available in the online Help in an easy to access BEGINNER category. For shame!

[cadman777]

Does anybody know where I can get the REFERENCE that shows me all the ID NUMBERS of all the elements in iLogic?
Example: SheetMetalPropertyID='78849'

Thanx ...

[matt_jlt]

There are a lot of them out there. I don't know of any complete list / collection but if you search for the word "Enumerator" in the API help you can click on each one and see the reference list.

For example, you posted the sheet metal property enum

you can search the number or enum and the API will give you the below. Not a nice list like you wanted but all i can think of.

SheetMetalPropertyEnum
kSheetMetalFlatPatternArea 78851 Area extents of the flat pattern (Length x Width).
kSheetMetalFlatPatternLength 78849 Length of the flat pattern.
kSheetMetalFlatPatternWidth 78850 Width of the flat pattern.

I tend not to use the numbers ever and just compare the names, but that's just me. I usually forget what i write and get lost the next time i read it. if i just have the numbers there I get confused.

Examples of iLogic and VBA instead of using "78851"

VBA (no need to directly reference the enumerator collection

kSheetMetalFlatPatternArea 

iLogic (Need to reference it)

oSheetMetalPropertyEnum.kSheetMetalFlatPatternArea 

hopefully that makes sense and i didn't confuse you.

Matt.