Paste drawing view from another drawing file using iLogic

[harvey_craig2RCUH]

If I have a blank drawing file, can I paste a view in from another drawing file?

I would like to keep all the dimensions. I can do this in the UI with a simple copy paste, can this be done in iLogic?

[Stakin]

DrawingView.CopyTo

[Jpfeifer5TC7R]

Here is just a very small portion of my code that revolves around copying views. 

Call oOpenLugDrawing(oLugCollection, oLugDoc)

'Establish variables to hold the two specific lug collection items for the time being
Dim oPage4ViewA As DrawingView = Nothing
Dim oPage4ViewB As DrawingView = Nothing
Dim IncorrectTriesIndex As Integer = 0

Call SetLugCollectionItems(LugIndexA, LugIndexB, IncorrectTriesIndex) 'selects correct views from selection based on index

MessageBox.Show(oLugCollection.Item(LugIndexA).name & " " & oLugCollection.item(LugIndexB).name)

oPage4ViewA = oLugCollection.Item(LugIndexA).Copyto(oPage4)
oPage4ViewB = oLugCollection.Item(LugIndexB).Copyto(oPage4)



Sub oOpenLugDrawing(ByRef oLugCollection As ObjectCollection, ByRef oLugDoc As DrawingDocument)

	Dim oTG As TransientGeometry = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry
	Dim oTO As TransientObjects = ThisApplication.TransientObjects
	Dim LugTemplateDWG As DrawingDocument
	Dim LugTemplatePath As String = "FILE PATH NAME"
	Dim LugTemplateName As String = "FILE ITEM NAME"
	Dim LugIndex As Integer = 1
	Dim oSourceDrawing As DrawingView

	oLugCollection = oTO.CreateObjectCollection

	oLugDoc = ThisApplication.Documents.Open(LugTemplatePath & LugTemplateName)
	LugTemplateDWG = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

	Dim oSheet As Sheet = oLugDoc.Sheets.Item(1)

	For Each oSourceDrawing In oSheet.DrawingViews
		oLugCollection.Add(oSourceDrawing)
		LugIndex = LugIndex + 1
	Next
End Sub

A couple of things to note, depending on the object that holds the view itself you may run into issues. If an item you wish to copy from one sheet to another is a base view you'll have no problems. However if your view/ multiple views are a parent child relationship you run into a limitation. It seems that people have solved this by using select set and Command manager to copy views as if you ctr+c and ctr+v. I have not found that to work on my end. 

If you need to work with a child view, I found you can do the DrawingView.MoveTo method from within the drawing document itself. Currently I have an entire temporary page that holds section views to be moved based upon a selection, then the page is deleted. A work around that may help you, not sure the exact situation. 

[Curtis_Waguespack · Accepted solution]

Hi @harvey_craig2RCUH,

Adding to the previous replies, here are some examples.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

Copy a view to a new drawing

Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
Dim VIEW1 = Sheet_1.DrawingViews.ItemByName("VIEW1")

'create new drawing
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject)
VIEW1.View.CopyTo(Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1))

Copy view to existing open drawing ( assumes it is the 2nd drawing open)

Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
Dim VIEW1 = Sheet_1.DrawingViews.ItemByName("VIEW1")

'get other drawing ( second drawing in the open/visible drawing collection)
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.VisibleDocuments.Item(2)
VIEW1.View.CopyTo(Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1))
Drawing2.Activate

same as above, but get target drawing by name

Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
Dim VIEW1 = Sheet_1.DrawingViews.ItemByName("VIEW1")

'get other drawing by name
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.ItemByName("C:\Temp\Drawing55.idw")
VIEW1.View.CopyTo(Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1))
Drawing2.Activate

Copy sheet ( all views on sheet) to new drawing

'get sheet from active drawing
Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
'create new drawing
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject)
'copy sheet from active drawing to new drawing 
Sheet_1.Sheet.CopyTo(Drawing2)
'delete blank sheet that is created from template
Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1).Delete

Copy sheet ( all views on sheet) to new drawing using a specific template

'get sheet from active drawing
Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
'create new drawing
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument 
Drawing2 = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject, "C:\Templates\Standard.idw")
'copy sheet from active drawing to new drawing 
Sheet_1.Sheet.CopyTo(Drawing2)

'delete blank sheet that is created from template
Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1).Delete

Copy sheet ( all views on sheet) then remove some of the views

'get sheet from active drawing
Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
'create new drawing
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject)
'copy sheet from active drawing to new drawing 
Sheet_1.Sheet.CopyTo(Drawing2)

'get new sheet 
Dim NewSheet As Sheet = Drawing2.Sheets.Item(2)
'delete some unneeded views
NewSheet.DrawingViews.Item(2).Delete
NewSheet.DrawingViews.Item(3).Delete

'delete blank sheet that is created from template
Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1).Delete

[Stakin]

hi@Curtis_Waguespack ，could these copy a sectionview or other view which isnot base view to another sheet or another drawingdocument？

[Curtis_Waguespack · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stakin 

I think we are limited to copying child views such as section views only if we copy the parent views also.

So I typically use something like the example that copies the entire sheet and then just delete any views that I don't need. Leaving the section view and it's parent.

If I don't want to see the parent I will suppress it, as shown below.

Copying the sheet just provides a straight forward way to copy the parent and the child views, when that is needed. If no dependent child/parent views are involved, I tend to just copy the views as needed ( not the entire sheet).

'get sheet from active drawing
Dim Sheet_1 = ThisDrawing.Sheets.ItemByName("Sheet:1")
'create new drawing
Dim Drawing2 As DrawingDocument = ThisApplication.Documents.Add(DocumentTypeEnum.kDrawingDocumentObject)
'copy sheet from active drawing to new drawing 
Sheet_1.Sheet.CopyTo(Drawing2)

'get new sheet 
Dim NewSheet As Sheet = Drawing2.Sheets.Item(2)
'delete some unneeded views
NewSheet.DrawingViews.Item(2).Delete

'suppress parent view
NewSheet.DrawingViews.Item(1).Suppressed = True

'delete blank sheet that is created from template
Drawing2.Sheets.Item(1).Delete

original drawing

new drawing

[Stakin]

@Curtis_Waguespack ，That is a good way to bypass this restriction，learnt，thank you。

[harvey_craig2RCUH]

Thank you Curtis,

All very useful code and your second reply about copying of child views accidently solved the next problem I ran into. 

Harvey