PowerMILL Excel SetupSheet plugin

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi Everyone,

I've been working on another plugin last year that was just publicly released.  This one will let you create an excel template to export your setupsheets.  It gives you a bit more flexibility than the current setupsheet we have in PowerMILL.  On top of that, since the source code is available you can do whatever you want with it.  The plugin include a folder of sample files and some documentation as to how to use it.

I'm joining the pdf I made to give you an idea of what is available but also what can be done with it.

https://github.com/Autodesk/powermill-api-examples/tree/master/addin-excel-setup-sheet

Enjoy!

Michael

[dkakuma]

Hello,

I have develop an VB.net code that extract informations about the time of the project in an empty excel sheet , also check if there are 2 tools in 1 nc program and if there are different tools with the same tool number. 

Are u interested about this?

King regards,

Dimitris Kakoutis

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi,

I wrote this plugin for users to get an idea of how they could do something similar by themselves.  I thank you for the code offer but I won't personally need it.  Feel free to share with other users on this thread if you want to do it as I'm sure many people will be interested in it.

Thanks

Michael

[barr.jarryd]

Hey man,

This is exactly what I've been looking for.

Unfortunately, building the plugin itself is kind of beyond me. Even with the instructions I can't seem to get it to work properly.

Is there any way you could post the built .dll like you did with the Drilling Automation?

Thank you!

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

I sure can, here is the installer.

[barr.jarryd]

Awesome thank you.

I don't see an attachment or link for said installer though.

Thanks.

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Sorry for that, the installer didn't join, let's try with a zip file.

[Sean570]

Would I be able to change some of the source code to allow this to be used for 2015 powerMill, or does the plugin use newer commands that are incompatible with older versions? 

 

[michael.grenier4GVTU · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I don't recall using new commands so it should work with some minimal work.

Michael

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am looking for some assistance.

I have downloaded the 3 excel files and I have run the installer that you posted. Also I have enabled the plugin but how do I access the dialogue box with NC Prog/toolpath.

Thanks

David

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi David,
You should simply see it on the vertical plugin panel on the left side of your screen once it's enabled. There is nothing else to do.
Michael

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have run the ExcelSetupSheetInstaller and I have downloaded the files. I set the options to the file location.

Is there another file that I need? usually to create a set sheet I would right click here  on the NC Programs and print... How do I execute the plugin? Hope this makes sense.

[Anonymous]

I haven't used the plugin but I looked through the source code on github. The plugin doesn't look like it's responding to ProcessCommand() or ProcessPluginCommand() so, unless the source is modified, there's no way to control the plugin from the right-click context menu. It has to be do through the plugin window.

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Yes, the plugin was designed to be used from the plugin window only.  Not to be used like the current setup sheet workflow as the plugin allows you to generate setupsheets for multiple specific nc program at once.  Since the source code is available, feel free to adapt it to your personal needs as this is why it was posted there.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't being critical of the plugin. I was responding to @Anonymous in an attempt to explain why it wasn't in the right-click context menu. 

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

I know that, I didn't take your comments personal, sorry if my reply made you feel that way, that was not intended.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have a plugin window that looks like this, what is the next step? I hope that you can help as I have struggled with set sheets for a few years now and this seems to be what I am looking for.

kind regards

David

[Anonymous]

The vertical plug in window has the plug in and it is working. THANK YOU

[metalurgicaprogreso]

Thanks a lot for this, it is a very useful tool. However, I cannot get it to work. I select the NC programs to be exported, but when I press generate, excel opens up with only the parameters inside (the texts between {}) and powermill crashes. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

This is going to be hard to debug without the project you are trying and the template you are using.  The error you are describing can be many things.  This is the kind of stuff that most of the time should be looked at in debug mode with the plugin source code.  The plugin source code is available on the powermill api example github repository.  If you don't know how that works, you can always post your project and template here and me or another user will try to look at it when we can.