SolidWorks Design Automation Using the SolidWorks API, Microsoft Excel and VBA

Managing Fiduciary Responsibility
Within a Keynesian Economic
Environment

A New View of Investments in a Post-
Crisis Capital Downturn World

September 15, 2009
Paul Gimbel
Copyright © 2009 Razorleaf Corporation www.razorleaf.com

Design Automation:
Simple SolidWorks Solutions to
Practical Programmatic Packages

Part 2: Programmatic Automation
Using SolidWorks for Computations
September 15, 2009
Paul Gimbel

If You Use This…


Or This…


Or One of These…


Or Even This…


Then you need…


And a Very Expensive Calculator at That

SolidWorks:

The Ultimate
Calculator for
Design
Automation


“Thinking…Bad.
SolidWorks…Good.”


Engineering Education Skills
• • Beer Pong
• Penny Locks
• Mountain Dew + Espresso Beans
• Creative Culinary Techniques


Types of Interaction

• People use Automation to:
• Produce SolidWorks Models/Drawings
• Guide Users to Ensure Good Input
• Feasibility or Performance Calculations
• Predicted Performance
• Shipping Weight
• Cost


Applications

• Complex Geometric Calculations
• Manufacturability
• Interference/Clearance
• Simultaneous Equations
• Design Validation
• Top-Down Assembly Modeling


Examples: Complex Geometric
Calculations
• Linkage
• Truss
• Belt & Pulley System


Examples: Manufacturability
• Complex Sheet Metal
• Tooling Decisions
• Assembly and Tool Clearance
• Tolerancing


Examples: Interference/Clearance

• Complex Fit Problems
• Iterative Optimization
• Validation Checks
• Clearance Value Determination


Examples: Simultaneous Equations
• Equations Tying Sketches
Together
• Circular Problems
• Mixed Arithmetic and
Geometric “Equations”


Examples: Design Validation
• Form, Fit, and Function
• Geometric Impossibilities
• Weight Problems
• Return Values for Performance Calculations


Examples: Top-Down Assembly
Modeling (TDAM)
• Enclosures
• Intersecting Surfaces
• Matched Components


Before We Start Talking Code…
• Microsoft Excel Samples
• Yes, Excel. Here‟s why:
• Excel does a lot of the work
• VisualStudio.NET is expensive
• You spent all your budget coming
here
• Familiar/Friendly user interfaces
• It demo’s well
• If you think my jokes are bad, you
should see my C# code


Nope. Not Going To Do It

• NO LIVE CODE TODAY!!
• I’ve seen enough of these things to know
• Too slow (and boooooooring)
• You don’t want to watch me search for typos
• MY code won’t crash…GUARANTEED
• Full code will be available upon request
• Supported by PETA (People for the Ethical
Treatment of Audiences)


Sample 1: The Simple Out-And-
Back
• Southern States Superior Spring and
Scissor Lift Systems
• Input required height
• Input max weight
• Return linkage lengths
• Return output points
• Run stress calculation
• Iterate as needed
• Output data sheet


Design Automation Steps
1.Collect inputs
2.Perform arithmetic and logic calculations
3.Attach to SolidWorks
4.Pass values to SolidWorks
5.Force regeneration of model
6.Retrieve values from SolidWorks
7.Perform further calculations
8.Iterate with SolidWorks as needed
9.Generate outputs

1) Collect Inputs

NAME THESE
INPUT CELLS

Type Cell Name Here

Check out SWW2008
NAME THESE presentation…”Automating Your
OUTPUT CELLS Designs: Excel, VBA, and
Beyond” at www.razorleaf.com
for tips on using Excel for design
automation

2) Perform Arithmetic and Logic
Calculations
• Convert the units as needed

• Determine the smallest cylinder that will support the load

• Determine stroke for selected cylinder


3) Attach to SolidWorks

• Check your references
• Be specific with your data types
• Use CreateObject
• Attach/Create new SolidWorks
• Open your master file


3) Attach to SolidWorks
Option Explicit
Sub CalculateScissor()
„Results variables for SolidWorks to return
Dim bStatus As Boolean
Dim lStatus As Long
Dim lWarnings As Long

Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks „Object holding the SolidWorks Session
„Attach to or create a SolidWorks Session
Set swApp = CreateObject(“SolidWorks.Application”)
Dim swPart As SldWorks.ModelDoc2 „Object holding our SolidWorks document
„Open our part
swApp.OpenDoc6 “C:SSSSSLiftScissorLift.Sldprt”, 1, 0, “”, lStatus, lWarnings
Set swPart = swApp.ActivateDoc2(“ScissorLift.Sldprt”, False, lStatus)


Public Service Announcement

• Proper Programming Style includes:
• „Commenting the snot out of everything
• Error trapping (On Error Goto/Try…Catch)
• Testing for data types (important when interacting with
Excel)
• Testing for objects (If myObject IS NOTHING Then
panic)
• Including Debug Code (Debug.Print/Assert, or a log file if
you’re lucky enough to have a debug library)


4) Pass Values to SolidWorks

• Name your features and dimensions in SolidWorks
• If you need to select, avoid “screen picks”
• Travel up and down the object tree
• SolidWorks tools to make inputs easier
• Link Values
• Geometric Relations (ex. Symmetry)
• Equations


4) Pass Values to SolidWorks

swPart.Parameter(“OverallLength@BaseLine@ScissorLift.Part").
SystemValue = Range(“StrokeInches”).Value * 0.0254
...or better yet...
= InchesToMeters(Range("StrokeInches").Value)
...or even better yet...
= Convert(Range("Stroke").Value, Range("SUnits").Value,
"meters")
Must be in meters

NOTE: When getting or setting values from Excel,
name the cells and use Range(”name”).value


Simplify Your Life
(By Simplifying Your Models)

•Sherpa Tip #1
Sherpa
#1


Simplified Models and
Automation
• Why are you building a model?
• Visualization?
• Model is so it LOOKS right
• Simulation?
• Model it so it WORKS right
• Calculation?
• Model it so it gives you the right result
• Drawings?
• Model it so that the drawings are correct
• To win that SolidWorks model contest?
• OK, fine. Go for it.


Did I Say Simple? Oh yeah. Simple.

• Do you need threads?
• Do you need swoopies?
• Do you need fillets?
• Do you need hardware?
• Do you need mounting holes?
• Do you need SOLID GEOMETRY?


Don‟t Invent the Wheel, Redesign It

Drive Geometry
…Don’t create it
If the world was indeed created in six days, I
bet it wasn’t through the SolidWorks API


Scissor Lift Model
Retracted Each stack is a separate sketch
Plane
Extended
Plane

Stroke

Drive to set
height goal

Just for show: completely unnecessary
Single line is the real sketch
Drive to change the geometry


5) Force Regeneration of Model
• SolidWorks has three different rebuild methods:
• swPart.Rebuild (Assemblies and Drawings only)
• swPart.EditRebuild3 (Rebuilds only what “needs” to be
rebuilt)
• swPart.ForceRebuild3 (Rebuilds everything with a “Top
Only” option) “Sherpa Recommended!!”
• You also have an option to suppress error messages…use it!
• swPart.ShowFeatureErrorDialog = FALSE
• Don‟t rebuild unless you need to, but keep in mind…
• Any time that you need to retrieve values, rebuild first
• Some changes require, or are better off, after a rebuild
• Ex. Referencing an entity created/modified in earlier step


6) Retrieve Values from SolidWorks

• Populate Excel cells, instead of just bringing values into
VBA variables
• Provides greater visibility to calculations
• Easier to troubleshoot
• Allows you to use Excel for validations and further calculations
• Give Management their graphs and charts
• Use the same syntax as driving values…only backwards
Watch your units and data types

Let’s see the code!

6) Retrieve Values from SolidWorks

Range(“LinkLength”).Value =
Part.Parameter(“LinkLength@Links3@ScissorLift.Part").
SystemValue / 0.0254
...or better yet...
= MetersToInches(Part.Parameter
(“LinkLength@Links3@ScissorLift.Part").SystemValue )
...or even better yet...
= Convert(Part.Parameter(“LinkLength@Links3@ScissorLift.Part").
SystemValue , "meters“, Range("SUnits").Value)


7) Perform Further Calculations
Perform code calculations if:
• you still need interact with SolidWorks
• you’re dealing with data that Excel doesn’t handle well
(arrays)
• you need to loop

Perform calculations in your DA System if:
• you are done with SolidWorks
• you want visibility into your calculations
• you don’t want me to yell at you and deduct 15 style points


8) Iterate with SolidWorks as Needed

Minimize your round trips to SolidWorks by:
• Analyzing your outputs
• Performing calculations to get more accurate seed values
• Design your models to minimize rebuilds and leverage
relations/equations

Keep the SolidWorks object so there‟s no need to
reinstantiate


You ARE the Brute Squad!

•Sherpa Tip #2
Sherpa
#2


9) Generate Outputs

Quite often you can simply:
• Use the outputs from your design automation tool
• Format results in Excel or Word
In other cases, you can:
• Drive custom property value (for SolidWorks
drawings, BOM, Word docs)
• Write to text files
• Send information to databases

Can‟t afford Microsoft SQLServer? Check out SQLExpress.
with 80% of the functionality and 0g Trans Fat at 0% of the cost!!
http://www.microsoft.com/Sqlserver/2005/en/us/express.aspx


Sample 2: Locating By Clearance
Specialized Squirrel Skewer Syndicate
• Spikes must be within a tolerance
depending on rodent girth
• Base plastic strip is complex shape
• Inputs include railing width and
length and the target size of the
source of the client’s ire

Sciurus
Carolinensis

*Based VERY
loosely on a
true client story!


Squirrel Skewering Approach
Inputs:
• Base Geometric Requirements
• Railing Width
• Railing Length
• Rodent Size
• Generate Simplified model with
Spike#1
• Guess where Spike #2 should go
• Measure clearance
• If clearance is within tolerance,
return location
• If clearance is outside of tolerance,
iterate
No squirrels or SolidWorks models were
harmed in the making of this presentation

The Model
Five Simple Features:
1. A swept feature to represent the plastic base
2. A sketch representing the profile
3. A cylinder representing one spike
4. A cylinder representing the other spike
5. Datum points on the tips
6. A few mates


The Program Flow

• Before the code is launched:
• Users enter Profile Radius, Profile Length, Spike Spacing, Tolerance
• The code then:

Push
Guess Regenerate Measure Fill Values
Values to
Spacing Model Clearance Into Excel
SW

YES
Is Clearance
NO Within
Tolerance?


Coding the Tricky Bits:
Guessing The Seed Value
• Always send an intelligent starting value
• Minimize the number of trips you need to make
• Track your values for trending
• Create an array of the values
• Use an interpolation/extrapolation routine to determine
next seed
Public Function Seed(SeedValues() as Double, _
LastResult As Double, Goal As Double, _
Tolerance As Double)As Double
Seed will look at the result to see if it was too high or too low, Find the
next seed value in that direction (if there is one), and interpolate based
on how far out of tolerance (in %) it was


Coding the Tricky Bits:
Measuring Clearance Values
• Just a few of the Variables:
• Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
• Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
• Dim swAssy As SldWorks.AssemblyDoc
• Dim swComps As Variant „Array of components
• Dim swFaces() As SldWorks.Face2
• Dim swComp As SldWorks.Component2
• Dim swBody As SldWorks.Body2
• Dim swFace As SldWorks.Face2
• Dim swMeasure As SldWorks.Measure
• Dim Distance As Double

Check out last year’s presentation…”Automating Your Designs: Excel, VBA, and
Beyond” at www.razorleaf.com for tips on OOPs in SolidWorks and Excel
(I know it’s not TRUE OOP. So if you’re a coder, don’t bother yelling at me…I know.)


Follow the Bouncing Objects
Sub main()

Set swApp = CreateObject(“SolidWorks.Application”)
Set swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc
Set swAssy = swDoc **Lots of loops,
swComps = swAssy.GetComponents(True) comments, error
Set swComp = swComps(index) trapping, and other
Set swBody = swComp.GetBody stuff left out for
Set swFace = swBody.GetFirstFace clarity**
Set swFaces(FaceCount) = swFace
Set swMeasure = swDoc.Extension.CreateMeasure
bResult = swMeasure.Calculate(swFaces)
Distance = swMeasure.Distance

The Takeaway: Work TOP DOWN!

Work Top Down (unless you design skyscrapers)

•Sherpa Tip
Sherpa
#3
#3


Controlling Features and Other
Friends
Modifying most SolidWorks content involves selection…
• Set swSelMgr = swModel.SelectionManager
• Set swFeat = swSelMgr.GetSelectedObject5(1)
or
• Set swFeat = swEditAssy.FeatureByName(sFeatName)
• bResult = swFeat.Select2(False, 0)
• bResult = swPart.EditSuppress2()

…or traversing the object tree
• Set swApp = CreateObject(“Application.SldWorks”)
• Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
• Set swModelExt = swModel.Extension…
• swAnnViews = swModelExt.AnnotationViews…
• Set swAnnView = swAnnViews(i)…
• swAnnotations = swAnnView.Annotations…
• Set swAnn = swAnnotations(j)…and so on…


Other Calculations from
SolidWorks
Mass Properties
Dim swMass As SldWorks.MassProperty
Set swMass = swPart.Extension.CreateMassProperty
Access properties swMass.mass or .Volume or .SurfaceArea…

Section Properties
Dim swPart As Sldworks.ModelDoc2
Dim swPartDocExt as Sldworks.ModelDocExtension
Dim vFace As Variant
Dim vSecProps as Variant
Set swPart = swApp.ActiveDoc
Set swPartDocExt = swPart.Extension
„Get face through selection or traverse Body->Face…
vSecProps = swPartDocExt.GetSectionProperties2((vFace))


Measure: An Object Unto Itself
There is a Measure object (Imeasure Interface) with its own
properties
Dim Measurement as SldWorks.Measure
Dim bResult as Boolean
Dim dResult as Double
Build your selection set using SelectByID, etc.
Set Measure = swPart.Extension.CreateMeasure
Measure.ArcOption = 0 „Center-to-Center/Min/Max
bResult = Measure.Calculate(Nothing)
You can also calculate an array of objects
Dim swObjects() As Variant
swObjects(0) = swFace „Previously captured object
swObjects(1) = swPoint „Previously captured object
bResult = Measure.Calculate(swObjects)
Then grab the property of the measure that you‟re after
dResult = Measure.Length (or .Radius or .Angle or .Area
or…)


Macro Features
Use macro features to execute:
• On each rebuild
• Report values back to your automation, file, or database
• At a specific point during the rebuild
• Perform “calculations” at particular manufacturing step
• Report values back to the design automation
• Get results to use further down the tree
• Use mass properties values to drive additional features
• Interruptions
• Add flow, logic and validation to your SolidWorks models
• Head off problems before SolidWorks fails or wastes time


SolidWorks and .NET
From a SolidWorks API functionality perspective there is no
difference between VBA and .NET
Consider .NET if you:
• Have no need for a user interface (Excel does that
well)
• Want to protect your code and app (Compiled code
versus exposed)
• Have a lot of redundancies (Inheritance)
• Complex algorithms (Polymorphism)
• Need more structure in your life (True OOP)
• Are all about efficiency and are a seasoned coder


Concluding Tips and Techniques
• Perform calculations BEFORE you get to SolidWorks
• SolidWorks will be the slowest link in the chain
• Simplify your geometry
• Avoid creating geometry on the fly
• Kickoff SolidWorks, don’t let it decide when it will generate
• Brute Force is not necessarily a bad thing (ESPECIALLY
when it’s SolidWorks exerting the force)
• Work Top-Down…start with the end in mind


Thank You!
(for staying awake…well most of you at least)

• If you have questions, feel free to call me at home
▫ My name is Mickey Dorsey, (302)…
• Feel free to grab me (or my card) after the show
Paul Gimbel
Business Process
Sherpa

paul.gimbel@razorleaf.com
www.razorleaf.com

For the complete version of the presentation, visit
www.razorleaf.com after the show! Yes, it’s free. Sign up for
our FREE eNewsletter, too (news, tech tips, and more).

SolidWorks Design Automation Using the SolidWorks API, Microsoft Excel and VBA

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

Similaire à SolidWorks Design Automation Using the SolidWorks API, Microsoft Excel and VBA

Similaire à SolidWorks Design Automation Using the SolidWorks API, Microsoft Excel and VBA (20)

Plus de Razorleaf Corporation

Plus de Razorleaf Corporation (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

SolidWorks Design Automation Using the SolidWorks API, Microsoft Excel and VBA

Notes de l'éditeur