SOLIDWORKS C# API - Edit Solidworks Sketch

Demo Video

Please see below video on how to “Edit Sketch into Solidworks Part Document” using Solidworks C# API from WPF Application.

Add [Solidworks References]

• For opening Solidworks we need to add some references into our project.

• Please see below 👇🏻 image for how to add Solidworks reference.

• Please see below 👇🏻 image from 🚀 Browse Solidworks Document article for how to add reference files.

Update ViewModel

In this section, we update MainWindowViewModel for editing Sketch.

Add Private Fields

We need 2 Private Fields as shown in below code sample.

#region Private Fields

private SldWorks.SldWorks swApp;

private ModelDoc2 swDoc;

#endregion

Please see below 👇🏻 image for reference.

private SldWorks.SldWorks swApp;

• Above code create a private field (variable) for [Solidworks application].
• Type: SldWorks.SldWorks
• Name: swApp

private ModelDoc2 swDoc;

• Above code create a private field (variable) for [Solidworks document].
• Type: ModelDoc2
• Name: swDoc

Initialize Constructor

Now we initialize contructor for creating Solidworks application variable.

This open a new Solidworks application when constructor getting called.

Please see below 👇🏻 code example for reference.

#region Contructor

public MainWindowViewModel()
{
    swApp = new SldWorks.SldWorks();
}

#endregion

Please see below 👇🏻 image for reference.

Create Method - SelectSketch

In this section, we create a method for selecting Sketch method.

private bool SelectSketch()
{
    swDoc = null;
    swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc;

    bool isSelect = swDoc?.Extension.SelectByID2(
        "",
        "SKETCH",
        0, 0, 0,
        false,
        4,
        null,
        (int)swSelectOption_e.swSelectOptionDefault
    ) ?? false;

    return isSelect;
}

In above code, we create a method.

• Method Name: “SelectSketch”
• Return Type: “bool”

Please see below 👇🏻 image for reference.

swDoc = null;

• In above code, we set Solidworks Document variable to null.
• This make sure, we did not use previous data in swDoc variable.

swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc;

• In above line, we set value of swDoc variable.
• For this we use ActiveDoc property of swApp variable.
• ActiveDoc property, get currently open/active document in Solidworks.
• After that we set the currently open/active document as value of swDoc variable.
• Reference Doc: 🚀ActiveDoc Property

bool isSelect =
    swDoc?.Extension.SelectByID2(
        "Circle",
        "SKETCH",
        0, 0, 0,
        false,
        4,
        null,
        (int)swSelectOption_e.swSelectOptionDefault
    ) ?? false;

In above line select a sketch.

Sketch Name: “Circle”

After selecting Sketch, we assign value of isSelect variable.

Undertstand Code

In this section we understand above code.

bool isSelect

• In above code, we create a variable.
• Variable Type: bool
• Variable Name: isSelect

swDoc?

• Above code, checking if swDoc variable is null or not.
• If swDoc is null, it will return null value.
• This is very helpful feature of C# programming language.
• With this feature, we eliminate the additional code for null check.

swDoc?.Extension

• In above code, we are using Extension property of swDoc variable.
• Extension property is part of ModelDoc2 object.
• • Reference Doc: 🚀Extension Property

swDoc?.Extension.SelectByID2()

• In above code, we use SelectByID2() method.
• This SelectByID2() method use for selecting elements in Solidworks application.
• SelectByID2() method is accessible from Extension property of swDoc variable. This SelectByID2() method takes following parameters.

Reference Links 🚀

• swSelectType_e ➡️ swSelectType_e Enumeration.

• swSelectOption_e ➡️ swSelectOption_e Enumeration.

Return Value:

• True if item was successfully selected, False if not.

Parameter Value Used:

Please see below table for parameter value we used in our code.

?? null;

• After the we use ?? operator.

• This is called null-coalescing operator.

• It returns the value of its left-hand operand if it isn’t null.

• otherwise, it evaluates the right-hand operand and returns its result.

• In our case, if left side expression is null then we return null value as we defined on right side of operator.

return isSelect;

In above code, we return the value of isSelect variable.

This statement marks as end of SelectSketch() method.

Update Command Methods

We have 2 command methods.

1. ExecuteEditSketchMethod()
2. ExecuteEditSketchOrSingleSketchFeatureMethod()

In both functions we have below code.

await Task.Run(() =>
{
    // Sleeping with 5 sec
    Thread.Sleep(5000);
});

Now, we need to replace above code with below code.

await Task.Run(() =>
{
    if (SelectSketch())
        swDoc.EditSketch();
});

Please see below 👇🏻 images for reference.

FINAL RESULT

For Demo, we already had sketch we want to edit with our program.

Please see below 👇🏻 image for reference.

Now, we have done everything needed to Edit Solidwork Sketch into Solidworks Document through our application.

Please see below image for final result of our work.

• Edit Sketch with ExecuteEditSketchMethod() method

• Edit Sketch with ExecuteEditSketchOrSingleSketchFeatureMethod() method

This is it !!!

I hope my efforts will helpful to someone!

If you found anything to add or update, please let me know on my e-mail.

Hope this post helps you to Edit Solidworks Sketch from WPF PRISM Application.

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Do let me know by you like this post or not!

Till then, Happy learning!!!

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