Solidworks Macro - Create a 3-Point Arc Slot

7 minute read

In this post, I tell you about how to create a 3-Point Arc Slot through Solidworks VBA Macros in a sketch.

The process is almost identical with previous Sketch - Create Straight Slot post.

In this post, I tell you about CreateSketchSlot method from Solidworks SketchManager object.

This method is most updated method, I found in Solidworks API Help.

So use this method if you want to create a new 3-Point Arc Slot.

Video of Code on YouTube

Please see below video on how to create a 3-Point Arc Slot from Solidworks VBA Macros.

Please note that there are no explaination in the video.

Explaination of each line and why we write code this way is given in this post.

Code Sample

Below is the code sample for creating a 3-Point Arc Slot.

                        Option Explicit

' Creating variable for Solidworks application
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
' Creating variable for Solidworks document
Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
' Boolean Variable
Dim BoolStatus As Boolean
' Creating variable for Solidworks Sketch Manager
Dim swSketchManager As SldWorks.SketchManager

' Main function of our VBA program
Sub main()

  ' Setting Solidworks variable to Solidworks application
  Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
  
  ' Creating string type variable for storing default part location
  Dim defaultTemplate As String
  ' Setting value of this string type variable to "Default part template"
  defaultTemplate = swApp.GetUserPreferenceStringValue(swUserPreferenceStringValue_e.swDefaultTemplatePart)

  ' Setting Solidworks document to new part document
  Set swDoc = swApp.NewDocument(defaultTemplate, 0, 0, 0)

  ' Selecting Front Plane
  BoolStatus = swDoc.Extension.SelectByID2("Front Plane", "PLANE", 0, 0, 0, False, 0, Nothing, swSelectOption_e.swSelectOptionDefault)
  
  ' Setting Sketch manager for our sketch
  Set swSketchManager = swDoc.SketchManager
  
  ' Inserting a sketch into selected plane
  swSketchManager.InsertSketch True
  
  ' Creating Variable for Solidworks Slot
  Dim mySketchSlot As SketchSlot
      
  ' Creating a 3-Point Arc slot
  Set mySketchSlot = swSketchManager.CreateSketchSlot(swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_3pointarc, swSketchSlotLengthType_e.swSketchSlotLengthType_CenterCenter, 1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, False)

  ' De-select the Slot after creation
  swDoc.ClearSelection2 True
  
  ' Zoom to fit screen in Solidworks Window
  swDoc.ViewZoomtofit

End Sub

                      

Understanding the Code

Now let us walk through each line in the above code, and understand the meaning of every line.

Option Explicit

This line forces us to define every variable we are going to use.

For more information please visit Solidworks Macros - Open new Part document post.

                        ' Creating variable for Solidworks application
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks

In this line, we are creating a variable which we named as swApp and the type of this swApp variable is SldWorks.SldWorks.

                        ' Creating variable for Solidworks document
Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2

In this line, we are creating a variable which we named as swDoc and the type of this swDoc variable is SldWorks.ModelDoc2.

Next is our Sub procedure named as main. This procedure hold all the statements (instructions) we give to computer.

                        ' Setting Solidworks variable to Solidworks application
Set swApp = Application.SldWorks

In this line, we are setting the value of our Solidworks variable swApp which we defined earlier to Solidworks application.

                        ' Creating string type variable for storing default part location
Dim defaultTemplate As String
' Setting value of this string type variable to "Default part template"
defaultTemplate = swApp.GetUserPreferenceStringValue(swUserPreferenceStringValue_e.swDefaultTemplatePart)

                      

In 1st statement of above example, we are defining a variable of string type and named it as defaultTemplate.

This variable defaultTemplate, holds the location the location of Default Part Template.

In 2nd line of above example. we assign value to our newly define defaultTemplate variable.

We assign the value by using a Method named GetUserPreferenceStringValue().

This method is a part of our main Solidworks variable swApp.

                        ' Setting Solidworks document to new part document
Set swDoc = swApp.NewDocument(defaultTemplate, 0, 0, 0)

In this line, we set the value of our swDoc variable to new document.

For more detailed information about above lines please visit Solidworks Macros - Open new Part document post.

I have discussed them thoroghly in Solidworks Macros - Open new Part document post, so do checkout this post if you don’t understand above code.

                        ' Boolean Variable
Dim BoolStatus As Boolean

' Selecting Front Plane
BoolStatus = swDoc.Extension.SelectByID2("Front Plane", "PLANE", 0, 0, 0, False, 0, Nothing, swSelectOption_e.swSelectOptionDefault)

In 1st line, we create a variable named BoolStatus as Boolean object.

In next line, we select the front plane by using SelectByID2 method from Extension object.

For more information about selection method please visit Solidworks Macros - Selection Methods post.

I have discussed about different Selection methods in details in Soldworks Macros - Selection Methods post, so do visit this post for more Selection methods.

                        ' Creating variable for Solidworks Sketch Manager
Dim swSketchManager As SldWorks.SketchManager

In above line, we create variable swSketchManager for Solidworks Sketch Manager.

As the name suggested, a Sketch Manager holds variours methods and properties to manage Sketches.

To see methods and properties related to SketchManager object, please visit this page of Solidworks API Help

                        ' Setting Sketch manager for our sketch
Set swSketchManager = swDoc.SketchManager

In above line, we set the Sketch manager variable to current document’s sketch manager.

                        ' Inserting a sketch into selected plane
swSketchManager.InsertSketch True

In above line, we use InsertSketch method of SketchManager and give True value.

This method allows us to insert a sketch in selected plane.

                        ' Creating Variable for Solidworks Slot
Dim mySketchSlot As SketchSlot
      
' Creating a 3-Point Arc slot
Set mySketchSlot = swSketchManager.CreateSketchSlot(swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_3pointarc, swSketchSlotLengthType_e.swSketchSlotLengthType_CenterCenter, 1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, False)

In above sample code, we 1st create a variable named mySketchSlot of type SketchSlot.

In 2nd line, we set the value of SketchSlot variable mySketchSlot.

We get this value from CreateSketchSlot method which is inside the swSketchManager variable.

swSketchManager variable is a type of SketchManager, hence we used CreateSketchSlot method from SketchManager.

This CreateSketchSlot method takes following parameters as explained:

SlotCreationType : Type of sketch slot as defined in swSketchSlotCreationType_e.

There are 4 Different types of Slots we can create.

Straight Slot : swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_line or 0
Centerpoint straight Slot : swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_center_line or 1
Centerpoint arc Slot : swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_arc or 2
3-point arc Slot : swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_3pointarc or 4

SlotLengthType : Type of length of sketch slot as defined in swSketchSlotLengthType_e.

There are 2 different types of Sketch slot length we can create.

Center to Center : swSketchSlotLengthType_e.swSketchSlotLengthType_CenterCenter or 0
Full Length : swSketchSlotLengthType_e.swSketchSlotLengthType_FullLength or 1

Width : Width of Slot

X1 : X coordinate of the point 1, of the Slot

Y1 : Y coordinate of the point 1, of the Slot

Z1 : Z coordinate of the point 1, of the Slot

X2 : X coordinate of the point 2, of the Slot

Y2 : Y coordinate of the point 2, of the Slot

Z2 : Z coordinate of the point 2, of the Slot

X3 : X coordinate of the point 3, of the Slot

Y3 : Y coordinate of the point 3, of the Slot

Z3 : Z coordinate of the point 3, of the Slot

CenterArcDirection : We need to set the direction eiter Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise/Counterclockwise as follows:

Clockwise (CW) : -1
Anti-Clockwise/Counterclockwise (CCW) : 1

AddDimension : True to automatically add dimensions, False to not.

For more details about Slot Parameter you can visit this page of Solidworks API Help

For creating a 3-Point Arc Slot, I used following parameter Values:

SlotCreationType : swSketchSlotCreationType_e.swSketchSlotCreationType_3pointarc

Since we want to create a 3-Point Arc Slot hence I select above value.

SlotLengthType : swSketchSlotLengthType_e.swSketchSlotLengthType_CenterCenter

I want length of this Slot from Center to Center hence I select above value.

Width : 1
X1, Y1, Z1 : -1, 0, 0

For Point 1, I use (-1, 0, 0) values, which is -1 point distance in X-direction.

X2, Y2, Z2 : 1, 0, 0

For Point 2, I use (1, 0, 0) values, which is which is 1 point distance in X-direction.

X3, Y3, Z3 : 0, 1, 0

For Point 2, I use (0, 1, 0) values, which is which is 1 point distance in Y-direction.

CenterArcDirection : 1

I want to create Anti-Clockwise/Counterclockwise Slot.

AddDimension : False

Below Image described the Parameters for 3-Point Arc Slot in more detail.

3point-arc-slot-parameters

This CreateSketchSlot method returns Sketch Slot interface i.e. ISketchSlot interface.

This ISketchSlot interface has various methods and properties for a Slot.

For more detail about methods and properties of ISketchSlot interface you can visit this page of Solidworks API Help

NOTE

It is very important to remember that, when you give distance or any other numeric value in Solidworks API, Solidworks takes that numeric value in Meter only.

Solidworks API does not care about your application’s Unit systems.

For example, I works in ANSI system means “inches” for distance.

But when I used Solidworks API through VBA macros or C#, I have to use converted numeric values.

Because Solidworks API output the distance in Meter only; which is not my requirement.

                        ' De-select the Slot after creation
swDoc.ClearSelection2 True

In the this line of code, we de-select the created 3-Point Arc Slot.

For de-selecting, we use ClearSelection2 method from our Solidworks document variable swDoc.

                        ' Zoom to fit screen in Solidworks Window
swDoc.ViewZoomtofit

In this last line we use zoom to fit command.

For Zoom to fit, we use ViewZoomtofit method from our Solidworks document variable swDoc.

Hope this post helps you to create a 3-Point Arc Slot in Sketches with Solidworks VB Macros.

For more such tutorials on Solidworks VBA Macros, do come to this blog after sometime.

Till then, Happy learning!!!