Solidworks VBA Macro - Unfix Component

6 minute read

This article has "Beginner ➡ Intermediate" level Macro program.
If you are following my articles then will not be an issue for you.
In this article we did not use 🚀 UserForm for taking inputs, instead we use 🚀 Input Box for value input and 🚀 Message Box to notify user.
I hope you will also like this type of tutorials.
Thank you for reading.

Objective

In this article we create and understand VBA macro of Unfix Component(s) in Assembly document of SOLIDWORKS CAD Software.

This method is most updated method, so use this method if you want to Unfix Component(s) quickly.

Results We Can Get

After running our macro we successfully Unfix Component(s) a Component in an Assembly as a result.

Below image shows the result we get.

We Unfix Component in following steps in general.

Unfix an open Part in new Assembly document.

To get the correct result please follow the steps correctly.

Macro Video

Below 🎬 video shows Unfix Component from SOLIDWORKS VBA Macros.

Above video is just for visualization and there are no explanation.

I have explained each and every line in this article.

It is advisable to watch video, since it help you to better understand the process.

VBA Macro

Below is the VBA macro for Unfix Component.

                        Option Explicit

' Variable for Solidworks Application
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks

' Variable for Solidworks document
Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2

' Variable for Solidworks Assembly
Dim swAssembly As SldWorks.AssemblyDoc

' Variable for Solidworks Component
Dim swComponent As SldWorks.Component2

' Program to Unfix Component in assembly
Sub main()

  ' Set Solidworks Application variable to current application
  Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
  
  ' Set Solidworks document variable to currently opened document
  Set swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc
  
  ' Check if Solidworks document is opened or not
  If swDoc Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "Solidworks document is not opened."
    Exit Sub
  End If
  
  ' Set Solidworks Assembly document
  Set swAssembly = swDoc
  
  ' Variable for Top Level components List
  Dim vComponents As Variant
  
  ' Get Components list in opened assembly
  vComponents = swAssembly.GetComponents(True)
  
  ' Variable for Looping
  Dim index As Integer
  
  ' Loop through Components List
  For index = 0 To UBound(vComponents)
    
    ' Set Solidworks Component variable
    Set swComponent = vComponents(index)
    
    ' Check if this component is fixed or not
    If swComponent.IsFixed Then
      
      ' Select this component
      swComponent.Select True
      
      ' Unfix this component
      swAssembly.UnfixComponent
      
      ' Clear all selection
      swDoc.ClearSelection2 True
    End If
    
  Next
  
End Sub

                      

Prerequisite

There are some prerequisite for this article.

Knowledge of VBA programming language is ❗required.
We use an existing part in Assembly document.
This component is Fixed as shown in below image.

We will apply checks in this article, so the code we write should be error free most of the time.

Steps To Follow

This Reference Point VBA macro can be divided into following sections:

Create and Initialize required variables
Unfix Component

Every section with each line is explained below.

I also give some links (see icon 🚀) so that you can go through them if there are anything I explained in previous articles.

Create and Initialize required variables

Option Explicit

Purpose: Above line forces us to define every variable we are going to use.
Reference: 🚀 SOLIDWORKS Macros - Open new Part document article.

                        ' Variable for Solidworks application
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks application.
Variable Name: swApp
Type: SldWorks.SldWorks
Reference: Please visit 🚀 online SOLIDWORKS API Help.

                        ' Variable for Solidworks document
Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks document.
Variable Name: swDoc
Type: SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Reference: Please visit 🚀 online SOLIDWORKS API Help.

                        ' Variable for Solidworks Assembly
Dim swAssembly As SldWorks.AssemblyDoc

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks Assembly.
Variable Name: swAssembly
Type: SldWorks.AssemblyDoc
Reference: Please visit 🚀 online SOLIDWORKS API Help.

                        ' Variable for Solidworks Component
Dim swComponent As SldWorks.Component2

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks Component.
Variable Name: swComponent
Type: SldWorks.Component2.
Reference: Please visit 🚀 online SOLIDWORKS API Help.

These all are our global variables.

They are SOLIDWORKS API Objects.

                        ' Program to Unfix a Component in assembly
Sub main()

End Sub

In above line, we create main Program to Unfix a Component in assembly.
This is a Sub procedure which has name of main.
This procedure hold all the statements (instructions) we give to computer.
Reference: Detailed information 🚀 VBA Sub and Function Procedures article of this website.

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

In above line, we set value of swApp variable.
This value is currently opened Solidworks application.

                        ' Set Solidworks document variable to currently opened document
Set swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc

In above line, we set value of swDoc variable.
This value is currently opened part document.

                        ' Check if Solidworks document is opened or not
If swDoc Is Nothing Then
  MsgBox ("Solidworks document is not opened.")
  Exit Sub
End If

                      

In above code block, we check if we successfully set the value of swDoc variable.
We use 🚀 IF statement for checking.
Condition: swDoc Is Nothing
When this condition is True,
- We show and 🚀 message window to user.
- Message: SOLIDWORKS document is not opened.
- Then we stop our macro here.

                        ' Set Solidworks Assembly document
Set swAssembly = swDoc

In above line, we set value of swAssembly variable.
This value is swDoc variable.

Unfix Component

In this section, we Unfix Component.

                        ' Variable for Top Level components List
Dim vComponents As Variant

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Top Level components List.
Variable Name: vComponents
Type: Variant

                        ' Get Components list in opened assembly
vComponents = swAssembly.GetComponents(True)

In above line, we set the value of vComponents variable.
We set value by GetComponents method of swAssembly variable.

                        ' Variable for Looping
Dim index As Integer

Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Looping.
Variable Name: index
Type: Integer

                        ' Loop through Components List
For index = 0 To UBound(vComponents)

Next

In above line, we create a For loop.
This loops start from index = 0 to number of UBound(vComponents).
- UBound(vComponents) : Maximum number of component in this variable.

                        ' Set Solidworks Component variable
Set swComponent = vComponents(index)

In above line, we set value of swComponent variable.
This value is current component inside vComponents variable.
- We get current component by Indexing vComponents variable.

                        ' Check if this component is fixed or not
If swComponent.IsFixed Then
  
  ' Select this component
  swComponent.Select True
  
  ' Unfix this component
  swAssembly.UnfixComponent
  
  ' Clear all selection
  swDoc.ClearSelection2 True
End If

                      

In above code block, we check if this component is fixed or not.
We use 🚀 IF statement for checking.
Condition: swComponent.IsFixed
When this condition is True,
- We select current component.
- Unfix current component.
- Then Clear all selection.

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 Unfix component with SOLIDWORKS VBA Macros.

For more such tutorials on SOLIDWORKS VBA Macro, do come to this website after sometime.

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Till then, Happy learning!!!