Solidworks VBA Macro - Create Reference Co-Ordinate
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Objective
In this article we create and understand VBA macro of Reference Co-Ordinate in SOLIDWORKS CAD Software.
This method is most updated method, so use this method if you want to create a new Reference Co-Ordinate quickly.
Results We Can Get
After running our macro we successfully create Reference Co-Ordinate as a result.
Below image shows the result we get.
We create Reference Co-Ordinate in following steps in general.
- Ask User to select an Entity in Model.
- Create Reference Co-Ordinate on selected Entity.
To get the correct result please follow the steps correctly.
Macro Video
Below ๐ฌ video shows Reference Co-Ordinate 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 creating Reference Co-Ordinate.
Option Explicit
' Variable for Solidworks Application
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
' Variable for Solidworks document
Dim swDoc As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
' Variable for Solidworks Reference Co-ordinate
Dim swFeature As SldWorks.Feature
' Variable for Solidworks Selection Manager
Dim swSelMgr As SldWorks.SelectionMgr
' Variable for Solidworks Object
Dim swObject As Object
' Program to create Reference Co-ordinate
Sub main()
' Set Solidworks Application variable
Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
' Check if SOLIDWORKS is opened or not
If swApp Is Nothing Then
MsgBox ("SOLIDWORKS is not opened")
Exit Sub
End If
' Set Solidworks document variable
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 Selection Manager
Set swSelMgr = swDoc.SelectionManager
' Inform user to select a Point for Reference Co-ordinate.
MsgBox "Please select a Point for Reference Co-ordinate."
' Loop until we select an Object
While swObject Is Nothing
' Local integer for loop
Dim i As Integer
' Looping until we select an Object
For i = 1 To swSelMgr.GetSelectedObjectCount2(-1)
' If the selection type is a Sketch
If swSelMgr.GetSelectedObjectType3(i, -1) = swSelectType_e.swSelEXTSKETCHPOINTS Then
' Set the Solidworks Entity object to selected point
Set swObject = swSelMgr.GetSelectedObject6(i, -1)
End If
Next
DoEvents
Wend
' Create Reference CoOrdinate feature
Set swFeature = swDoc.FeatureManager.CreateCoordinateSystem(swObject, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing)
' Check if Reference Co-ordinate created or not
If swFeature Is Nothing Then
MsgBox ("Failed to create Reference Co-ordinate.")
Exit Sub
End If
' View zoom to fit
swDoc.ViewZoomtofit2
' Clear all selection
swDoc.ClearSelection2 True
End Sub
Prerequisite
There are some prerequisite for this article.
- Knowledge of VBA programming language is โrequired.
Since we are creating new part, there are no feature to create.
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 Co-Ordinate VBA macro can be divided into following sections:
- Create and Initialize required variables
- Ask user to select a Point
- Create Reference Co-Ordinate
- Final work
Every section with each line is explained below.
I also give some links (see icon ๐) 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: ๐ 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 ๐ 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 ๐ online SOLIDWORKS API Help.
' Variable for Solidworks Reference Co-ordinate
Dim swFeature As SldWorks.Feature
- Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks Reference Co-ordinate.
- Variable Name:
swFeature
- Type:
SldWorks.Feature
- Reference: Please visit ๐ online SOLIDWORKS API Help.
' Variable for Solidworks Selection Manager
Dim swSelMgr As SldWorks.SelectionMgr
- Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Solidworks Selection Manager.
- Variable Name:
swSelMgr
- Type:
SldWorks.SelectionMgr
. - Reference: Please visit ๐ online SOLIDWORKS API Help.
' Variable for Solidworks Object
Dim swObject As Object
- Purpose: In above line, we create a variable for Object.
- Variable Name:
swObject
- Type:
Object
These all are our global variables.
They are SOLIDWORKS API Objects.
' Main program for Reference Co-ordinate
Sub main()
End Sub
- In above line, we create main program for Reference Co-ordinate.
- This is a
Sub
procedure which has name ofmain
. - This procedure hold all the statements (instructions) we give to computer.
- Reference: Detailed information ๐ 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.
' Check if Solidworks is opened or not
If swApp Is Nothing Then
MsgBox ("SOLIDWORKS is not opened")
Exit Sub
End If
- In above code block, we check if we successfully set the value of
swApp
variable. - We use ๐ IF statement for checking.
- Condition:
swApp Is Nothing
- When this condition is
True
,- We show and ๐ message window to user.
- Message: SOLIDWORKS is not opened
- Then we stop our macro here.
' 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 ๐ IF statement for checking.
- Condition:
swDoc Is Nothing
- When this condition is
True
,- We show and ๐ message window to user.
- Message: SOLIDWORKS document is not opened.
- Then we stop our macro here.
' Set Solidworks Selection Manager variable
Set swSelMgr = swDoc.SelectionManager
- In above line, we set value of
swSelMgr
variable. - This value is current documentโs Selection Manager.
Ask user to select a Point
Inside this section we ask user to select a Point and.
' Inform user to select an Object for Co-Ordinate feature.
MsgBox "Please select an Point for Co-Ordinate feature."
- In above line, we show a messages to user.
- Below image shows the message for select an Object to the user.
' Loop until we complete our selection
While swObjects(selectItems) Is Nothing
Wend
- In above line, we create another
While
loop. - This loops continues to run until we select the our Feature and Edge for circular pattern.
- Reference: ๐ VBA Looping article from this website.
' Local integer for loop
Dim i As Integer
- In above line, we create a variable as a counter.
- Variable Name:
i
- Type:
Integer
' Loop until we select
For i = 1 To swSelMgr.GetSelectedObjectCount2(-1)
Next
- In above line, we create a
For
loop. - This loops start from
i = 1
to number ofobjects
we select.
' If the selection type is a Sketch
If swSelMgr.GetSelectedObjectType3(i, -1) = swSelectType_e.swSelEXTSKETCHPOINTS Then
' Set the Solidworks Entity object to selected point
Set swObject = swSelMgr.GetSelectedObject6(i, -1)
End If
- In above code block, we use ๐ IF statement with conditions.
- The ๐ IF statement is
True
when selectedobject
is type of SOLIDWORKS Pount.
DoEvents
- After
For
loop end, we have a call forDoEvents
function. - This function repeats the
While
loop until we complete Feature or Edge selection.
Create Reference Co-Ordinate
In this section, we create Reference Co-Ordinate.
' Create Reference CoOrdinate feature
Set swFeature = swDoc.FeatureManager.CreateCoordinateSystem(swObject, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing
-
In above line, we set the value of variable
swFeature
byCreateCoordinateSystem
method. -
This
CreateCoordinateSystem
method takes following parameters as explained:- OriginPointEntity - Entity for the coordinate system origin.
- XAxisEntities - Array of entities for the X axis.
- YAxisEntities - Array of entities for the Y axis.
- ZAxisEntities - Array of entities for the Z axis.
-
Return Value : This
CreateCoordinateSystem
method return ๐ Feature data object. -
In our code, I have used following values:
Parameter Name Value Used OriginPointEntity swObject
XAxisEntities Nothing
YAxisEntities Nothing
ZAxisEntities Nothing
Reference: For more details about
- Solidworks Feature Manager details: ๐ online Solidworks API Help for Solidworks Feature Manager.
- CreateCoordinateSystem Method: ๐ online
Solidworks API Help for
CreateCoordinateSystem
Method.
' Check if Reference Co-ordinate created or not
If swFeature Is Nothing Then
MsgBox ("Failed to create Reference Co-ordinate.")
Exit Sub
End If
- In above code block, we check if we successfully create Reference Co-ordinate or not.
- We use ๐ IF statement for checking.
- Condition:
swFeature Is Nothing
- When this condition is
True
,- We show and ๐ message window to user.
- Message: Failed to create Reference Co-ordinate.
- Then we stop our macro here.
Now we run the macro and after running macro we get Reference Co-ordinate as shown in below image.
Final work
In this section, after creating Reference Co-ordinate, we have to do some cleaning work so that we can use this macro frequently.
' View zoom to fit
swDoc.ViewZoomtofit2
- In above line, we make our view zoom to fit the model.
- For this we use
ViewZoomtofit2
method which is part of SOLIDWORKS Document variable i.eswDoc
variable.
' Clear all selection
swDoc.ClearSelection2 True
- In above line, we clear all previous selection.
- For this we use
ClearSelection2
method which is part of SOLIDWORKS Document variable i.eswDoc
variable.
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 create Reference Co-ordinate with SOLIDWORKS VBA Macros.
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