Solidworks VBA Macro - Insert Model View

6 minute read

Objective

In this article, we understand “how to” Insert Model View in Drawing document from VBA macro.

We will insert Insert Model View.

This is most updated method of Insert Model View in an drawing document.

Results We Can Get

Below image shows the result we get.

We Insert Model View in simple manners.

There are no extra steps required.

To get the correct result, please follow the steps correctly.

Macro Video

Below 🎬 video shows how to Insert Model View from SOLIDWORKS VBA Macros.

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

I have explained every line in this article.

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

VBA Macro

Below is the VBA macro for Insert Model View.

                        Option Explicit

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

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

' Creating variable for Solidworks Drawing
Dim swDrawing As SldWorks.DrawingDoc

' Creating variable for Solidworks View
Dim modelView As SldWorks.View

' Program to Insert Model View
Sub main()

  ' Setting Solidworks variable to Solidworks application
  Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
  
  ' Get Opened "Demo Assembly" document
  Set swDoc = swApp.GetOpenDocument("Demo Assembly")
  
  ' Check if Solidworks document is opened or not
  If swDoc Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "Solidworks document is not opened."
    Exit Sub
  End If
  
  ' Variable for opened File's full Path
  Dim openedFilePath As String
  
  ' Get opened File's full Path
  openedFilePath = swDoc.GetPathName
  
  ' Open Drawing document
  Set swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc
  
  ' Set Solidworks Drawing document variable
  Set swDrawing = swDoc
  
  ' Insert Model View [Front View]
  Set modelView = swDrawing.CreateDrawViewFromModelView3(openedFilePath, "*Front", 0.1, 0.1, 0)
  
  ' Check if we successfully insert Model view
  If modelView Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "Failed to Insert Model View."
    Exit Sub
  End If

End Sub

                      

Prerequisite

There are some prerequisites for this article.

Knowledge of VBA programming language is ❗required.
We create drawing from an already opened Assembly document.
We will use name of Assembly document name hardcoded.

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

Steps To Follow

This VBA macro can be divided into following sections:

Create Global Variables
Get Assembly Full Path
Insert Model Views

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 Global Variables

In this section, we create global 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.

                        ' Creating variable for Solidworks Drawing
Dim swDrawing As SldWorks.DrawingDoc

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

                        ' Creating variable for Solidworks View
Dim modelView As SldWorks.View

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

These all are our global variables.

They are SOLIDWORKS API Objects.

                        ' Program to Insert Model View
Sub main()

End Sub

In above line, we create Program to Insert Model View.
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.

Get Assembly Full Path

In this section, we Get Assembly Full Path.

                        ' 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.

                        ' Get Opened "Demo Assembly" document
Set swDoc = swApp.GetOpenDocument("Demo Assembly")

In above line, we set value of swDoc variable.
This value is currently Opened “Demo Assembly” document.
We use GetOpenDocument() method from swApp variable.
This GetOpenDocument() method takes one parameter.
- DocName - Name of the document.
We pass Opened assembly name i.e. “Demo Assembly” as parameter.

                        ' 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.

                        ' Variable for opened File's full Path
Dim openedFilePath As String

In above line, we create a variable for opened File’s full Path.
Variable Name: openedFilePath
Type: String

                        ' Get opened File's full Path
openedFilePath = swDoc.GetPathName

In above line, we set value of openedFilePath variable.
This value opened File’s full Path.
We set the value by GetPathName() method of swDoc variable.

Insert Model View

In this section, we Insert Model View action.

                        ' Open Drawing document
Set swDoc = swApp.ActiveDoc

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

                        ' Set Solidworks Drawing document
Set swDrawing = swDoc

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

                        ' Insert Model View [Front View]
Set modelView = swDrawing.CreateDrawViewFromModelView3(openedFilePath, "*Front", 0.1, 0.1, 0)

In above code, we Insert Model View into Drawing.
For this, we use CreateDrawViewFromModelView3 method.
This CreateDrawViewFromModelView3 method is part of swDrawing variable.
This method takes following parameters.
- ModelName: Full pathname of the model document for which to create the drawing view.
- ViewName: Name of the model view from which to create the drawing view. For example “Front” for Front view.*
- LocX: X location of drawing view center in meters.
- LocY: Y location of drawing view center in meters.
- LocZ: Z location of drawing view center in meters.
Return Value : This CreateDrawViewFromModelView3 method return 🚀 View data object.

In our code, I have used following values:

Parameter Name	Value Used
ModelName	`openedFilePath`
ViewName	`*Front`
LocX	`0.1`
LocY	`0.1`
LocZ	`0`

Reference: For more details please visit 🚀 online SOLIDWORKS API Help.

                        ' Check if we successfully insert views
If modelView Is Nothing Then
  MsgBox "Failed to Insert Model View"
  Exit Sub
End If

                      

In above code block, we check if we successfully insert views or not.
We use 🚀 IF statement for checking.
Condition: modelView Is Nothing
When this condition is True,
- We show and 🚀 message window to user.
- Message: *Failed to Insert Model View.
- Then we stop our macro here.

Now we run the macro and after running macro we show selected component as shown in below image.

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 Insert Model View 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!!!