iLogic - TitleBlock Project Data From Excel

Issue:
You have a title block that uses prompted entry, and you'd like to fill those fields in from data that is in a spread sheet. You know that the best way to set up a title block is to use the model file's iProperties, but unfortunately you can't make changes to the title block that you've been provided. But there must be a better way than just editing each sheet and re-typing the same information over and over, right?
 

Solution:
Here is an iLogic rule that asks the user to browse for an spreadsheet. Then it reads in the data and matches the field name to the title block field, and if a match is found it writes the field value to the title block's prompted entry field.


Here is an example spread sheet:

Here is an example Title Block:

 And here you can see the field text in the title block, with those that are prompted entries denoted by carats: < >

So the iLogic code gets the information from the spreadsheet and then writes it to the title block for every sheet in the drawing.

I've added some lines to activate each drawing sheet and a delay timer to step through each text field so that you can watch the changes, but all of that could be removed if you'd prefer to speed up the running of the rule.

'Browse for the Excel file

Dim oFileDlg As inventor.FileDialog = Nothing

InventorVb.Application.CreateFileDialog(oFileDlg)

oFileDlg.Filter = "Excel Files (*.xls;*.xlsx)|*.xls;*.xlsx"

oFileDlg.DialogTitle = "Select a Project Information Excel File"

oFileDlg.InitialDirectory = ThisDoc.Path

oFileDlg.CancelError = True

On Error Resume Next

oFileDlg.ShowOpen()

If Err.Number <> 0 Then

'exit if file not selected

Return

ElseIf oFileDlg.FileName <> "" Then

myXLS  = oFileDlg.FileName

End If

'look at sheet1 of the spreadsheet

GoExcel.Open(myXLS, "Sheet1")

'define the drawing

Dim oDoc As DrawingDocument

oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument

Dim oSheet As Sheet

Dim oPromptEntry

'gather the current sheet name

Dim oCurrentSheet

oCurrentSheet = oDoc.ActiveSheet.Name

'step through each sheet

i = 0

For Each oSheet In oDoc.Sheets

  i = i+1

  'activate the sheet

  ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.Sheets.Item(i).Activate

   oTitleBlock=oSheet.TitleBlock

    oTextBoxes=oTitleBlock.Definition.Sketch.TextBoxes

    For Each oTextBox In oTitleBlock.Definition.Sketch.TextBoxes

                'look at the first 100 rows of the Excel file

                'start at row 2, since row 1 contains headings

                For rowCheck = 2 To 100

            'read the value of the column A

                Dim myCell  As String

            myCell = "<" & GoExcel.CellValue("A" & rowCheck) & ">"

                'compare the titleblock field name to the value in column A

                If myCell = oTextBox.Text Then

                        'get the value from column B

                                oPromptEntry  = GoExcel.CellValue("B" & rowCheck)      

                        'set the prompted entry value

                                Call oTitleBlock.SetPromptResultText(oTextBox, oPromptEntry)

                        '______ add a small delay between text field updates

                                PauseTime = 0.3 'seconds

                                Start = Timer

                        Do While Timer < Start + PauseTime

                                ThisApplication.UserInterfaceManager.DoEvents

                                'present a status bar message

                                ThisApplication.StatusBarText = _

                                oDoc.ActiveSheet.Name & " is updating...."

                                Loop

                        '______ end of timer code

                End If

            Next

    Next

Next

'return to original sheet

ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.Sheets.Item(oCurrentSheet).Activate

'clear the status bar message

ThisApplication.StatusBarText = ""

 

iLogic - Delete Custom iProperties

Issue:
You have some custom iProperties in your file that you want to remove. Because you have a lot of files that contain these custom iProperties, you find yourself doing this quite often. You'd like an iLogic rule that will help with this when you encounter these custom iProperties.

Solution:
Here are three rule variations to help with this.

Variation 1
Delete only the custom iProperties found in the list.

'------- start of ilogic ------

'define list of custom properties to delete

Dim MyArrayList As New ArrayList

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 001")

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 002")

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 003")

'define custom property collection

oCustomPropertySet = ThisDoc.Document.PropertySets.Item("Inventor User Defined Properties")

'look at each property in the collection

For Each oCustProp in oCustomPropertySet

'check property name against the list you want to delete

If MyArrayList.Contains(oCustProp.name)Then

'delete the custom iProperty

oCustProp.Delete

Else

'skip it

End If

Next

'------- end of ilogic ------

Variation 2
Delete only the custom iProperties NOT found in the list.

'------- start of ilogic ------

'define list of custom properties to keep

Dim MyArrayList As New ArrayList

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 001")

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 002")

MyArrayList.add("Hello World 003")

'define custom property collection

oCustomPropertySet = ThisDoc.Document.PropertySets.Item("Inventor User Defined Properties")

'look at each property in the collection

For Each oCustProp in oCustomPropertySet

'check property name against the list you don't want to delete

If MyArrayList.Contains(oCustProp.name)Then

'skip it

Else

'delete the custom iProperty

oCustProp.Delete

End If

Next

'------- end of ilogic ------

Variation 3
Delete All custom iProperties found in the part.

'------- start of ilogic ------

'define custom property collection

oCustomPropertySet = ThisDoc.Document.PropertySets.Item("Inventor User Defined Properties")

'look at each property in the collection

For Each oCustProp in oCustomPropertySet

'delete the custom iProperty

oCustProp.Delete

Next

'------- end of ilogic ------