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Changing which layers print via Macro

Question asked by Peter Kennedy on Mar 22, 2017
Latest reply on Mar 23, 2017 by Christian Chu

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We have a large set of drawings that we outsource for manufacturing however we don't want to share all the information on the drawing. I need two versions of the drawing an internal and external copy, the internal has all the information, external is only partial.

If there a way to make a macro to print to pdf, but it will turn off the layer which has the additional internal information? Also since these drawings have a minimum of 2 sheets, up to 4 with the last always being the dxf of the part can I have the system always save the last sheet as a dxf and the remaining sheets into one PDF file?

I just don't know where to start I tried to record a macro and go from there however it was unsuccessful.

Thanks.

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Peter Brinkhuis Mar 23, 2017 10:48 AM
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The real art of programming is deconstructing your problem in pieces so small that a computer can execute them. Start small and don't try to everything at once.

It this case that would mean:
1. Connect to Solidworks (check any macro on this forum for an example, the macro recorder result isn't great)
2. Get the current document (see 1)
3. Make sure a document is open (check to see if the model from step 2 isn't null), otherwise exit
4. Make sure the document is a drawing, otherwise exit
5. Get the number of sheets (n) of this drawing
6. Get the names of sheets in an array
7. Loop through the sheets until page n, so:
  Get the name of the current sheet
  Activate the sheet using the name
  Make the right layers visible (just checked, this needs to be done per page)
8. Save sheets 1 to n-1 to PDF
9. Save sheet n to DXF
When you want to deal with multiple files at once, you can either write you own software to do that or use existing software like BatchProcess of #Task. I don't think #task is very user friendly, but it has some smart features to prevent timeouts and other cock-ups.

It seems that every single company has trouble printing documents the right way. Does nobody know any software that can do this properly? Otherwise I'm gonna build it myself soon.
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- Christian Chu @ Peter Brinkhuis on Mar 23, 2017 4:53 PM
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  (check any macro on this forum for an example, the macro recorder result isn't great)
  Agreed with Peter B.
  This task is not hard to write but we don't have time to create a whole macro for you
  have your checked Keith Rice site which includes many sample macros (need to be a member)
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  - Peter Brinkhuis @ Christian Chu on Mar 23, 2017 4:18 PM
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    I would have the time actually, for a fee Peter, you can message me to create that macro for you. That saves you the time of finding it all our yourself.
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  - Peter Kennedy @ Christian Chu on Mar 23, 2017 4:50 PM
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    I never asked for any one to write the whole macro for me.
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    - Christian Chu @ Peter Kennedy on Mar 23, 2017 4:54 PM
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      Sorry, I shouldn't say "for you" - I mean it in general
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- Amen Allah Jlili @ Peter Brinkhuis on Mar 23, 2017 4:45 PM
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  I like this reply!
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- Peter Kennedy @ Peter Brinkhuis on Mar 23, 2017 4:49 PM
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  I'm not trying to print multiples files I was just trying to figure out the layers for printing and change which pages to print I was able to figure it out.
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Jason Kerns Mar 23, 2017 4:20 PM
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The SOLIDWORKS API Help section looks like it has an example written that you can reference

This example shows how to get the layers in a drawing document.

'-----------------------------------------------
Option Explicit
Public Enum swLineStyles_e
    swLineCONTINUOUS = 0
    swLineHIDDEN = 1
    swLinePHANTOM = 2
    swLineCHAIN = 3
    swLineCENTER = 4
    swLineSTITCH = 5
    swLineCHAINTHICK = 6
    swLineDEFAULT = 7
End Enum
Public Enum swLineWeights_e
    swLW_NONE = -1
    swLW_THIN = 0
    swLW_NORMAL = 1
    swLW_THICK = 2
    swLW_THICK2 = 3
    swLW_THICK3 = 4
    swLW_THICK4 = 5
    swLW_THICK5 = 6
    swLW_THICK6 = 7
    swLW_NUMBER = 8
    swLW_LAYER = 9
End Enum
Sub main()
    Dim swApp                       As SldWorks.SldWorks
    Dim swModel                     As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
    Dim swLayerMgr                  As SldWorks.LayerMgr
    Dim vLayerArr                   As Variant
    Dim vLayer                      As Variant
    Dim swLayer                     As SldWorks.Layer

    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
    Set swLayerMgr = swModel.GetLayerManager

    Debug.Print "File = " & swModel.GetPathName
    Debug.Print " Current Layer = " & swLayerMgr.GetCurrentLayer
    Debug.Print ""

    vLayerArr = swLayerMgr.GetLayerList
    For Each vLayer In vLayerArr
        Set swLayer = swLayerMgr.GetLayer(vLayer)

        Debug.Print " " & swLayer.Name
        Debug.Print "    Color          = " & swLayer.Color
        Debug.Print "    Description    = " & swLayer.Description
        Debug.Print "    GetId          = " & swLayer.GetId
        Debug.Print "    Style          = " & swLayer.Style
        Debug.Print "    Visible        = " & swLayer.Visible
        Debug.Print "    Width          = " & swLayer.Width
    Next
End Sub
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- Christian Chu @ Jason Kerns on Mar 23, 2017 4:32 PM
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  yeah.. it's all you need !!!
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- Peter Kennedy @ Jason Kerns on Mar 23, 2017 4:51 PM
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  Thanks for the info.
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Changing which layers print via Macro

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