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Populate Custom Properties By Using A Macro

Question asked by Eddie Capps on Jun 7, 2017
Latest reply on Sep 15, 2017 by Edward Poole

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I'm very new to writing macros. But I have written a macro that allows us to fill in the following custom properties of a Solidworks model.

(Company, Description, Project, Drawn By) Because these are always changing.

I used the InputBox command in my macro causing it to stop and wait for the user to type in the information.

Now I want to take it a step further and add a drop down list for the user to select from.

Example: Drawn By: and you would see a list of names for you to select from.

Is it possible?

Thanks

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John Stoltzfus Jun 7, 2017 3:19 PM
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You'd be much further ahead learning the most underrated SW Marketing product that I use on a daily basis for years - Custom Property Tab Builder - go to the forum home page and type that in the question line and call a search, then start studying... CPTB is where it's at
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Dan Pihlaja Jun 7, 2017 3:23 PM
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Yes its possible.

It is called a Combo box:
Combo Box and User Form Help

You can either list the items inside the macro or have the macro read and external text document (I think).
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Deepak Gupta Jun 7, 2017 3:35 PM
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As Dan mentioned it is possible and you can link it to an external file (like Excel, text, etc.) but I would suggest to keep it simple and go with Custom Property Tab Builder as John has recommended.
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- Todd Blacksher @ Deepak Gupta on Jun 7, 2017 5:12 PM
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  You can really easily link to an external Excel or Text file using the CPTB - I'm a HUGE fan, don't even get me started . . .
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  - John Stoltzfus @ Todd Blacksher on Jun 8, 2017 6:16 AM
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    Now how would you do that
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    - Edward Poole @ John Stoltzfus on Sep 15, 2017 9:12 AM
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      Oh, geez, John Stoltzfus, now you've done it!
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  - Edward Poole @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:11 AM
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    Yes, please don't get him started LOL!
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Eddie Capps Jun 7, 2017 4:06 PM
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First of all thanks for the quick responses to my post. I'm going to look into the Custom Property Tab Builder. I'm not familiar with it.
But, being new to the macro world. I was proud to get my macro to work. Could someone help me with some lines of code using the Combo Box. This is just so I can learn more about macros. This is what I have now.

Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Dim swCustPropMgr As SldWorks.CustomPropertyManager
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub main()
    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
    Set swCustPropMgr = swModel.Extension.CustomPropertyManager("")


    'Company (Text Prompt)
    swCustPropMgr.Set "Company", InputBox("Enter The Company Name:")

        'Description (Text Prompt)
    swCustPropMgr.Set "Description", InputBox("Description of Part:")

    'Project (Text Prompt)
    swCustPropMgr.Set "Project", InputBox("Enter the Project Name:")

    'Add Drawn By Field to Custom Properties

    swCustPropMgr.Add3 "DrawnBy", swCustomInfoText, nValue, 0

    'Drawn By (Text Prompt)

    swCustPropMgr.Set "DrawnBy", InputBox("Drawn By:")

End Sub
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- Scott Stuart @ Eddie Capps on Jun 7, 2017 4:28 PM
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  Eddie, you will need to insert a user form into your macro project, and on that form insert the combo box and label, and in the combo box properties you can list your choices. If you do this for more than one property, you can set up multiple forms each with their own combo box and label, and show/hide the forms in sequence. A more advanced way to do it would be to make a single generic form with a generic combo box, and change the properties of the form and combo box and label dynamically for each property you're prompting for.
  
  Either way, this is somewhat advanced for your first macro.
  
  Good luck.
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- Deepak Gupta @ Eddie Capps on Jun 8, 2017 3:11 AM
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  Check the macro example here: https://forum.solidworks.com/message/669287#comment-669287
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Rick McDonald Jun 7, 2017 7:38 PM
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I'm with John Stoltzfus and Dan Pihlaja 200%
That is what I did as one of the very first things for our companies templates.
Here is an example of what I did for part files (I did similar for Assemblies and Drawings).
I have pull down lists for: the people who create or edit (with all their names), Materials - for the types we use commonly, Project groups (you can also type in additional information ones directly in the fields if the pull down doesn't have what you want),. I also have fields for the dates, Drawing titles (2 boxes for 2 lines). It's really easy to setup and you can edit any time you want.
I suggest you make a master and have that as a standard instead of everybody making their own.
On the drawings, the fields in the custom properties for our drawings also fill in several spots in the Title block.
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- Todd Blacksher @ Rick McDonald on Jun 8, 2017 7:35 AM
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  Here's the part that I think is so great -
  We have a couple different "groups" within our company, and each one obviously has different needs when it comes to parts/assemblies/title blocks.
  I have a radio button for "Department", and your options change depending on the department.
  If I am doing something for National, I'll get a drop down box with our product line, whereas if I am doing something for Metal & Art, I can type in the customer name.
  These will then populate different parts of the same title block with specific information - 1 Title Block for 3 Departments!
  I have barely even scratched the surface with this tool, the next stage is organizing our powder coat colors in a spreadsheet and linking to that for drop down selection.
  (I wish cell color from Excel would appear in the drop down, I'm the OCD guy that wants to "see" the color when I pick it.)
  todd
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  - Dan Pihlaja @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:15 AM
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    Todd Blacksher wrote:
    
    Here's the part that I think is so great -
    We have a couple different "groups" within our company, and each one obviously has different needs when it comes to parts/assemblies/title blocks.
    I have a radio button for "Department", and your options change depending on the department.
    If I am doing something for National, I'll get a drop down box with our product line, whereas if I am doing something for Metal & Art, I can type in the customer name.
    These will then populate different parts of the same title block with specific information - 1 Title Block for 3 Departments!
    I have barely even scratched the surface with this tool, the next stage is organizing our powder coat colors in a spreadsheet and linking to that for drop down selection.
    (I wish cell color from Excel would appear in the drop down, I'm the OCD guy that wants to "see" the color when I pick it.)
    todd
    Yes, we do something similar. Although I agree....there are a heck of a lot more things I could (and probably should) be doing with the Property Tab builder:
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  - Edward Poole @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:21 AM
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    Nice job Todd Blacksher, all I need now is time to create and populate at work. Maybe I'll bbring my laptop home and do it on some rainy weekend...
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    - Todd Blacksher @ Edward Poole on Sep 15, 2017 9:25 AM
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      There is sooooo much more that I want to do . . . as soon as you "scratch the surface" you get this crazy urge to bring in a excavator and really start "digging in"!
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      - Dan Pihlaja @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:29 AM
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        Todd Blacksher wrote:
        
        There is sooooo much more that I want to do . . . as soon as you "scratch the surface" you get this crazy urge to bring in a excavator and really start "digging in"!
        Oh, my goodness....I know exactly what you mean.
        
        I keep trying out different workflows to see which one would be best. Sometimes I forget that I work with other people...and my workflows don't jive well with what they are doing.....
        Every once in a while I have to eat crow and revert something back to the way it was, simply because I wasn't thinking it all the way through...
        But sometimes, I find a nice gem that saves everyone here a ton of time. The property tab builder templates were a start to that.
        
        I will sometimes hear, "Uh, oh....Dan is playing with the templates again." over the cubicle walls. LOL
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        Todd Blacksher @ Dan Pihlaja on Sep 15, 2017 9:40 AM
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        "If you don't mess it up or break something every now and then, you aren't trying hard enough!"
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        Edward Poole @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:43 AM
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        This is true my friend!!!!
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      - Edward Poole @ Todd Blacksher on Sep 15, 2017 9:31 AM
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        I know, that's the problem, I get the bug too every so often, just not as often as you LOL!
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Alex Burnett Sep 15, 2017 8:57 AM
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To answer your question, it is possible to get a combo box list of items and even create a dynamic link to a list of variables. I linked the combo box shown below to our material database so I can more easily select something since it's in alphabetical order here.

All of the responses mentioned so far regarding the custom property tab builder are spot on. It's a very useful tool and underrated. The reason I went with an add-in is to perform tasks associated with model and drawing events. If you aren't doing anything like that then a stand-alone add-in may not be needed but I definitely understand wanting to use the API to learn how to do things.

Regarding getting the combo box working, you can add it to a user form and then add variables to the list using the following reference thread: Combo Box and User Form Help
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Populate Custom Properties By Using A Macro

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