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Edit equations for all assembly components

Question asked by Nate Moorman on Jan 20, 2021
Latest reply on Jan 22, 2021 by Peter Brinkhuis

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I'm trying to put together a macro that will loop through all components in an assembly, including all subassemblies and the top level assembly. I need to edit the equation manager for each one and then rebuild it. I am having trouble being able to use the GetModelDoc2 method. I am getting the "Object doesn't support this property or method" error while looping through the array that I get from comps = assembly.GetComponents(False). The line that fails is Part = comps(i).GetModelDoc2. As far as I know, it is necessary to have the ModelDoc2 or AssemblyDoc in order to use GetEquationMgr. Just to be clear, I already have the code written for what I need to do to the equations, and I have tested it on assemblies and parts, and it works. The only thing I need to figure out is how to loop through the entire assembly and run that code on every single component, including the assembly itself. Anything helps, thanks!

Peter Brinkhuis Jan 20, 2021 12:08 PM

Correct Answer

When you get a list of components from an assembly, those are of type IComponent2 and not ModelDoc2. Use component.GetModelDoc2 to get the model, but you already knew that. This only works if the component is unsuppressed and not in lightweight mode, so you might want to start your macro by calling swAssy.ResolveAllLightWeightComponents for assemblies.

To make sure you are always using the correct types, add Option Explicit at the top of your macro (or enable the setting that adds this automatically) and click Debug > Compile before running so these types of errors are found.

You might also have just forgotten the "set" in the line of getting the modelDoc2 object.

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Deepak Gupta Jan 20, 2021 11:54 AM

Attach your macro here to see the issue and propose a solution.

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Nate Moorman @ Deepak Gupta on Jan 20, 2021 12:46 PM

I'm unfortunately unable to share it, otherwise I would. Sorry!

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Deepak Gupta @ Nate Moorman on Jan 21, 2021 8:58 AM

Nate Moorman wrote:

I'm unfortunately unable to share it, otherwise I would. Sorry!

No issues but glad to know that you macro is working fine now.

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Peter Brinkhuis Jan 20, 2021 12:08 PM

You might also have just forgotten the "set" in the line of getting the modelDoc2 object.

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Nate Moorman @ Peter Brinkhuis on Jan 20, 2021 12:55 PM

You hit it, it was the Set. And thanks for the explainer! Why is Set necessary for some statements and not others? Also, any idea how to force rebuild an assembly? That is the other error I'm hitting when I try to use ForceRebuild3. I saw that that's not a method for IAssemblyDoc types, but I'm not sure what a good way to rebuild an assembly is.

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Peter Brinkhuis @ Nate Moorman on Jan 22, 2021 11:49 AM

Set is required when you set an object (object, modeldoc, part, note, etc). For value-types (integer, string, boolean), you don't need the set. It's an annoying language feature, so I'm glad that most other languages don't have this distinction.

The AssemblyDoc, PartDoc and DrawingDoc types are a more detailed type of ModelDoc2. Those detailed types have properties and methods that are only relevant for that type. That's why most assembly macros start like this (after setting swApp):

dim swModel as ModelDoc2, swAssy as AssemblyDoc
set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
set swAssy = swModel

If the active model is actually an assembly (you should check that first), you cast the model to an assembly. This does not work if the model is a part, I suggest you try it.

This also works the other way around. If you are deep into a macro and you only have access to an assembly, you can cast it back to a ModelDoc2 and use generic properties and methods:

private function DoSomethin(swAssy as AssemblyDoc)
   dim swModel as ModelDoc2
   set swModel = swAssy
end function

This class diagram tries to explain it a bit further. It's a bit messy, still, unfortunately.

SOLIDWORKS API Object Model class hierarchy diagram

Here's the official explanation:

2017 SOLIDWORKS API Help - Understanding the SOLIDWORKS API Class Hierarchy

And the complete Access Diagram PDF:

https://help.solidworks.com/2021/English/api/sldworksapi/SWObjectModel.pdf

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6 Replies

Deepak Gupta Jan 20, 2021 11:54 AM
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Correct Answer
Attach your macro here to see the issue and propose a solution.
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- Nate Moorman @ Deepak Gupta on Jan 20, 2021 12:46 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  I'm unfortunately unable to share it, otherwise I would. Sorry!
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  - Deepak Gupta @ Nate Moorman on Jan 21, 2021 8:58 AM
    Mark Correct
    Correct Answer
    Nate Moorman wrote:
    
    I'm unfortunately unable to share it, otherwise I would. Sorry!
    No issues but glad to know that you macro is working fine now.
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Peter Brinkhuis Jan 20, 2021 12:08 PM
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Correct Answer
When you get a list of components from an assembly, those are of type IComponent2 and not ModelDoc2. Use component.GetModelDoc2 to get the model, but you already knew that. This only works if the component is unsuppressed and not in lightweight mode, so you might want to start your macro by calling swAssy.ResolveAllLightWeightComponents for assemblies.

To make sure you are always using the correct types, add Option Explicit at the top of your macro (or enable the setting that adds this automatically) and click Debug > Compile before running so these types of errors are found.

You might also have just forgotten the "set" in the line of getting the modelDoc2 object.
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- Nate Moorman @ Peter Brinkhuis on Jan 20, 2021 12:55 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  You hit it, it was the Set. And thanks for the explainer! Why is Set necessary for some statements and not others? Also, any idea how to force rebuild an assembly? That is the other error I'm hitting when I try to use ForceRebuild3. I saw that that's not a method for IAssemblyDoc types, but I'm not sure what a good way to rebuild an assembly is.
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  - Peter Brinkhuis @ Nate Moorman on Jan 22, 2021 11:49 AM
    Mark Correct
    Correct Answer
    Set is required when you set an object (object, modeldoc, part, note, etc). For value-types (integer, string, boolean), you don't need the set. It's an annoying language feature, so I'm glad that most other languages don't have this distinction.
    
    The AssemblyDoc, PartDoc and DrawingDoc types are a more detailed type of ModelDoc2. Those detailed types have properties and methods that are only relevant for that type. That's why most assembly macros start like this (after setting swApp):
    
    dim swModel as ModelDoc2, swAssy as AssemblyDoc set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc set swAssy = swModel
    If the active model is actually an assembly (you should check that first), you cast the model to an assembly. This does not work if the model is a part, I suggest you try it.
    
    This also works the other way around. If you are deep into a macro and you only have access to an assembly, you can cast it back to a ModelDoc2 and use generic properties and methods:
    private function DoSomethin(swAssy as AssemblyDoc) dim swModel as ModelDoc2 set swModel = swAssy end function
    This class diagram tries to explain it a bit further. It's a bit messy, still, unfortunately.
    SOLIDWORKS API Object Model class hierarchy diagram
    
    Here's the official explanation:
    2017 SOLIDWORKS API Help - Understanding the SOLIDWORKS API Class Hierarchy
    
    And the complete Access Diagram PDF:
    https://help.solidworks.com/2021/English/api/sldworksapi/SWObjectModel.pdf
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Edit equations for all assembly components

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