Feature Manager Tree Display Options

Greetings and Salutations,

I've recently had the pleasure (?) of upgrading my SolidWorks from 2003
to 2004 and then shortly thereafter 2005.

With the myriad of menu changes (which coincidentily added a plethora
of additional mousepicks) came the change in the Feature Manager Tree
(FMT) Display options.

In 2003, for an assembly, I would separate the FMT into 2 panes and
select show dependencies for the bottom pane. This would allow
immediate hightlight of the part in question with easy access to the
part's mates.

In 2004/5 we get a combination option called Tree Display which
combines two functions that were seperate. The areas of interest are
the last two selections 1) View Features and 2) View Mates and
Dependencies. So to accomplish the same functionality as 2003, I get
to make the menu section with two picks instead of one previously.

The really big problem I'm running into, is when some other function
switches to the property manager, I then have to resize my FMT window,
but of course I have to reselect my display options because the panes
are now both one or the other option.

Now I know better than to ask if this "feature" can be turned off, but
can the resizing and section of FMT options be accomplished via a
macro? I've gotten pretty good at writing macros, but don't wish to
spend a day reading the API documentation to find out that it's almost
possible if I can avoid it.

Anyone have any ideas? If it is possible, I will write the macro and
make available to all who want it.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

Turned out it was easier than I thought,

Here ya go!

Option Explicit
Public Enum swFeatMgrPane_e
swFeatMgrPaneTop = 0
swFeatMgrPaneBottom = 1
swFeatMgrPaneTopHidden = 2
swFeatMgrPaneBottomHidden = 3
End Enum

Sub main()
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Dim pModViewMgr As SldWorks.ModelViewManager
Dim swFeatMgrTabTop As SldWorks.FeatMgrView
Dim swFeatMgrTabBtm As SldWorks.FeatMgrView
Dim nActivePane As Long
Dim nViewHwnd As Long
Dim retval As Variant

Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")
Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc()
Set pModViewMgr = swModel.ModelViewManager

swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 0.5
nActivePane = pModViewMgr.GetFeatureMgrViewHWnd(swFeatMgrPaneTop)
swModel.ViewFeatureManagerByFeatures
nActivePane =
pModViewMgr.GetFeatureMgrViewHWnd(swFeatMgrPaneBottom)
swModel.ViewFeatureManagerByDependencies

retval = swModel.ForceRebuild3(True)

End Sub

Make certain to set the following References

1) swvba.tlb
2) sldworks.tlb
3) swconst.tlb
4) swpublished.tlb

Let me know and I can e-mail you the swp file. Don't e-mail to the
listed address, it's entirely fictional. I don't put real e-mail
addresses in Usenet messages anymore. Learned that lesson the hard
way!

Chris

 

Or not. It's not correctly activating the panes.

Don't try this until further notice.

Sorry,

CD

 

I can get the handle of the pane in the Feature Manager Tree. The
problem is I just can't figure out how to activate the pane with that
handle. Needless to say the documentation is sparse. As best I can
tell you can only activate a pane which you create, which is definately
not what I wan't to do.

Any ideas?

Chris

 

Hot dog!

I got it. I had to fool it, but it works.

This will toggle the feature manager tree display between all one pane
to 1/2 and 1/2.

In the full pane view it will show features, in the 1/2 and 1/2 it
will show by features on top and dependencies on bottom!

Save it as a macro and assign it to a key or a button. This is
tremendous.

Option Explicit

Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Dim swFeatMgr As SldWorks.FeatureManager
Dim swAssy As SldWorks.AssemblyDoc
Dim Splitterpos As Double

Sub main()

Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")
Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
Set swAssy = swModel
Set swFeatMgr = swModel.FeatureManager
Splitterpos = swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition
Select Case Round(Splitterpos, 1)
Case 0.5
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 1
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByFeatures
Case Else
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 0#
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByFeatures
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 1#
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByDependencies
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 0.5
End Select
swFeatMgr.UpdateFeatureTree
End Sub
===========================================================================
Chris

 

Crap!!!!!!

Now the stupid thing doesn't work. I'll get back to you.

===========================================================================
Chris

 

On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:11:33 -0500, Chris Dubea

Yes, I'm now officially losing my mind. If any of you finds a mind
laying around it probably belongs to me.

Testing this again proves it functional.

Can someone else test this for me and tell me if I'm brain dead or a
genius?

Thanks in advance.

Option Explicit

Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Dim swFeatMgr As SldWorks.FeatureManager
Dim swAssy As SldWorks.AssemblyDoc
Dim Splitterpos As Double

Sub main()

Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")
Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
Set swAssy = swModel
Set swFeatMgr = swModel.FeatureManager
Splitterpos = swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition
Select Case Round(Splitterpos, 1)
Case 0.5
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 1
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByFeatures
Case Else
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 0#
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByFeatures
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 1#
swAssy.ViewFeatureManagerByDependencies
swModel.FeatureManagerSplitterPosition = 0.5
End Select
swFeatMgr.UpdateFeatureTree
End Sub



===========================================================================
Chris

 

Ok,

I got an official ruling from tech support. There is no ability to
activate existing feature manager windows.

So, unless I can figure out a way to trick the thing, there will never
be a foolproof way of doing what I want.

The issue here is the featuremanager manipulation tools only operate on
the "bottom" window. There is no official manner to activate the top
window.

As long as the top window is set to show features the script shown
earlier will set the bottom one to show dependencies. That is why it
seems like it works sometimes nad not others.

Thanks to all how opined.

cd