Are Measurements for a Part Stored in a separate File?

[kyleborot]

Hello all,

I'm trying to create a script in Alibre that uses the surface area of a face in a sheet metal part. I wanted to know if that value is stored anywhere in some sort of log file, or if there's a documented way to use Alibre Script to retrieve and store that information?

Thank you.

 

[bolsover]

Measurements are stored in the Alibre file. Unfortunately Alibre Script does not work with Sheet metal parts even though there is a AlibreScript.API.Face,getArea() method in Alibre Script.
Oddly, there is no GetArea() method in the corresponding AlibreX API.
What do you actually need to do?

 

[kyleborot]

Measurements are stored in the Alibre file. Unfortunately Alibre Script does not work with Sheet metal parts even though there is a AlibreScript.API.Face,getArea() method in Alibre Script.
Oddly, there is no GetArea() method in the corresponding AlibreX API.
What do you actually need to do?

Hi there, thanks for your response. I need to update a sheet metal part's global parameters and then log the surface area of the outermost face. The sheet metal part would only be one lofted flange. If I can't get the SA, will GetPart() work on the sheet metal part?

 

[bolsover]

@kyleborot
Hi,
I did a little testing in AlibreScript in an effort to find out what might be possible there..
The following was just a test script to find out if is possible to open a Sheet Metal Part using AlibreScript:

import fnmatch
import os
from os.path import expanduser
Win = Windows()
ScriptName = 'Sheet metal part into'
Options = []
Options.append(['Source file', WindowsInputTypes.File, expanduser('~'), 'Choose the sheet metal part to open'])

Values = Win.OptionsDialog(ScriptName, Options, 300)
if Values == None:
  sys.exit()
 
SM = Values[0]

Folder = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(SM))
FileName = os.path.basename(SM)

P = Part(Folder, FileName)

The script (which has to be run from a part editor window) will open a .AD_PRT file in the editor but any attempt to open a .AD_SMP file returns an exception.

A little digging into the AlibreScript code reveals this:

    public Part(string Folder, string Name)
      : this(Folder, Name, false)
    {
    }

    public Part(string Folder, string Name, bool HideEditor)
    {
      if (!Folder.EndsWith("\\"))
        Folder += "\\";
      Name = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Name);
      string str = Folder + Name + ".AD_PRT";
      this._Part = this.GetOpenedPart(str);
      if (this._Part == null)
      {
        if (!File.Exists(str))
          throw new Exception(string.Format(\u0023cf.\u0023qWb("The file '{0}' cannot be found."), (object) str));
        this._Part = (IADPartSession) Global.Root.OpenFileEx(str, !HideEditor);
      }
      this.GetReferenceGeometry();
    }

In the above code, there is a line to explicitly force the passed file to have the extension .AD_PRT

So it seems like the author really does not want .AD_SMP files opened with the scripting API!

There is some more flexibility if you write a routine using C# but as I noted before, the AlibeX API does not have the getArea() method.
To give you some idea of the data accessible using C#, you might take a look at my UtilitiesForAlibre Add-On. This includes a Property Viewer that allows you to dig into the structure of a loaded file.
You can download the latest release of the Add-on from the resources section:
UtilitiesForAlibre



I've never really done much with Sheet Metal Parts. If I get chance I'll dig in a little further and try to find out if what you want may be possible.
David