API: Select chain and convert macro help

Can someone show me how to change the API call to reflect a more
generic macro?
What I need is a simple macro to select chain ref. sketch geom. under
the mouse and convert it entities. when I run the macro recorder I
get:

Dim swApp As Object
Dim Part As Object
Dim boolstatus As Boolean
Dim longstatus As Long, longwarnings As Long
Dim FeatureData As Object
Dim Feature As Object
Dim Component As Object
Sub main()

Set swApp = Application.SldWorks

Set Part = swApp.ActiveDoc
boolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2("Line31@Sketch7",
"EXTSKETCHSEGMENT", 0.02657237821555, -0.04846803192663, 0, False, 0,
Nothing)
boolstatus = Part.SketchUseEdge2(False)
Part.ClearSelection2 True
End Sub


Not sure how to clean this up and just work with what under the mouse.
Any help would be great.

Eric

 

If you play the macro you will notice that it only selects the one segment.
I couldn't find an API to do this you may have to get all the segments and
compare endpoints to do this a bit more intensive.

Corey

 

Corey's right. You can compare endpoints to chain select. I've done
it with a similar macro. Pick a start point and cycle thru the
segments in the sketch and select the next segment sharing that point.
The code needs to then select the opposite end of the segment and
re-cycle. You have to check to make sure you didn't pick the same
segment as last time. Be prepared to spend a little time at it, it's
not at simple as it appears.

This might not help but you can use ModelDoc.SketchOffset2 ( offset,
Directions, chain ) to offset a chain. You can even offset 0.

If you need help, let me know.

Kent
KCS Development
www.KentContract.COM

 

If you want to "convert it entities", then have a look at
Model2::SketchUseEdge2 in apihelp:
it has a "chain" parameter" that will automatically select the chain from
the single segment you select!

The end-point comparison approach is has a n^2 complexity, which means it
is100x slower for a sketch with 10x more segments. Therefore, on complex
sketches (with hundreds of segments, such as dissolved text for example), I
found it faster to :
1) use retval = ModelDoc.SketchOffsetEntities2 ( offset, false, true)
3) get the offset segments through the SelectionManager. The segments are
sequenced along the chain
4) use SketchSegment::GetConstraints(sgOFFSETEDGE) on every segment to
retrieve the source segments
5) delete the offset segments
execution time is almost independent of sketch complexity, which means SW
has an internal representation of chains, which means we could ask for a
SketchPoint::GetSketchSegments API...

 

I would add the segments to a collection and select them after they have all
been found. It helps avoid deselecting anything. Philippe seems to have a
less intensive solution kindof round about feeling but why not use SWs
proven chain selection eventhough they didn't want to let us. =^)

Corey

 

Cool! I would use Philippe's solution for this app. It will come in handy.

Kent