Replace the File Reference by Inventor API

Before Inventor 10 (including) the ReferenceFileDescriptor.PutCustomLogicalUsingFull was the method used to replace the file reference and this method was only allowed in Apprentice on non-migrating data sets.

But after Inventor 10, there is a new object called file object is introduced, where each File object will contain one or more documents. Now document is not the same as file anymore where the documents are still represented by the various document objects. So, hereafter instead of using ReferenceFileDescriptor.PutLogicalFilenameUsingFull we need to use FileDescriptor.ReplaceReference.

Significantly, FileDescriptor.ReplaceReference is available inside Inventor as well as in Apprentice.

Following is a part of VBA code which shows how to use the FileDescriptor.ReplaceReference with apprentice API:

Dim oApprentice As ApprenticeServerComponent


Set oApprentice = New ApprenticeServerComponent


Dim oADoc As ApprenticeServerDocument


Set oADoc = oApprentice.Open("C:\Assembly1.iam")


Dim oFD As FileDescriptor


Set oFD = oADoc.File.ReferencedFileDescriptors(1)


Call oFD.ReplaceReference("C:\Part2.ipt")

Call oApprentice.FileSaveAs.AddFileToSave(oADoc, oADoc.FullFileName)


Call oApprentice.FileSaveAs.ExecuteSave

And this is a part of VBA code that does the same with Inventor API:

Dim oDoc As Inventor.DrawingDocument 
Set oDoc = ThisApplication.Documents.Open("C:\Assembly1.iam")

oDoc.File.ReferencedFileDescriptors(1).ReplaceReference("C:\Part2.ipt")

Note: For a file to be valid as a replacement it must have the same heritage as the file being replaced. You cannot replace a file with a brand new file. It has to be copied or modified from the already existing file - they must have shared the same ancestor in their past.

Comments

nina.gogeshvili@business-consulting.de said...

Error: oDoc is not a Drawing.Document. it's a .iam Document. So

Dim oDoc As Inventor.Document is better :D

greetz 
Nina

Reply10/26/2012 at 03:44 AM

Matt said...

It should say Inventor.AssemblyDocument I think

Sub ChangeFileNameReferencedFromAssembly()
  Dim asmDoc As AssemblyDocument
  Set asmDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
  
  Dim asmCompDef As AssemblyComponentDefinition
  Set asmCompDef = asmDoc.ComponentDefinition
  
  Dim asmOcc As ComponentOccurrence
  Set asmOcc = asmCompDef.Occurrences(1)
  
  Dim partDoc As PartDocument
  Set partDoc = asmOcc.Definition.Document
  
  Dim fileMgr As FileManager
  Set fileMgr = ThisApplication.FileManager
  
  Dim oldFileName As String
  oldFileName = partDoc.FullFileName
  
  ' Create new file with new file name
  Dim newFileName As String
  newFileName = oldFileName + "_new.ipt"
  
  Call fileMgr.CopyFile(oldFileName, newFileName)
  
  ' Change reference
  ' The file you replace the reference to needs
  ' to be the same file or one derived from the
  ' original file
  Call asmOcc.ReferencedDocumentDescriptor. _
    ReferencedFileDescriptor.ReplaceReference(newFileName)
      
  ' Delete the original file (if you want)
  Call fileMgr.DeleteFile(oldFileName)
End Su