auotprop custom propeties drop down 2

[grunt58]

I like that autoprop macro and think it's excatly what we need with some massaging but have a few questions on it.

http://cadimensions.com/zip/SolidWorks_Custom_Properties_Automation_Tool.zip

Can it link to another file?

Reason we have #'s for our materials and it's quite extensive.

Could one put the material # in and have that macro reference another file with all the material descriptions or have it some where in that .ini file to populate our material description? Theres a password to edit the macro so I can't edit that fyi.


Grant
Applications Engineer
SW2008 SP 2.0
IBM InteliStation Pro M
Nvidia Quadro FX 3000
P4 3.4 GHz, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0

 

[gp13]

Sure, sounds easy enough. Just create a .txt file with each line containing a material. Then use readline to populate your drop down menu. Something like this I imagine would do what you are looking for:


Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set PropertyFile = fspenTextFile("C:\property file.txt", 1)

Do Until PropertyFile.AtEndOfStream
ComboBox1.AddItem PropertyFile.Readline
Loop
End Sub

This should just populate a drop down menu with whatever you have in your text file. If that is what you are looking for, I can further develop this for you. Otherwise just let me know if I'm way off from what you were asking for.

 

[fcsuper]

Gopack13,

How would you populate more than one property's drop downs using the same external file?

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[gp13]

It would be a little more tricky, but it could probably be done using If Else statements. I think it would be easier just to have a different .txt file for each property.

 

[MadMango]

When you select a Material Description, how could you get the Material Properties of the model to update?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[dogarila]

I am using just one data file to populate my custom properties. I have a header for each group of custom properties values, to find it, and a marker at the end. Probably I could do without the marker. The header is something like *VENDORS. This is a smaple:

*DESIGNBY
AB
CD
EF
<END>

*FINISH
#4
NONE
#2B
MIRROR
AS COMPONENT
SEE NOTE
BLACK OXIDE
<END>

*MATERIALS
ACRYLIC
UHMW-PE
WHITE DELRIN
AISI 304
AISI 316L
316L SS - 16 GA
316L SS - 14 GA
316L SS - 12 GA
304 SS - 14 GA
304 SS - 12 GA
304 SS - 10 GA
<END>

*SUPPLIERS
JACOB
ANY
CUSTOM
SPAENAUR
MCMASTER-CARR
REID
BOSTON GEAR
<END>

*DRAWNBY
AB
CD
<END>

*CHECKEDBY
EF
GH
<END>

 

[fcsuper]

Do u have a sample of the code to support you file, dog?

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[grunt58]

Just realized I linked to the wrong property macro.

this is the one I meant.

http://www.goengineer.com/support/downloads/AutoProps.zip

That all would be fine but the macro is locked with a password so i can't edit it unless someone knows the password or can tell me how to by pass it.

thanks

Grant
Applications Engineer
SW2008 SP 2.0
IBM InteliStation Pro M
Nvidia Quadro FX 3000
P4 3.4 GHz, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0

 

[dogarila]

Matt, I hope you are not pulling my leg. Here you go:

Private Sub Populate_Combos()
Dim strTemp As String

'design by
cboDesignBy.Clear
Open "C:\CustomProperties.txt" For Input As #9
strTemp = ""
Do While strTemp <> "*DESIGNBY"
Input #9, strTemp
Loop
Do While strTemp <> "<END>"
Input #9, strTemp
If (Left(strTemp, 1) <> "'") And (strTemp <> "<END>") Then cboDesignBy.AddItem UCase(strTemp)
Loop
Close #9

'finish
cboFinish.Clear
Open "C:\CustomProperties.txt" For Input As #9
strTemp = ""
Do While strTemp <> "*FINISH"
Input #9, strTemp
Loop
Do While strTemp <> "<END>"
Input #9, strTemp
If (Left(strTemp, 1) <> "'") And (strTemp <> "<END>") Then cboFinish.AddItem UCase(strTemp)
Loop
Close #9

'part materials
cboMaterial.Clear
cboMatPP.Clear
Open "C:\CustomProperties.txt" For Input As #9
strTemp = ""
Do While strTemp <> "*MATERIALS"
Input #9, strTemp
Loop
Do While strTemp <> "<END>"
Input #9, strTemp
If (Left(strTemp, 1) <> "'") And (strTemp <> "<END>") Then
    cboMaterial.AddItem UCase(strTemp)
    cboMatPP.AddItem UCase(strTemp)
End If
Loop
Close #9

'create list of Suppliers
cboSupplier.Clear
Open "C:\CustomProperties.txt" For Input As #9
strTemp = ""
Do While strTemp <> "*SUPPLIERS"
Input #9, strTemp
Loop
Do While strTemp <> "<END>"
Input #9, strTemp
If (Left(strTemp, 1) <> "'") And (strTemp <> "<END>") Then cboSupplier.AddItem UCase(strTemp)
Loop
Close #9

End Sub

I use this routine in the Form_Load routine to read my data file, populate combos and set up the form combo boxes values. Last two groups of data are used in a different part of the program. My data file allows comments to be inserted. That line has to start with "'" and it will be ignored by this routine.