Balloon Note macro 3

[Tobin1]

Howdy All,

Attached is a first look/beta copy of a Balloon Note macro for SolidWorks I’ve been working on.

It can be used to add a Quantity Note to an Item Balloon that will update if the model is changed.

I would appreciate any comments you may have after looking this over.



Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[ShaggyPE]

I just tried running it and nothing happened. I am using SW2006 (this is probably the problem). Any suggestions (besides upgrading... lol)

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[fcsuper]

I'm getting a debug error when trying to apply ref in 2007. I'm looking into the issue at my end.

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

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

ShaggyPE - I'm sorry I don't know how to change it so it would also work in 2006. I don't have 2006 in order for me to look at it myself. Only one suggestion is to open the macro with the editor and at the top of the code put an apostrophe in front of the words 'Option Explicit so they won't be recognized when the program runs. Other than that I really don't know how to help you.

fcsuper - can't imagine what is happening with yours either. You might try the same suggestion as above.

Thank you both for your response

Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[JMarv]

Dustin,

You will need to edit the macro and change the references to the 2006 libraries. I did get the macro to work on 2006 after doing that.

Tobin,

I didn't dig into every function, but it looks very nice and works fine for me. I didn't have the problem that Matt noted.

Joe
SW Office 2006 SP5.1
P4 3.0Ghz 1GB
ATI FireGL X1

 

[felix7502]

Works in SW2008 SP1.1. Is there a way of showing - (Qx)? Other than that I like it.
Sylvia

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

JMarv - thank you for you very helpful response.

ShaggyPE - do you understand JMarv's comment? You'll have to open the macro with the editor and go to the menu and pick Tools -> References and uncheck the 2007 libraries the program can't find and make sure your equivalent 2006 libraries are checked. Hope that works.

Thanks again JMarv

Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

felix7502 - I'm glad to here it's working for you in 2008. I wasn't real clear on your question - Do you want to use something other than "X" after the Quantity? Some companies still use "PLCS".

Thanks for your response

Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[felix7502]

Tobin-
I would like to have the quantity show as (2x) with the parentheses around the quantity and the small "x".
This will be so much more convenient & accurate than using a note and grouping. Thanks. Sylvia

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

felix7502 - Thanks for your interest in this macro. I was wondering about the configuration you are requesting when I started developing this. I'll have to think about it and get back to you. I'm thinking it would be very easy to make a few changes to accommodate you. I want to do some experiments. It will be a little bit of work to have the ability to do both configurations.

Thanks again

Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[ShaggyPE]

Quite slick Tobin1. I got it to work on 2006. Another star for you.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

ShaggyPE - Thank you for checking it out. I'm glad to here you got it to work in 2006 as well.

I haven't done anything "slick" in a while . That reminds me - I should get more hair gel .

Thanks Again Enjoy


Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy,

felix7502 - Attached is a special version of (Balloon Note) that is supposed to do what you requested. There are still some issues, especially related to what happens when you get into double digit quantities. But that is something I will have to address in the original version as well. I could include this option in a released version. Let me know if this works for you.

Thanks

Tobin Sparks
www.nov.com

 

[felix7502]

Tobin-
Thanks so much! This is way more convenient than the way we use to do it.
Sylvia

 

[Tobin1]

Sylvia,

No Problem.
I'll let you know when I actually release it.

Thanks


Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[felix7502]

Tobin-
If you're still working on this macro - I manually revise the distance to .38 before I add a double digit quantity and then add a space to both of the parentheses. This creates the same spacing as a single digit quantity. I'm not sure whether this will help with the macro, but it sure improves the look of my drawings. Thanks. Sylvia

 

[Tobin1]

Sylvia,

Yes - still working on this macro. I made a lot of changes and included the type of Note you use. I still have a few things to do to finish it. Please continue to let me know what you think. I appreciate your input. Maybe later today I'll be able to give you the latest copy.

Thanks

Tobin Sparks

http://www.nov.com

 

[Tobin1]

Howdy All,

Attached is the latest copy of the Balloon Note macro for SolidWorks I've been working on.

It can be used to add a Quantity Note to an Item Balloon that will update if the model is changed.

This also added an option for parentheses around the quantity and a user defined Suffix. - Thanks to Sylvia

Your user preferences are saved in your Windows Registry.

I would appreciate any comments you may have after looking this over.

Thanks



Tobin Sparks
www.nov.com

 

[fcsuper]

Looks good.

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

 

[felix7502]

Thanks. Fantastic job.

This is my procedure for left and right quantities with parentheses.
Place balloons.
Click note.
Click for quantity.
Select balloon.
Change distance. Left = .320, Right = .350 for single digit, .450 for double digits
Enter.

I’ve noticed that if you open the note, all distances are zero. If you close the note and then select a balloon that you know will be a double qty. the distances come up as .385, and .342 which places the right qty. too close to the balloon. Accept and close the note. Select another balloon that will be a single qty. and open the note, the right distance has changed to .446 which places the single qty. too far away. Also in the Note Information –
Balloon: Characters needs a “c” and an “s”.

Now, if only someone could figure out how to enter a border around a selected part of an annotation...

Sylvia