Customized CATIA V5 Macro to browse Excel coordinate file & plot points

Question

Please bear with my limited knowledge in CATIA VBA. I am having some difficulties in customize a CATIA V5 macro to browse for Excel coordinate points and plot it in CATIA, all with a click on the customized CATIA icon.

1. I got an Excel file with many XYZ coordinates, let call it ExcelP1 (The excel file has no scripts/Macro in it), I would like to develop a macro in CATIA to read & plot points from ExcelP1.

2. Currently i have another "Excel file with macro" to browse the ExcelP1, and plot the points in CATIA. But i need to open and run the "Excel file with macro" first to initiate CATIA. The scripts are as below (i didn't develop this)

   Public Filename As String
   Private Sub Browse_Click()
       'Open File
           Mainform.Hide
           Filename = Application.GetOpenFilename("Excel Files (*.xls), *.xls")
           If Filename <> "False" Then
               Application.Visible = False
               filenamebox.Value = Filename
           Else
               Application.Visible = False
               Filename = filenamebox.Value
           End If
           Mainform.Show
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub ClearButton_Click()
           Mainform.Hide
           ActiveWorkbook.Close (False)
           Application.Visible = False
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub OKButton_Click()
       'Set Up Message Labels
           Title = "Information Message"
       'Check for Entered Values
           If filenamebox.Value <> "" Then
               Workbooks.Open Filename:=Filename
               Application.Visible = False
       'Start CATIA and add an Open body to the document
               Start_CATIA
               Mainform.Hide
       'Read Point Data from file and create point in CATIA
               i = 2
               Do Until Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("a" & i).Value = ""
                   x = Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("a" & i).Value
                   y = Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("b" & i).Value
                   z = Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("c" & i).Value
                   Create_Point
                   i = i + 1
               Loop
               i = i - 2
               MsgBox i & " Points Created in New Part", , Title
           Else
               MsgBox "Enter a Filename", , Title
           End If
           ActiveWorkbook.Close (False)
           Mainform.Show
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
           If Worksheets("Filepath_Location").Range("a1").Value <> "" Then
               Filename = Worksheets("Filepath_Location").Range("a1").Value
               filenamebox.Value = Filename
           End If
       End Sub
   

What do I need to add/modify in order for the scripts to run in CATIA?

Answer 1

The first thing you need to do after you start Catia and get the application is to create a new Part in which you will be adding the points.

Dim MyPartDocument As PartDocument
Dim MyPart As Part
Dim PointGeoSet As HybridBody
Set MyPartDocument = CATIA.Documents.Add("Part")
Set MyPart = MyPartDocument.Part
Set PointGeoSet = MyPart.HybridBodies.Add()
PointGeoSet.Name = "MyPoints"

The next thing is to create the point from the excel data by using a function like this. I like to create a wrapper, but you can rewrite this anyway you want:

Sub CreateXYZPoint(TargetPart As Part, TargetGeometricalSet As HybridBody, _
                Xmm As Double, Ymm As Double, Zmm As Double, _
                PointCount As String)
Dim HSFactory As HybridShapeFactory
Dim NewPoint As Point

'get the factory
Set HSFactory = TargetPart.HybridShapeFactory

'create the point with the factory
Set NewPoint = HSFactory.AddNewPointCoord(Xmm, Ymm, Zmm)

'Append the point to the geometrical set
TargetGeometricalSet.AppendHybridShape NewPoint

'rename the point
NewPoint.Name = "Point." & PointCount

End Sub

You Would call CreateZYXPoint MyPart, PointGeoSet,x,y,z,cstr(i) in your loop

Finally, at the end of your loop, you will want to update the part so call: MyPart.Update

It is much faster to do a single update at the end of your program than to update after each point is created.

This should get you started. Remember, Catia uses Millimeters as it's base internal units. Therefore, your spreadsheet match units or you must do a unit conversion before calling CreateXYZPoint...or However you want to accomplish that.

Let me know if this works for you.

Edit: Here's a link to the code put together with your code above. You need to make sure you excel code is working, but where I inserted the Catia code is correct: http://pastebin.com/vxFcPw52