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Determine if selected face is hole or boss using SOLIDWORKS API

Holes and bosses in the body{ width=250 }

This example demonstrates how to identify if the selected cylindrical face is internal (i.e. hole) or external (i.e. boss) using SOLIDWORKS API.

Select cylindrical face and run the macro. Message box is displayed with the type of the selected face. Macro will work with any face (it is not required for faces to have planar adjacent faces).

Algorithm

This macro identifies if the face is hole or boss based on the direction of the normal of the face. The normals for the holes are always directed towards the cylinder axis, while the normals for the bosses always directed outwards of the cylinder axis.

Macro finds random point on the face (in this example this is a middle between U and V parameters of the face) and normal at this point. After, the vector between this point and the cylinder origin is calculated. If the angle between this vector and normal is less than 90 degrees (PI / 2) than the normal is directed towards the cylinder axis which means that the face is a hole, otherwise (if angle is greater than 90 degrees (PI / 2)) the face is external (boss).

Please see image below:

Normals for the hole and boss{ width=400 }

Const PI As Double = 3.14159265359

Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swMathUtils As SldWorks.MathUtility

Sub main()

Set swApp = Application.SldWorks

Set swMathUtils = swApp.GetMathUtility

Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2

Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc

If Not swModel Is Nothing Then

Dim swSelMgr As SldWorks.SelectionMgr

Set swSelMgr = swModel.SelectionManager

Set swSelMgr = swModel.SelectionManager

Dim swFace As SldWorks.Face2
Set swFace = swSelMgr.GetSelectedObject6(1, -1)

If Not swFace Is Nothing Then

If IsHole(swFace) Then
MsgBox "Selected face is hole"
Else
MsgBox "Selected face is boss"
End If

Else
MsgBox "Please select face"
End If

Else
MsgBox "Please open the model"
End If

End Sub

Function IsHole(face As SldWorks.Face2) As Boolean

Dim swSurf As SldWorks.Surface
Set swSurf = face.GetSurface

If swSurf.IsCylinder() Then

Dim uvBounds As Variant
uvBounds = face.GetUVBounds

Dim vEvalData As Variant
vEvalData = swSurf.Evaluate((uvBounds(1) - uvBounds(0)) / 2, (uvBounds(3) - uvBounds(2)) / 2, 1, 1)

Dim dPt(2) As Double
dPt(0) = vEvalData(0): dPt(1) = vEvalData(1): dPt(2) = vEvalData(2)

Dim sense As Integer
If False = face.FaceInSurfaceSense() Then
sense = -1
Else
sense = 1
End If

Dim dNormVec(2) As Double
dNormVec(0) = vEvalData(UBound(vEvalData) - 2) * sense: dNormVec(1) = vEvalData(UBound(vEvalData) - 1) * sense: dNormVec(2) = vEvalData(UBound(vEvalData)) * sense

Dim vCylParams As Variant
vCylParams = swSurf.CylinderParams
Dim dOrig(2) As Double
dOrig(0) = vCylParams(0): dOrig(1) = vCylParams(1): dOrig(2) = vCylParams(2)

Dim dDirVec(2) As Double
dDirVec(0) = dPt(0) - dOrig(0): dDirVec(1) = dPt(1) - dOrig(1): dDirVec(2) = dPt(2) - dOrig(2)
Dim swDirVec As MathVector

Set swDirVec = swMathUtils.CreateVector(dDirVec)

Dim swNormVec As SldWorks.MathVector
Set swNormVec = swMathUtils.CreateVector(dNormVec)

IsHole = GetAngle(swDirVec, swNormVec) < PI / 2

Else
Err.Raise vbError, , "Selected face is not cylindrical"
End If

End Function

Function GetAngle(vec1 As MathVector, vec2 As MathVector) As Double

'cos a= a*b/(|a|*|b|)
GetAngle = ACos(vec1.Dot(vec2) / (vec1.GetLength() * vec2.GetLength()))

End Function

Function ACos(val As Double) As Double

If val = 1 Then
ACos = 0
ElseIf val = -1 Then
ACos = 4 * Atn(1)
Else
ACos = Atn(-val / Sqr(-val * val + 1)) + 2 * Atn(1)
End If

End Function
using SolidWorks.Interop.sldworks;
using SolidWorks.Interop.swconst;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System;

namespace HoleOrBoss.csproj
{
public partial class SolidWorksMacro
{
public void Main()
{
IModelDoc2 doc = swApp.IActiveDoc2;

if (doc != null)
{
IFace2 face = doc.ISelectionManager.GetSelectedObject6(1, -1) as IFace2;

if (face != null)
{
if (IsHole(face))
{
swApp.SendMsgToUser("Selected face is hole");
}
else
{
swApp.SendMsgToUser("Selected face is boss");
}
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Face is not selected");
}
}
else
{
throw new Exception("No document opened");
}
}

private bool IsHole(IFace2 face)
{
ISurface surf = face.IGetSurface();

if (surf.IsCylinder())
{
double[] uvBounds = face.GetUVBounds() as double[];

double[] evalData = surf.Evaluate((uvBounds[1] - uvBounds[0]) / 2, (uvBounds[3] - uvBounds[2]) / 2, 1, 1) as double[];

double[] pt = new double[] { evalData[0], evalData[1], evalData[2] };

int sense = face.FaceInSurfaceSense() ? 1 : -1;

double[] norm = new double[] { evalData[evalData.Length - 3] * sense, evalData[evalData.Length - 2] * sense, evalData[evalData.Length - 1] * sense };

double[] cylParams = surf.CylinderParams as double[];

double[] orig = new double[] { cylParams[0], cylParams[1], cylParams[2] };

double[] dir = new double[] { pt[0] - orig[0], pt[1] - orig[1], pt[2] - orig[2] };

IMathUtility mathUtils = swApp.IGetMathUtility();

IMathVector dirVec = mathUtils.CreateVector(dir) as IMathVector;
IMathVector normVec = mathUtils.CreateVector(norm) as IMathVector;

return GetAngle(dirVec, normVec) < Math.PI / 2;
}
else
{
throw new NotSupportedException("Only cylindrical face is supported");
}
}

private double GetAngle(IMathVector vec1, IMathVector vec2)
{
return Math.Acos(vec1.Dot(vec2) / (vec1.GetLength() * vec2.GetLength()));
}

public SldWorks swApp;
}
}