Handling the long operation progress using progress bar in SOLIDWORKS API
To improve the user experience of your macro or add-in it is recommended to display and update the progress bar when the long SOLIDWORKS API operation is performed.
SOLIDWORKS API provides a built-in method to display the progress while main thread is locked (i.e. operations are performed in process). Progress value and message can be handled via IUserProgressBar SOLIDWORKS API interface.
Message and progress is displayed in the standard SOLIDWORKS progress bar in the bottom left corner of the application.
Progress is also reflected in the SOLIDWORKS icon in the task bar.
Notes and limitations
- Progress values and messages can be overridden by standard progress messages from SOLIDWORKS (e.g. rebuild operation, file load etc.)
Running the macro
- Open part document with bodies
- Macro traverses all faces of the body and performs data extraction of each face
- Operation is repeated as specified in ITERATIONS_COUNT constant
- Progress bar is displayed
- Press ESC to have an option to cancel the operation
Const ITERATIONS_COUNT As Integer = 1000
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Sub main()
Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
If TypeOf swModel Is SldWorks.PartDoc Then
Dim swPart As SldWorks.PartDoc
Set swPart = swModel
Dim vBodies As Variant
vBodies = swPart.GetBodies2(swBodyType_e.swAllBodies, False)
If Not IsEmpty(vBodies) Then
PerformOperation vBodies
Else
MsgBox "There are no bodies in this part"
End If
Else
MsgBox "Please open part document"
End If
End Sub
Sub PerformOperation(bodies As Variant)
Dim swPrgBar As SldWorks.UserProgressBar
swApp.GetUserProgressBar swPrgBar
swPrgBar.Start 0, GetProgressBarUpperBound(bodies), "Performing operations on faces"
Dim i As Integer
Dim pos As Long
pos = 0
For i = 0 To UBound(bodies)
Dim swBody As SldWorks.Body2
Set swBody = bodies(i)
Dim vFaces As Variant
vFaces = swBody.GetFaces()
swPrgBar.UpdateTitle "Processing " & swBody.Name & " with " & UBound(vFaces) + 1 & " face(s)"
Dim j As Integer
For j = 0 To UBound(vFaces)
Dim k As Integer
For k = 0 To ITERATIONS_COUNT
pos = pos + 1
Dim swFace As SldWorks.Face2
Set swFace = vFaces(j)
Dim swSurf As SldWorks.Surface
Set swSurf = swFace.GetSurface()
swSurf.EvaluateAtPoint 0, 0, 0
swSurf.GetClosestPointOn 0, 0, 0
If swUpdateProgressError_e.swUpdateProgressError_UserCancel = swPrgBar.UpdateProgress(pos) Then
If swApp.SendMsgToUser2("Cancel operation?", swMessageBoxIcon_e.swMbWarning, swMessageBoxBtn_e.swMbYesNo) = swMessageBoxResult_e.swMbHitYes Then
swPrgBar.End
End If
End If
Next
Next
Next
End Sub
Function GetProgressBarUpperBound(bodies As Variant) As Long
Dim totalFaceCount As Long
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To UBound(bodies)
Dim swBody As SldWorks.Body2
Set swBody = bodies(i)
totalFaceCount = swBody.GetFaceCount()
Next
GetProgressBarUpperBound = totalFaceCount * ITERATIONS_COUNT
End Function