Your tutorials are GREAT, I can’t stop watching them! I‘ve learned so much in such little time and it’s just the beginning. I can now look at code at figure out what it means, before it was Chinese to me. Thanks for investing the time and providing a great resource!
Absolutely incredible job. I am very new to programming, and with as little as I know I could easily follow your logic. Even more importantly, I learned a lot. Thank you very much.
Automating SolidWorks® With VBA
Description: Why is this course the best API training resource in existence? The answer is here, as well as my recommendation on how you can use it most effectively.
Unit 1 : VBA Programming Essentials
Description: Variables contain the numeric, string, or object information you need to work with while coding. In this lesson you will learn how to declare variables, assign values to those variables, and then use those variables.
Description: Arrays are a convenient way to store multiple values in a single variable, making your job as a programmer much easier.
Description: In this lesson we teach you how to use If – Then – Else statements to control which code is run under which conditions.
Description: What if you need to run the same piece of code several times in a row? Here we introduce to various types of code loops.
Description: VBA comes with many built-in functions for receiving user input, handling mathematical calculations, string manipulation, dates and time, and more. Learn about them here.
Description: In order to easily re-use and debug your code, you need to use modular programming techniques. Watch this lesson and learn to avoid some of the pitfalls experienced by amateur programmers.
Description: This lesson shows you how to make your macros user-friendly by incorporating GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) into your macros.
Description: No one writes perfect code. This lesson shows you the many tools built into the VB editor for identifying and eliminating bugs.
Description: Need your macro to interact with every file in a specific directory? Create a directory? Copy, move, or delete a file? It’s all here.
Unit 2 : Introduction to the SolidWorks API
Duration: 15m 57s
Description: This lesson covers the macro recorder built into SolidWorks, including its uses and limitations.
Description: In this lesson we show the basics of working with the SolidWorks API to create a simple macro. The very important topic of how to use the API Help properly is introduced.
Description: In this critical lesson, we explain the organization of the SolidWorks API Object Model and how object interfaces are navigated using “accessors”. You will begin to learn about the different document interfaces.
Unit 3 : General document functionality
Duration: 28m 25s
Description: This lesson covers opening, saving, and exporting native and non-native documents with the SolidWorks API. Many tips for using API calls are covered.
Description: In this lesson you will learn how to traverse, create, modify, and delete configurations.
Description: In this lesson we will examine the powerful and efficient ways to use the API to add, delete, and modify custom properties for the document and each configuration.
Description: This important lesson explores the means of getting pre-selected objects and selecting objects using the SolidWorks API.
Description: This lesson demonstrates how to control system and document settings with the SolidWorks API.
Unit 4 : Working with parts
Description: In this lesson you will learn how to create and dimension sketch entities, as well as traverse existing sketch segments.
Description: Since features are such an important part of SolidWorks, this lesson is broken up into three parts: feature creation, feature modification, and FeatureManager tree traversal. In less than an hour you’ll learn crucial techniques that might take you a dozen hours to fully understand on your own. The last lesson, on feature traversal, is particularly critical since the techniques shown apply to assembly and drawing traversal as well.
Description: This lesson covers the skills foundational to traversal. If you want to take your understanding of API to the next level, you MUST understand the SolidWorks BREP (boundary representation) model, most notably the difference between geometry and topology objects and their key uses.
Unit 5 : Working with assemblies
Description: In this lesson you will learn to fully automate the creation of an assembly, with particular emphasis given to mating techniques.
Description: In this lesson you will learn more about the IComponent interface, inserting and editing parts, and bounding boxes. For the example, a new solid is inserted to engulf the bounding box of a selected component(s). This is based on a macro used in robotic simulations to simplify the boundaries of surrounding equipment.
Description: In this lesson you will learn in great depth about the complex topic of component transforms. Many examples covering the fundamentals of component translation and rotation are presented.
Unit 6 : Working with drawings
Description: This lesson covers, in two parts, the five main interfaces related to drawing automation: IDrawingDoc, ISheet, IView, IAnnotation, and ITableAnnotation. The creation of a fairly complex drawing is automated using these five interfaces.
Description: This lesson expands on the previous lesson by demonstrating advanced functionality, such as identifying view orientation using transforms, adding section views, adding specific dimensions, and using poly-lines.
Description: In this lesson you will learn how to write a batch modification macro, using notes and view configurations as an example, as well as print results to a text file.
Unit 7 : Advanced topics
Description: In this lesson you will learn how to import data points from an Excel file in order to create a 3D point cloud in a 3D part sketch.
Description: This lesson covers the event handling capabilities of the SolidWorks API, beginning with the fundamentals and moving to examples showcasing their best uses.
Description: Temporary bodies are used to create bodies without standard features or to increase the performance of tasks involving bodies.
Description: Ever wanted to create macros with SolidWorks-native user interfaces? This lesson will show you how to do just that via PropertyManager pages (PMP). At the end of the lesson we also show you how to create previews using temporary bodies.
Description: This is the only tutorial available that you will walk you through the creation of a macro feature for creating or modifying a body. You will also learn how to control the input body and extrude length with a PropertyManager page. A temporary body preview will be added as well. Finally, you will see the final iteration of the Spike Creator macro that we have been working on in the previous two lessons.
SolidWorks World
Description: This presentation was given at SolidWorks World 2012. The advertised description: “Forget abstract talks about object-oriented programming. This hands-on class will get the total beginner on track to unleash the SolidWorks API for greater productivity, using quick and dirty tactics involving the macro recorder, API help, and free cheat sheets.”
Description: This presentation was given at SolidWorks World 2012 in a breakout session called “Goldmember: 99 Must-Know Methods and Properties of the SolidWorks API”. The advertised description: “The SolidWorks API is big. Really big. Like any language, however, you only need to know 5% of the words to accomplish 95% of what you need. This session will look into what’s important and what’s not, covering feature creation, object traversal, selection techniques, and much more.”