CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonvbaautomationsolidworks
Joe Kissling
Joe Kissling

Reputation: 101

Is there a way to use python to automate the creation of VBA macro files?

As part of some workflow optimizations, I'd like to map a large number of Solidworks functions to hotkeys. The program itself has the capability to assign functions to hotkeys, but it's only a small fraction of the whole command set. The rest can be assigned to hotkeys by a workaround where a Macro is created that runs that function and assigning that Macro to a hotkey.

Macros are created in Solidworks one of two ways:

  1. Within Solidworks a series of commands can be recorded and then they are saved as a .swb file. Running that Macro repeats the recorded command(s). (This method is buggy and really hit or miss)

  2. A Macro can be created directly by using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications which Solidworks uses as a Macro editor. The resulting file is again a .swb file and running it executes the Solidworks functions that it calls. This method is the easiest way to create multiple hotkeys because all I need to do is edit one line of the code and I can execute any function that I want.

Here is what that looks like:

Dim swApp As Object
Dim Part As Object

Sub main()
Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
Set Part = swApp.ActiveDoc
swApp.RunCommand swCommands_Leader_Add_Bent, ""
End Sub

The above Example Macro, in VB, adds a jog point to the selected leader line. The line below is the one responsible for executing the Solidworks function.

swApp.RunCommand swCommands_Leader_Add_Bent, ""

For example, changing swCommands_Leader_Add_Bent to swCommands_Select_Midpoint now makes the code select the midpoint of a line or edge.

Using that method I can create Macros that can run any of Solidworks' three thousand or so commands. The issue is, the process is a little tedious, and doing it for the dozens or hundreds of commands would be time-consuming. I have the list of all SolidWorks functions so ideally, I'd like to feed that list to some python code, the code edit the swApp.RunCommand line with a function from the list, and that code output .swb files that are Macros that are ready to be assigned to hotkeys.

Some other comments:

In conclusion, I am looking to automate the creation of a large number of SW VBA Macros (*.swb), can y'all provide any guidance or suggestions?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 465

Answers (1)

user9413641
user9413641

Reputation:

If I have understood your question correctly, the following should work (not tested!!);

You could create a function to substitute any command name into the code that you provided, like this;

def macro_code_text(command_name):
    return f"""
Dim swApp As Object
Dim Part As Object

Sub main()
Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
Set Part = swApp.ActiveDoc
swApp.RunCommand {command_name}, ""
End Sub
"""

..And then you could create a list containing all your command names;

command_names = ['swCommands_Leader_Add_Bent', 'swCommands_Select_Midpoint']

..And then iterate over the list, saving the resulting texts to files with the '.swb' extension;

generic_file_name = 'my_solidworks_macro_'

for i, command_name in enumerate(command_names):
    with open(generic_file_name + str(i) + '.swb', 'w+') as file:
        file.write(macro_code_text(command_name))

..This should produce a number of files called 'my_solidworks_macro_0', 'my_solidworks_macro_1' etc. each with a different command name from the list you provided.

Upvotes: 0

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