Accessing Virtual Parts in Apprentice

It is possible to access and get information from virtual parts in an assembly using Apprentice.  It’s basically the same as in Inventor with a slight difference because all of the same types aren’t defined within Apprentice. Rather than go through a lengthy discussion, here’s some VB.NET code that demonstrates getting iProperties from an assembly and correctly handling virtual components.

Public Sub TestVirtual()          ' Create Apprentice and open the assembly.              Dim app As ApprenticeServerComponent           app = New ApprenticeServerComponent           Dim doc As ApprenticeServerDocument           doc = app.Open("C:TempTestAssembly.iam")        ' Iterate through the occurrences in the assembly.              Dim occ As ComponentOccurrence           For Each occ In doc.ComponentDefinition.Occurrences               Dim def As ComponentDefinition               def = occ.Definition            ' Check to see if this occurrence is for a virtual part.                  If TypeOf def Is VirtualComponentDefinition Then                   ' Get the virtual component definition since this                      ' is what provides access to the property sets.                       Dim virtualDef As VirtualComponentDefinition                   virtualDef = def                ' Call the function to get the properties.                      Call ShowProperties(virtualDef.PropertySets)               Else                   ' Get the associated document since this is what                      ' provides access to the property sets.                       Dim refDoc As ApprenticeServerDocument                   refDoc = def.Document                ' Call the function to get the properties.                      Call ShowProperties(refDoc.PropertySets)               End If           Next       End Sub                  ' Sample to show getting properties.          Private Sub ShowProperties(PropSets As PropertySets)           Dim designTracking As PropertySet           designTracking = PropSets.Item("Design Tracking Properties")           Debug.Print("Part Number: " & _                      designTracking.Item("Part Number").Value)       End Sub

-Brian