Load iges or Parasolid files into the active Inventor document

By Xiaodong Liang

Issue
I want to load iges or parasolid files into the active document of Inventor via the api. I want this to work in the same way as the [Import] command in Inventor. The code below works but does not load the iges file into the active document, it creates its own file.

Solution
The argument “TargetObject” of TranslatorAddIn.Open has to use the new document. There's an easy way to do this with Inventor 2011. Use NonParametricBaseFeatures.Add to create a base feature in the desired part file. But it is as designed that NonParametricBaseFeatures.Add should create a solid if there are no other solids in the part and a surface if there is at least one solid in the part. So if batching importing, the next file will be imported as surface. To have all as solid, you could use CreateDefinition and AddByDefinition methods of the NonParametricBaseFeatures object which were added in Inventor 2011 and support additional capabilities that the Add method doesn’t. The code below imports ttwo Parasolid files to the current part.

Sub testImport()
 
' import file 1
ImportXB ("C:Temp1.X_B")
' import file 2
ImportXB ("C:Temp2.X_B" )
 
End Sub
 
' import function
Sub ImportXB(fileName As String)
 
     ' assume we have got Inventor application    
 
    ' get active document
    Dim oActiveDoc As PartDocument = _
         _InvApplication.ActiveDocument
 
    ' get  ComponentDefinition
    Dim oActiveDocDef As PartComponentDefinition = _ 
        oActiveDoc.ComponentDefinition
 
    ' get the  TranslatorAddIn
    Dim oAddin As TranslatorAddIn = _ 
        _InvApplication.ApplicationAddIns. _
        ItemById("{A8F8F8E5-BBAB-4F74-8B1B-AC011251F8AC}")
 
    ' prepare the arguments for  TranslatorAddIn   
    Dim oContext As TranslationContext = _
          _InvApplication.TransientObjects. _
          CreateTranslationContext
 
    oContext.Type = _
        IOMechanismEnum.kFileBrowseIOMechanism  
 
    Dim oOptions As NameValueMap = _ 
        _InvApplication.TransientObjects. _
        CreateNameValueMap
 
    Dim oDataMedium As DataMedium = _  
        _InvApplication.TransientObjects.CreateDataMedium
 
    ' set the option ImportSolid = true
     oOptions.Add("ImportSolid", True)
 
     oDataMedium.fileName = fileName
 
    ' import the file to one new part document
    Dim oNewDoc As PartDocument
    oAddin.Open(oDataMedium, oContext, oOptions, oNewDoc)
 
    oNewDoc.Views.Add
 
    ' get PartComponentDefinition of the new part document         
    Dim oNewDocDef As PartComponentDefinition = _ 
        oNewDoc.ComponentDefinition 
 
    ' create one Definition of NonParametricBaseFeature
    Dim oNPFD As NonParametricBaseFeatureDefinition = _ 
        oActiveDocDef.Features.NonParametricBaseFeatures. _
        CreateDefinition
 
    Dim oObjColl As ObjectCollection = _ 
        _InvApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection()
 
    ''check the solids
    Dim oSB As SurfaceBody
    For Each oSB In oNewDocDef.SurfaceBodies
        oObjColl.Add (oSB)
    Next
 
    oNPFD.BRepEntities = oObjColl
    oNPFD.OutputType =BaseFeatureOutputTypeEnum.kSolidOutputType 
 
    ' add the bodies of the new part document to the
    ' active document
    oActiveDocDef.Features.NonParametricBaseFeatures. _
        AddByDefinition( oNPFD  )
 
    'close the temp doc without saving 
    ' because we do not need it any more
    oNewDoc.Close( True) 
 
End Sub