Use GoExcel outside a rule

<?xml encoding=”UTF-8″>By Adam Nagy

It’s possible to call GoExcel directly, but it’s not documented and we don’t support it. For Excel functionality you can use the Excel COM API directly instead of going through iLogic. That’s what iLogic is using too and that should provide access to all Excel functionality, not only those exposed in iLogic. 

If you want to use GoExcel from anywhere (.NET AddIn or even external application) then you could wrap the functionality you need inside e.g. an external rule with arguments. The arguments are in the form of an Inventor NameValueMap. You can use this “rule with arguments” method to indirectly call any of the iLogic functions from an exe or addin.

Here’s a sample rule with some GoExcel code:

' In this case the code is saved
' in "C:Test3iLogicExcelTest.iLogicVb"
Dim filePath As String = RuleArguments("FilePath")
Dim sheetName As String = RuleArguments("Sheet")
Dim dia As Double = RuleArguments("Dia")
Dim length As Double = RuleArguments("Length")
Dim rowNum As Integer = GoExcel.FindRow( _
filePath, sheetName, "Dia", "=", dia, "Length", "=", length)
If (rowNum > 0) Then
Dim outputs As NameValueMap = _
ThisServer.TransientObjects.CreateNameValueMap()
outputs.Add("PartNumber", GoExcel.CurrentRowValue("PartNumber"))
RuleArguments.Arguments.Add("Outputs", outputs)
End If

And here’s sample code to run that rule from e.g. a VB exe or addin:

Public Sub Test()
' m_app is a member variable of type Inventor.Application
Dim arguments As NameValueMap = _
m_app.TransientObjects.CreateNameValueMap()
arguments.Add("FilePath", "C:Test3Data.xlsx")
arguments.Add("Sheet", "Sheet1")
arguments.Add("Dia", 0.2)
arguments.Add("Length", 4.5)
Dim document As Document = m_app.ActiveDocument
Dim externalRulePath = "C:Test3iLogicExcelTest.iLogicVb"
' m_iLogicAuto is a late-bound variable of type Object.
' It implements the IiLogicAutomation interface
' (defined in Autodesk.iLogic.Interfaces.dll).
' See below GetiLogicAutomation() function to get
' it from the application
m_iLogicAuto.RunExternalRuleWithArguments( _
document, externalRulePath, arguments)
Dim outputs As NameValueMap = Nothing
Try
outputs = arguments.Value("Outputs")
If (outputs IsNot Nothing) Then
MessageBox.Show( _
String.Format("PartNumber = {0}", _
outputs.Value("PartNumber")), "ExcelTest")
End If
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Exception in Test: {0}", ex), _
"ExcelTest")
End Try
End Sub

Function GetiLogicAutomation(ByVal app As Inventor.Application) _
As Object
Dim addIn As Inventor.ApplicationAddIn = Nothing
Try
addIn = app.ApplicationAddIns.ItemById( _
"{3bdd8d79-2179-4b11-8a5a-257b1c0263ac}")
Catch ex As Exception
Return Nothing
End Try
Return addIn.Automation
End Function