Using a Macro to Batch Process Product Comparison

If you perform a task repeatedly, you can take advantage of a macro to automate it. A macro is a series of functions, written in a scripting language, that you group in a single command to perform the requested task automatically.

You can in this way run a macro automating the geometric comparison of hundred of products to detect differences between them. You can compare .model, .CATPart and .cgr documents.

A sample macro, ComparisonMacro.CATScript, is supplied. It can be found in the DMU Space Analysis samples folder spaug/samples.

This task explains how to automate geometric comparison.

Open and edit the sample macro, ComparisonMacro.CATScript, from the sample folder with a Text editor. Appropriate comments have been added to the sample to help you edit it.

Language="VBSCRIPT"

''========================================== '' MinDiff = Difference limit, '' if (difference percent > MinDiff) '' then products are considered different ''================================= Dim MinDiff As Double MinDiff = 0.3

''========================= '' Difference percentages : ''========================= '' added : Added Material /Material in Version1 '' removed : Removed Material /Material in Version1 Dim added As Double Dim removed As Double

''=============== '' Program Start ''=============== Sub CATMain()

Dim documents1 As Documents Set documents1 = CATIA.Documents

''====================== '' New Product Creation ''====================== Dim productDocument1 As Document Set productDocument1 = documents1.Add("Product")

Dim product1 As Product Set product1 = productDocument1.Product

Dim products1 As Products Set products1 = product1.Products

''====================================== '' Names of the two products to compare ''======================================

Dim arrayOfVariantOfBSTR1(1)

''arrayOfVariantOfBSTR1(0) = "path\name_of_document"' ' arrayOfVariantOfBSTR1(1) = "path\name_of_document"

''====================== '' Insertion of products ''====================== products1.AddComponentsFromFiles arrayOfVariantOfBSTR1, "*"

Dim optimizerWorkBench1 As Workbench Set optimizerWorkBench1 = productDocument1.GetWorkbench("OptimizerWorkBench")

''====================================== '' Products to compare ''=======================================

Dim product2 As Product Set product2 = products1.Item(1)

Dim product3 As Product Set product3 = products1.Item(2)

''===================================== '' Comparison ''===================================== Dim partComps1 As PartComps Set partComps1 = optimizerWorkBench1.PartComps Dim partComp1 As PartComp ''Set partComp1 = partComps1.GeometricComparison(product2, product3, 2.000000, 2.000000, 2, added, removed)

''====================================== '' Start Comparison '' Parameters : '' product2 : first product to compare (Old Version) '' product3 : second product to compare (New Version) '' 2.000000 : computation accuracy (mm) '' 2.000000 : display accuracy (mm) '' 2 : computation type : 0=Added, 1=Removed, 2=Added+Removed ''======================================== Set partComp1 = partComps1.Add(product2, product3, 2.000000, 2.000000, 2)

''===================================== '' Read computation results ''=====================================

'' Retrieve the percent of added material (value is between 0.0 and 1.0) Dim PercentAdded As Double PercentAdded = partComps1.AddedMaterialPercentage

'' Retrieve the percent of removed material (value is between 0.0 and 1.0) Dim PercentRemoved As Double PercentRemoved = partComps1.RemovedMaterialPercentage

'' Retrieve the volume of added material (mm3) Dim VolumeAdded As Double VolumeAdded = partComps1.AddedMaterialVolume

'' Retrieve the volume of removed material (mm3) Dim VolumeRemoved As Double VolumeRemoved = partComps1.RemovedMaterialVolume

''==================================== '' Typical comparison result management ''==================================== If PercentAdded > MinDifference Then msgbox "Difference detected : Added = " & Cstr(PercentAdded) & " , Removed = " & Cstr(PercentRemoved) & " VolumeAdded = " & Cstr (VolumeAdded) & " VolumeRemoved = " & Cstr(VolumeRemoved)

''======================================= '' Save of added and removed Material ''======================================= Dim document1 As Document Set document1 = documents1.Item("AddedMaterial.3dmap") document1.Activate document1.SaveAs "E:\users\sbc\DemoSMT\Comparison\AddedMaterial.3dmap"

Dim document2 As Document Set document2 = documents1.Item("RemovedMaterial.3dmap") document2.Activate document2.SaveAs "E:\users\sbc\DemoSMT\Comparison\RemovedMaterial.3dmap"

document2.Close document1.Close

'' ======================================================= '' Import AddedMaterial Only '' ======================================================= Dim var11 ( 0 ) var11 ( 0 ) = "E:\users\sbc\DemoSMT\Comparison\AddedMaterial.3dmap" products1.AddComponentsFromFiles var11, "*"

'' ======================================================= '' Definition du view point '' =======================================================

CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.Viewpoint3D.PutSightDirection Array(1, 1, 0) CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.Viewpoint3D.PutUpDirection Array(0, 0, 1)

CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.Reframe CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.ZoomIn() CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.ZoomIn()

'' ======================================================= '' Save image As .jpg '' ======================================================= CATIA.ActiveWindow.ActiveViewer.CaptureToFile catCaptureFormatJPEG , "E:\users\sbc\DemoSMT\Comparison\MyImage.jpg"

Else msgbox "No difference detected between products" End If

productDocument1.Activate

End Sub

Run the macro in batch mode from Windows or your UNIX workstation.

For information on editing and running macros, read the appropriate section in the Infrastructure User's Guide.