Tag: macro

Some New Macros to tangle with

Recently I posted some new SolidWorks macro at Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources which you would like to try and might find useful for your day to day use.

Here are brief details on the macros:

Send Email via SolidWorks : Macro to send email with assembly name in subject.

Save and Open as PDF:  Macro to save active file as PDF in the same location and open the created PDF file

Hide Show Note : Macro to hide or show note in the active drawing.

There are more useful macros and stuff at Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources and I’ll be adding more similar macro there, so keep watching.

Balloon Note – REBUILT

Howdy,
I have to admit my original Balloon Note macro was quite quirky. It was the most complicated VBA project I’d done at the time, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I finally had a chance to try out the SolidWorks 2010 implementation – SO – I decided to rethink the whole thing. WOW – I really have to apologize, I’m surprised that old code worked at all. However, if you liked the general idea found in my original Balloon Note macro, I’m sure you’ll like this completely rebuilt version.

If you have no idea what I’m writing about:
Balloon Note is designed to add a Reference Note to an existing Item Balloon and Group them together automatically. It can add an automatically updating Quantity Text object. The result is similar to a function SolidWorks added in 2010, but, you can adjust the location of the text using the ALT + Select and drag method. The strange squiggle (QTY variable) in the text box represents the selected part quantity, until you apply the Reference Note location (Top, Right, Bottom or Left). Balloon Note uses your current document setting for the Note font height to create the Reference Note. The Links button uses a plain text file “BalloonNote_07.ini” located in the same directory as BalloonNote_07.swp to store your lists of links and symbols. The download includes two versions, BalloonNote_07.swp for SW 2007 (you could possibly change the Reference Libraries to your version) and BalloonNote.dll for SW 2010 x32.

Enjoy

Macro to add Revisions to Drawing Revision block table

A while ago, I created a SolidWorks macro that allows the user to quickly add new revisions to a drawing’s revision block table. It’s called RevBlockControl. I’m fairly proud of this macro because of its flexibility and easy of use. Within SolidWorks, it can be used for any ASME Y14.35M-1997 compliant revision block table and even supports not so compliant layouts. One cool feature is that it supports revision block tables that start either from the top or bottom of a drawing. The macro even provides an option to update a revision custom property (though the name of the custom property is stored in the code). This one function, of course, is not as useful for those who update their custom properties within the part model. Another requested feature that was included is the addition of buttons to insert some common special characters like line feed and the +/- symbol.

RevBlockControl 1.01

Image of an early version of the RevBlockControl

This macro will not work with manually drawn or excel based revision blocks. It only works with a SolidWorks revision block table.  One area of the macro needing improvement is that of settings. Currently, the settings are stored within the code itself, or user selected each time the macro is run. Also, it does not validate if the current revision block table matches the user selected settings. However, it does have clear instructions within a detailed help area that will allow even a novice user to quickly modify the code to establish their settings preferences. There is currently only one known bug involving the form X button. Use the actual Cancel button if quitting the macro without making changes to the revision block table.

One big plus of the macro is that it has a simple preview area that allows the user to visualize how their revision entry will appear. The preview updates to match whatever settings are selected, and any data entered into the input fields.

The macro may be downloaded here: RevBlockControl.  It may be freely distributed. For additional details, see its .txt file and its help area.  Feedback is always welcome.