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Delcam Custom Software Core

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/powershape-user-guide 3/29User Guide - PowerSHAPE • 1

Custom Software Core

User Guide - PowerSHAPE



Delcam Custom Software Core

Copyright © 2011 - 2015 All rights reserved.

Delcam Ltd has no control over the use made of the software described in this

manual and cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage howsoever caused

as a result of using the software. Users are advised that all the results from the

software should be checked by a competent person, in accordance with good quality

control procedures.

The functionality and user interface in this manual is subject to change without

notice in future revisions of the software.

The software described in this manual is furnished under licence agreement and

may be used or copied solely in accordance with the terms of such licence.

Delcam Ltd grants permission for licensed users to print copies of this manual or

portions of this manual for personal use only. Schools, colleges and universities that

are licensed to use the software may make copies of this manual or portions of thismanual for students currently registered for classes where the software is used.

Acknowledgements

This documentation references a number of registered trademarks and these are the

property of their respective owners. For example, Microsoft and Windows are either

registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States.

It is the responsibility of the licensee of Delcam's software to ensure that the

storage and processing of any personal data complies with the appropriate legalregulations.



Contents

Custom Software Core ........................................................................................... 1

User Guide - PowerSHAPE 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4

What is Custom Software Core? ................................................................... 4

Installing CSC ................................................................................................ 5

Learning to code with Custom Software Core .............................................. 6

Examples .............................................................................................................. 19

Example 1 - Creating a Cylinder ................................................................. 19

Example 2 - Cleaning a Mesh ..................................................................... 22



Introduction

What is Custom Software Core? Custom Software Core, hereafter referred to as CSC, is an easy to use coding

alternative to direct use of the macro language supplied by PowerSHAPE and

PowerMILL.

The power of CSC can be harnessed from within the Microsoft Visual Studio

programming environment and used for creating both Delcam Automation addins and

standalone executables. The programmer can choose to develop in either C# or VB.net.

Advantages of the CSC approach to application development are as follows:

Changes made to the macro language by PowerSHAPE and PowerMILL development

teams are hidden from the developer, with version discrepancies being handled

seamlessly by CSC.

The developer is able to leverage all of the power provided by the VB.net and C#

programming languages.

Significantly fewer lines of code are required to perform like-for-like operations

using CSC over direct macro language scripting, resulting in reduced complexity and

shorter development times.

Throughout this document:

Notes have been written in both C# and VB.net and have been colour coded as

follows:

C#

VB.net

You will need a licensed copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 or later to make use

of Custom Software Core

For versions of PowerSHAPE below 15.1.46, returned values will be in the

language of the PC’s current culture; this can cause problems for Custom

Software Core. To resolve this issue, add to the windows environment the

variable ‘LC_ALL = English’ , which will force PowerSHAPE to run in English. The

downside to this is that the UI will also be displayed in English. If, afterwards,

you wish to revert the change, it is only necessary to delete the new

environment variable.

We recommend that, if running a 32Bit version of PowerSHAPE, you compile your

applications as 32Bit; likewise, if you are running a 64Bit version of PowerSHAPE,

compile in 64Bit.



Installing CSC Ensure you have downloaded the CSC installer onto your PC from the Delcam website,

a link to which can be found in the same location as the link for this document.

http://www.delcam.com/downloads/custom-core/index.asp

To install the software, double click the installer and follow the instructions as required.Once your install is complete, you must ensure you have extracted and saved the

example files for CSC in an accessible location on your local drive before proceeding.

These files will be used throughout the remainder of the documentation.






Learning to code with Custom Software Core To begin with, we will look at some of the more common tasks performed with CSC

such as starting a new project, connecting to PowerSHAPE, creating simple models and

so forth. After this we will look at some examples where macro code can be replaced

with CSC.

Creating a Project

1 Open up Microsoft Visual Studio and start a new project.

2 Select ‘Visual C#’ or ‘Visual Basic’ (based on your preference) from the options on

the left, then select ‘Console Application’ (Figure 1).

3 Give the project a name and a save location (Figure 1).

4 Your main project source file will contain the following code:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Example1

{

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{}

}

}

Figure 1 – New Project



Module Module1

Sub Main()

End Sub

End Module

5 The next step is to set references to custom software core. Figure 2 shows a

reference diagram detailing the dependencies for each reference.

Figure 2 – Reference Diagram

6 To add the required references, right click on ‘References’ within your solution in the

Solution Explorer on the left and then select ‘Add’ then ‘Reference’ (Figure 3).

Figure 3 – Add Reference

Delcam.Utilities

Delcam.Geometry

Delcam.ProductInterface

Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerSHAPE

Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerMILL



7 From within the window that now appears, select ‘Assemblies’ and then ‘Extensions’

from the list.

8 Navigate the list of references and select the following:

Delcam.Geometry



Delcam.Utilities

9 With the references added, insert the following using directive at the top of your

source file:

using Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerSHAPE;

Imports Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerSHAPE

This will save repeatedly typing in Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerSHAPE

when accessing items within this class

Connecting to PowerSHAPE

The following section demonstrates how CSC can be used to communicate with a

running instance of PowerSHAPE; required is a running instance of PowerSHAPE

with an active model.

1 Start an instance of PowerSHAPE.

2 To access the PowerSHAPE instance, add the following line to the main method of

your source file:

PSAutomation powerSHAPE = new PSAutomation

(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance);

Dim powerSHAPE As New PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.

InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance)

While typing this line IntelliSense gives a number of options. For example,

after InstanceReuse we have options to: create a new instance (in addition to

any existing instance of PowerSHAPE); Create a single instance (close any

PowerSHAPE instances already open and create a new one) or

UseExistingInstance (attach to a running instance of PowerSHAPE).

If you continue the line by typing a ‘.’ after your selection of InstanceReuse,

you are presented with a number of additional options including the mode in

which to open PowerSHAPE (drafting, pro, toolmaker, for example) and the

version and/or maximum version of the PowerSHAPE installation to run.

3 After attaching to PowerSHAPE it is often desirable to reset the list of available

models, thereby closing them, and open a new one. This can be achieved as

follows:

powerSHAPE.Reset();

powerSHAPE.Reset()



Creating Geometry

Figure 4 below details a CSC PowerSHAPE class hierarchy. PSAutomation contains a

PSModel, which contains collections of arcs, curves, lines and so forth, each

containing one or more objects of its type. Objects can be added to and removed

from collections and the objects themselves manipulated with the various operations

available on them: in short, a typical object oriented strategy.

Figure 4 – Class Diagram

As a simple introduction we will create a line between two points.

1 Two Delcam.Geometry.Point objects are used to define the start and end points of

the line and are created with the following code, which should be added to the mainmethod of the application source file.

Delcam.Geometry.Point startPoint = new Delcam.Geometry.Point(0,0,0);

Delcam.Geometry.Point endPoint = new Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 5, 0);

Dim startPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New Delcam.Geometry.Point(0, 0, 0)

Dim endPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 5, 0)

startPoint is initialised with coordinates (0, 0, 0), which is the origin of the model,

and endpoint is given the coordinates (10, 5, 0), which represents displacement in

both X and Y.

PSAutomation

PSModel

PSArcsCollection

PSCurvesCollection

PSSolidsCollection

PSLinesCollection

Active

PSArc

PSCurve

PSLine

PSSolid

*

*

*

*



2 The two points can now be passed to PowerSHAPE and a line drawn between them:

PSLine myLine = psModel.Lines.CreateLine(startPoint, endPoint);

Dim myLine As PSLine = psModel.Lines.CreateLine(startPoint, endPoint)

PSLine myLine holds a reference to the newly created PowerSHAPE object and

is defined in the Delcam.ProductInterface.PowerSHAPE namespace.

3 The code can now be tested. Ensure there is an open session of PowerSHAPE to

connect to, click the ‘Start’ icon in Microsoft Visual Studio and observe the

PowerSHAPE active window where a line will be created. If any problems are

encountered, review all previous steps to this point and ensure they have been

completed in accordance with the document.

4 The line can now be manipulated in code via the PSLine object it is mapped to

(myLine). As an example, let us return the length of the line and store it as a

delcam.geometry.MM length object. Add the following code to the main method:

Delcam.Geometry.MM lineLength = myLine.Length;

Dim lineLength As Delcam.Geometry.MM = myLine.Length

Lengths are stored in a Delcam.Geometry.MM as it facilitates length-specific

operations such as converting to inches:

Inch inchLength = (Inch)lineLength;

Dim inchLength As Inch = CType(lineLength, Inch)

Custom Software Core always assumes the PowerSHAPE session to be

running in mm; thus the return value will always be treated as mm. If youattempted the following: Delcam.Geometry.Inch sizeX =

myModel.BoundingBox.MaxX with a session running in inches, the result

would be read in Inches but then multiplied by 25.4 as CSC assumes it to be

in mm.

5 Create a message box to display the line length. Firstly add a reference to

Window.Systems.Forms by right clicking on your project in the Solution Explorer

and selecting ‘Add’ then ‘Add Reference’ from the list. Select ‘Assemblies’ from the

left then ‘Framework’ from the resulting drop down. Select System.Windows.Forms

from the list and click ‘OK’ .

6 Add a using directive to the top of the main source file:

using System.Windows.Forms;

Imports System.Windows.Forms;

7 Instantiate a message box in which to display the line length. Add the following

code to the main method:

MessageBox.Show("The line is " + lineLength.ToString() + "mm");

MessageBox.Show("This line is" & lineLength.ToString & " mm")

8 Run the code once more and a message box will appear (Figure 5).



Creating Solids, Surfaces and Meshes

We shall now see how CSC can be used to create other objects in PowerSHAPE by

defining a simple solid block.

1 Delete from your main method all lines of code added in the previous sectionincluding points, lines and message box.

2 To create a simple block enter the following code:

PSSolid mySolid = psModel.Solids.CreateBlock(startPoint, 25, 50, 10, 0);

Dim mySolid As PSSolid = psModel.Solids.CreateBlock(startPoint,25,50,10,0)

3 This creates a block at the origin (0, 0, 0) of 25mm length, 50mm width, 10mm

height and with a draft angle of 0⁰.

4 Many operations can now be performed from within code on the newly created solid

through its PSSolid reference object. If, for example, it is desired to delete the solidfrom PowerSHAPE, enter the following:

mySolid.Delete();

mySolid.Delete()

5 With the addition of a single line of code a mesh can be created from the solid:

PSMesh myMesh = psModel.Meshes.CreateMeshFromSolid(mySolid);

Dim myMesh As PSMesh = psModel.Meshes.CreateMeshFromSolid(mySolid)

6 Alternatively, the solid can be turned into surfaces thus:

List<PSSurface> newSurface =

psModel.Surfaces.CreateSurfacesFromSolid(mySolid);

Dim newSurface As List(Of PSSurface) =

psModel.Surfaces.CreateSurfacesFromSolid(mySolid)

Surfaces must be stored in a list as such transforms may return many; six in

the case of a cube.

7 Delete all code entered in this section before moving to the next.

Figure 5 – Line Length Message Box



Importing and Exporting a Model

It is common practice to import and export solids, surfaces and so forth in

PowerSHAPE. This section will focus on how to achieve this using CSC.

1 Create an instance of Delcam.FileSystem.File with which to encapsulate an import

file location:

Delcam.FileSystem.File importFile = new Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC

PowerSHAPE Examples\Example.dgk");

Dim importFile As Delcam.FileSystem.File = New

Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE Examples\Example.dgk")

Example.dgk will be located in the path to which you extracted your example

files earlier and may be different to that specified above.

2 Import the DGK file into the model:

psModel.Import(importFile);

psModel.Import(importFile)

3 The solid has now been imported into the open model. To obtain an instance of it

from the solids collection enter the following line of code:

PSSolid mySolid = psModel.Solids.LastItem();

Dim mySolid As PSSolid = psModel.Solids.LastItem

4 The solid can now be manipulated as before. The same principle can be applied to

surfaces, meshes, curves and so forth.

5 To export the solid, it is first necessary to ensure it is the only selected object. The

following two lines of code clear all selected items and then reselect the object that

is to be exported.

psModel.ClearSelectedItems();

mySolid.AddToSelection();

psModel.ClearSelectedItems()

mySolid.AddToSelection()

6 The solid will now be exported back to its original file and location:

psModel.Export(importFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected);

psModel.Export(importFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected)

Executing Macro Commands

It is also possible to execute macro commands from within our code, the

mechanism for doing which is outlined in the following.

1 Create a simple block using macro commands. Note this is purely for demonstration

purposes since a similar result was achieved earlier using CSC functions.

powerSHAPE.Execute("CREATE SOLID BLOCK");

powerSHAPE.Execute("BLOCK");powerSHAPE.Execute("0,0,0");

powerSHAPE.Execute("CREATE SOLID BLOCK")



powerSHAPE.Execute("BLOCK")

powerSHAPE.Execute("0,0,0")

2 Alternatively you may wish to acquire information from PowerSHAPE to use within

your program. If, for example, you want to find the length of a line, enter the

following:

Double lineLength2 =(Double)powerSHAPE.ExecuteEx("line[TempLine].length");

Dim lineLength2 As Double = powerSHAPE.ExecuteEx("line[TempLine].length")

You will need to know the name of the line to perform this operation.

3 It is important to note that entities created within PowerSHAPE using macro

commands will not appear within the CSC cache until it is updated. To update the

cache, issue the following command:

psModel.Refresh();

psModel.Refresh()

4 It is now possible to create in code an instance of the PowerSHAPE object that was

created with the macro command. If, for example, you create a line in macro code,

create a PSLine instance as follows:

powerSHAPE.Execute("CREATE LINE SINGLE");

powerSHAPE.Execute("0 0 0");

powerSHAPE.Execute("10 0 0");

psModel.Refresh();

PSLine myLine = psModel.Lines[0];

powerSHAPE.Execute("CREATE LINE SINGLE")

powerSHAPE.Execute("0 0 0")

powerSHAPE.Execute("10 0 0")

psModel.Refresh()

Dim myLine As PSLine = psModel.Lines(0)

It is strongly recommended that you always use available CSC functionality in

preference to issuing raw macro commands. If you feel that CSC is lacking the

functionality you require, please contact the forum at:

http://forum.delcam.com/viewforum.php?f=53

Deploying Solutions

Once your development is complete, you will need a way of deploying your

application to end users. This section will guide you through the process of creating

an installer. Note that the end user will require a licensed copy of CSC installed on

their target system in order to execute your application.

1 Begin by ensuring that the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects extension is

installed within your copy of Microsoft Visual Studio. If not, select ‘Tools’ followed by

‘Extensions and Updates’; now locate the extension from within the resultingwindow and install it.

2 Next, right click on your solution and select ‘Add’ then ‘New Project’ (Figure 6).






3 Select ‘Other Project Types’ followed by ‘Visual Studio Installer’ from the left-hand-

side of the new window; then select ‘Setup Project’.

4 Now configure a Manufacturer and Product Name. Select ‘Setup1’ from within

Solution Explorer and edit the Manufacturer and ProductName fields in the

Properties tab as demonstrated in figure 7. Note: If the Properties tab is not visible,

select it from the View menu.

Figure 6 – Adding a new project

Figure 7 – Setting Manufacturer, ProductName



5 Right click the ‘Application Folder’ from within the File System window to the right of

Solution Explorer. Select ‘Add’ and then select ‘Project Output’ from the resultant

context menus (Figure 8).

If you cannot see the File System window, select ‘File System Editor’ from the

Solution Explorer toolbar (Figure 9).

6 From the dialog box, select ‘Primary Output’ and click ‘Ok’.

7 You will notice references appear in the right hand box (Figure 10).

8 As it is a requirement that the end user install CSC, the Delcam references are not

required and should be excluded from the project. Select each in turn and set

‘Exclude’ to True in the Properties tab.

9 If it is desired to add a shortcut to the start menu then right click ‘User’s Program’sMenu’ and select ‘Add’ followed by ‘Folder’; name the folder appropriately ( Figure

11).

Figure 8 – Adding a project output

Figure 9 – File System Editor

Figure 10 – Adding References



10 Right click the newly created folder and select ‘Create New Shortcut’. 11 Select the new folder and, in the empty panel to the right, right click and select

‘Create new shortcut’.

12 In the resulting dialog, double click the ‘Application Folder’ and select the item

starting with ‘Primary output from…’ Rename it to whatever you wish.

13 To create the installer, right click ‘Setup1’ from within Solution Explorer and select

‘Build’. Once the operation has completed, browse to the location of the solution on

the local drive, open Setup1 and then browse to either the Release or Debug folder

- depending upon your solution settings – and the installer will be available therein.

Figure 11 – Set an install folder

Figure 12 – Adding shortcut to program menu



Examples

Example 1 - Creating a Cylinder Example 1 demonstrates how to use CSC to create a circle in PowerSHAPE, extrude it to

form a solid and then export the result to file.

For comparison, macro code to accomplish the same task is presented below.

CREATE ARC

FULL

0,0,0

MODIFY

DIMENSION 20

ACCEPT

CREATE SOLID EXTRUSION

MODIFY

LENGTH 50

ACCEPT

FILE EXPORT WIZARDNEXT

C:\CSC PowerSHAPE Examples\Cylinder.dgk

WIZEXPORT

The CSC steps are as follows:

1 Start a new console application in Microsoft Visual Studio as detailed previously.

2 Add the following references to your solution (if you have forgotten how to do this refer

back).

Delcam.Geometry



Delcam.Utilities

3 Add the following using directive to the top of the main source file.



4 Connect to PowerSHAPE and turn off all dialogs as before.

PSAutomation powerSHAPE = new PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance);

PSModel psModel = powerSHAPE.ActiveModel;

powerSHAPE.FormUpdateOff();

powerSHAPE.RefreshOff();

powerSHAPE.DialogsOff();

Dim powerSHAPE As PSAutomation = New

PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance)

Dim psModel As PSModel = powerSHAPE.ActiveModel

powerSHAPE.FormUpdateOff()

powerSHAPE.RefreshOff()

powerSHAPE.DialogsOff()



5 It is usually desirable to re-enable forms and dialogs before the program exits. Add this

code now and all subsequent lines between this and the previous block.

powerSHAPE.FormUpdateOn();

powerSHAPE.RefreshOn();

powerSHAPE.DialogsOn();

powerSHAPE.FormUpdateOn()

powerSHAPE.RefreshOn()powerSHAPE.DialogsOn()

6 Two points are required to create a circle; the first is the origin of the circle and the

second the position at which the circle starts (typically this is of no concern, but is

required by CSC). The following code creates a circle centred at (0, 0, 0) and starting

from the x-axis (the co-ordinate position of this point is not important so long as it lies

on the axis).

Delcam.Geometry.Point originPoint = new Delcam.Geometry.Point(0,0,0);

Delcam.Geometry.Point startPoint = new Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 0, 0);

PSArc myCircle = psModel.Arcs.CreateArcCircle(originPoint,

startPoint, 20.0);

Dim originPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New Delcam.Geometry.Point(0, 0, 0)

Dim startPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 0, 0)

Dim myCircle As PSArc = psModel.Arcs.CreateArcCircle(originPoint,

startPoint, 20)

7 The circle will now be extruded by 50.0 mm in the positive to form a solid.

PSSolid myCylinder =

psModel.Solids.CreateSolidExtrusionFromWireframe(myCircle, 50.0, 0.0);

Dim myCylinder As PSSolid =

psModel.Solids.CreateSolidExtrusionFromWireframe(myCircle, 50, 0)

8 The cylinder thus formed can now be exported by firstly creating a

Delcam.FileSystem.File object initialised with an appropriate export path and then

writing the data to it.

Delcam.FileSystem.File exportLocation = new

Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC PowerSHAPE Examples\Cylinder.dgk");

psModel.Export(exportLocation, ExportItemsOptions.Selected);

Dim exportLocation As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE

Examples\Cylinder.dgk")

psModel.Export(exportLocation, ExportItemsOptions.Selected)

9 The code can now be run. If the result is not as expected, ensure you have followed

verbatim all he steps in this example.

It is worthy of note that, should the code required to disable and re-enable forms and

dialogs be excluded from the count, the number of lines required to accomplish our

objective here is six, eight fewer than the macro code solution.

using System;


using System.Linq;

using System.Text;



namespace CylinderExample



{

class Program

{


{

PSAutomation powerSHAPE = new

PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance);





Delcam.Geometry.Point originPoint = new

Delcam.Geometry.Point(0,0,0);

Delcam.Geometry.Point startPoint = new

Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 0, 0);

PSArc myCircle = psModel.Arcs.CreateArcCircle(originPoint,

startPoint, 20.0);

PSSolid myCylinder =

psModel.Solids.CreateSolidExtrusionFromWireframe(myCircle, 10.0, 0.0);

Delcam.FileSystem.File exportLocation = new

Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC PowerSHAPE Examples\Cylinder.dgk");

psModel.Export(exportLocation, ExportItemsOptions.Selected);




}

}

}


Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim powerSHAPE As PSAutomation = New






Dim originPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New

Delcam.Geometry.Point(0, 0, 0)

Dim startPoint As Delcam.Geometry.Point = New

Delcam.Geometry.Point(10, 0, 0)

Dim myCircle As PSArc =

psModel.Arcs.CreateArcCircle(originPoint, startPoint, 20)

Dim myCylinder As PSSolid =

psModel.Solids.CreateSolidExtrusionFromWireframe(myCircle, 50, 0)

Dim exportLocation As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC

PowerSHAPE Examples\Cylinder.dgk")

psModel.Export(exportLocation, ExportItemsOptions.Selected)


powerSHAPE.RefreshOn()



powerSHAPE.DialogsOn()

End Sub

End Module

Example 2 - Cleaning a Mesh Consider the case of importing a .STL scan file, the mesh of which contains a number of

undesired detached pieces that are to be removed, thereby leaving only the largest

piece of the mesh.

To achieve this it is necessary to split the mesh into its individual pieces, consider each

one in turn, retain the largest and export this back to file. A macro code solution

requires IF statements, which can be confusing and difficult; the following steps

demonstrate how the problem can be solved using CSC.

1 Start by adding the required references along with the following standard code with

which you should now be familiar.

using System;


using System.Linq;

using System.Text;



namespace CleanUpMesh

{

class Program

{


{

PSAutomation powerSHAPE = new PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance);








}

}}


Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim powerSHAPE As New











End Sub

End Module

2 Create a Delcam.FileSystem.File object with which to import the .STL file and create

a second file object to which the final result will be exported.

Delcam.FileSystem.File importFile = new Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC

PowerSHAPE Examples\SampleMesh.stl");

Delcam.FileSystem.File exportFile = new Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC

PowerSHAPE Examples\SplitMesh.dmt");


PSMesh myMesh = psModel.Meshes.LastItem();

Dim importFile As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE

Examples\SampleMesh.stl")

Dim exportFile As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE

Examples\SplitMesh.dmt")

psModel.Import(importFile)Dim myMesh As PSMesh = psModel.Meshes.LastItem

3 Split the mesh and store in a list the pieces returned by PowerSHAPE.

List<PSMesh> meshList = myMesh.Split();

Dim meshList As List(Of PSMesh) = myMesh.Split

4 Cycle through each entity to determine the largest bounding box. This can be

achieved with a single line of code:

meshList.OrderBy(m => m.BoundingBox.Volume).Last().AddToSelection(true);

meshList.OrderBy(Function(m) m.BoundingBox.Volume).Last.AddToSelection(true)

5 Now only the largest piece of the mesh is selected PowerSHAPE, it can be exported

to file in the manner described earlier in the document.

psModel.Export(exportFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected);

psModel.Export(exportFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected)

It should be noted that a complex operation has been reduced to a small number of

concisely written and easy to comprehend lines of code, the full listing of which is given

below.

using System;


using System.Linq;

using System.Text;



namespace CleanUpMesh

{

class Program

{


{PSAutomation powerSHAPE = new

PSAutomation(Delcam.ProductInterface.InstanceReuse.UseExistingInstance);

powerSHAPE.Reset();







Delcam.FileSystem.File importFile = new Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\CSC PowerSHAPE Examples\SampleMesh.stl");

Delcam.FileSystem.File exportFile = new

Delcam.FileSystem.File(@"C:\ CSC PowerSHAPE Examples \SplitMesh.dmt");


PSMesh myMesh = psModel.Meshes.LastItem();

List<PSMesh> meshList = myMesh.Split();

meshList.OrderBy(m =>

m.BoundingBox.Volume).Last().AddToSelection(true);

psModel.Export(exportFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected);

powerSHAPE.FormUpdateOn();powerSHAPE.RefreshOn();


}

}

}


Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim powerSHAPE As New






Dim importFile As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE

Examples\SampleMesh.stl")

Dim exportFile As New Delcam.FileSystem.File("C:\CSC PowerSHAPE

Examples\SplitMesh.dmt")

psModel.Import(importFile)

Dim myMesh As PSMesh = psModel.Meshes.LastItem

Dim meshList As List(Of PSMesh) = myMesh.Split

meshList.OrderBy(Function(m)

m.BoundingBox.Volume).Last.AddToSelection(True)

psModel.Export(exportFile, ExportItemsOptions.Selected)




End Sub

End Module



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