[JOB] 2016-07-06, The following package provides a Catia/COM interface based on [TWAPI]. The current implementation supports to open / close a CAD model from within a tcl program. There is also a function available, which allows to export native data to a different file format (STEP and PDF respectively). In fact, the CAD Program can be driven via the COM interface in a similar manner than any other office application (like Excel or Word, etc. ...). Once the COM object is initialized via twapi, one might use the -print option to investigate the available sub-functions any further. ====== # catcom.tcl # ------------------------------------------------------------------------- # (c) 2016, Johann Oberdorfer - Engineering Support | CAD | Software # johann.oberdorfer [at] gmail.com # www.johann-oberdorfer.eu # ------------------------------------------------------------------------- # This source file is distributed under the BSD license. # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. # See the BSD License for more details. # ------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Purpose: # Package to establish Catia/COM interface based on twapi. # # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Revision history: # 07.06.16: J.Oberdorfer, initial release # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- package require twapi package provide catcom 0.1 namespace eval catcom { namespace export getCatiaApp namespace export catia.Documents.Open namespace export catia.ActiveDocument.Close namespace export catia.ActiveDocument.SaveAs # attempt to get connection to a running Catia session via tcom proc getCatiaApp {catapp} { upvar $catapp app return [catch {[set app [twapi::comobj "Catia.Application" -active]]} errmsg] } # CATIA.Documents.Open() # nativename is mandatory here to ensure COM object get's a valid filename proc catia.Documents.Open {catapp cad_model} { set cat [$catapp Application] set docs [$cat Documents] # make sure to supress nasty warning dialogs # may be this can be set system wide in the startup configuration setting as well?! $cat -set DisplayFileAlerts 0 $cat -set RefreshDisplay 1 $docs Open [file nativename $cad_model] } proc catia.ActiveDocument.Close {catapp} { set active_doc [$catapp ActiveDocument] $active_doc Close } # valid fformat arguments: "stp", "pdf" # (name must match Catia's ExportData requirements!) # proc catia.ActiveDocument.SaveAs {catapp export_dir cad_model {fformat ""}} { global env # convert to lower case (maybe not really required...) set fformat [string tolower $fformat] switch -- $fformat { "stp" { set ext ".stp" } "pdf" { set ext ".pdf" } default { tk_messageBox \ -title "Programmer's error" \ -icon "error" \ -message "Wrong argument given to function: CATIA.ActiveDocument.SaveAs" \ -type ok exit 0 } } # a.) change file extension: set file_name [file tail [file rootname $cad_model]] append file_name $ext set export_file_name \ [file nativename [file join $env(TEMP) $file_name]] set new_file_name \ [file nativename [file join $export_dir $file_name]] # b.) delete all models previously created (if any)... file delete -force $export_file_name file delete -force $new_file_name set active_doc [$catapp ActiveDocument] # c.) export to local TEMP directory 1st -> hint: export runs # magnitudes faster (maybe due to virus protection check # on the remote file server ?) $catapp -set StatusBar "Executing ExportData: $export_file_name $fformat" $active_doc ExportData $export_file_name $fformat # d.) and finally - move the file back to the data server: file copy -force $export_file_name $new_file_name file delete -force $export_file_name } } ====== Package might be used e.g. such as: ====== # catcom_test.tcl # where to find twapi lappend auto_path [file join [file dirname [info script]]] lappend auto_path [file join [file dirname [info script]] "../lib"] package require Tk package require twapi package require catcom 0.1 namespace import catcom::* # some test models... set cad_model "C:/yourProject/Test.CATPart" set cad_model1 "C:/yourProjekte/Test.CATDrawing" set export_dir "C:/yourExportDir" # here we go ... catch {console show} if { ![getCatiaApp catapp] } { wm withdraw . set msg "Communication to Catia not possible!\n" append msg "Start Catia and try again!" tk_messageBox \ -title "Catia COM Interface Error" \ -icon "error" \ -message $msg \ -type ok exit 0 } $catapp -set Visible 1 $catapp -set StatusBar "Hello World." # usefull to print all available commands of the available COM interface # $catapp -print # STEP Export $catapp -set StatusBar "Exporting current CATPart to STEP file..." catia.Documents.Open $catapp $cad_model catia.ActiveDocument.SaveAs $catapp $export_dir $cad_model "stp" catia.ActiveDocument.Close $catapp # PDF Export $catapp -set StatusBar "Exporting current CATDrawing to PDF file..." catia.Documents.Open $catapp $cad_model1 catia.ActiveDocument.SaveAs $catapp $export_dir $cad_model1 "PDF" catia.ActiveDocument.Close $catapp ====== <> CAD | Catia-Automation | COM | twapi