Creation of Datum Plane from 3 points in a Text File 3

[kfraysur]

I am looking to create a datum plane from three points in a text file. I recorded a journal of making a datum plane with three points already in a part file, but the journal was very large with a lot of expression variables and other things that didn't seem necessary.

In the following thread (thread561-284673) cowski linked a journal file that would bring in points from a .csv file. This file works for the text files that I have. I am wondering if anyone has any experience creating datum planes from three points. I am sure it can be done much simpler than my 28kb journal file would indicate.

 

[jerry1423]

Will this type of thing happen once, or several times, in each part ?

 

[kfraysur]

It will happen between 2 and 12 times on each part. I will need to set up a journal to read in three points, create a plane, then read in the next three points, etc...

I'm not sure yet if I will have the user define how many planes will be created or just write the code in such a way to stop once all points have been used. I would assume the latter is possible.

It would also be nice if these planes could be individually named in the part navigator once created, but it is not at all necessary.

 

[cowski]

Do you want fixed datum planes, or datum planes associative to the points?

http://www.nxjournaling.com

 

[kfraysur]

My initial reaction is whichever is easier. The points are never going to move relative to one another once imported and neither will the planes move relative to the points.

There will be a step after importing the points and creating the planes where all the pieces of the part (points, datums, etc..) will be oriented to the WCS, but I don't think the attributes of the planes will matter for this.

 

[FrankSwinks]

If you make available a data file that contains the points info I will generate a journal to create the datum planes

Frank Swinkels

 

[FrankSwinks]

Here is a journal for creating datum planes through three points. Also shown is the data format I have used. I use a line of data for each datum plane. That is nine coordinate numbers and a name string using comma deliminators.

Option Strict Off
Imports System
Imports NXOpen
Imports NXOpen.UF
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module datumPlane1
Dim s As Session = Session.GetSession()
Dim ui As UI = ui.GetUI()
Dim ufs As UFSession = UFSession.GetUFSession()

Sub Main()
Dim pointsFile As String
Dim linestring As String = Nothing
Dim testArray() As String
Dim pnt1(2) As Double
Dim pnt2(2) As Double
Dim pnt3(2) As Double
Dim temptag As Tag = Tag.Null
Dim name1 As String = Nothing

'open csv file
Dim fdlg As OpenFileDialog = New OpenFileDialog()
fdlg.Title = "Choose the data file"
fdlg.InitialDirectory = "c:\"
fdlg.Filter = "All files (*.*)|*.*|CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv"
fdlg.FilterIndex = 2
fdlg.RestoreDirectory = True
If fdlg.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
pointsFile = fdlg.FileName
' read data and create datum planes
Dim sr As StreamReader = File.OpenText(pointsFile)
Try
Do While sr.Peek >= 0
linestring = sr.ReadLine
testArray = Split(linestring, ",", 10)
pnt1(0) = CType(testArray(0), Double)
pnt1(1) = CType(testArray(1), Double)
pnt1(2) = CType(testArray(2), Double)
pnt2(0) = CType(testArray(3), Double)
pnt2(1) = CType(testArray(4), Double)
pnt2(2) = CType(testArray(5), Double)
pnt3(0) = CType(testArray(6), Double)
pnt3(1) = CType(testArray(7), Double)
pnt3(2) = CType(testArray(8), Double)
name1 = testArray(9)
CreateDatumPlane(pnt1, pnt2, pnt3, name1)
Loop
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox("Wrong data format")
End Try
sr.Close()
sr.Dispose()
End If
End Sub

Public Sub CreateDatumPlane(ByVal pnt1() As Double, ByVal pnt2() As Double, _
ByVal pnt3() As Double, ByVal name1 As String)
Dim workPart As Part = s.Parts.Work
Dim nullFeatures_Feature As Features.Feature = Nothing
Dim pointFeatureBuilder1 As Features.PointFeatureBuilder
pointFeatureBuilder1 = workPart.BaseFeatures.CreatePointFeatureBuilder(nullFeatures_Feature)
Dim datumPlaneBuilder1 As Features.DatumPlaneBuilder
datumPlaneBuilder1 = workPart.Features.CreateDatumPlaneBuilder(nullFeatures_Feature)
Dim plane1 As Plane
plane1 = datumPlaneBuilder1.GetPlane()
Dim coordinates1 As Point3d = New Point3d(pnt1(0), pnt1(1), pnt1(2))
Dim point1 As Point
point1 = workPart.Points.CreatePoint(coordinates1)
Dim coordinates2 As Point3d = New Point3d(pnt2(0), pnt2(1), pnt2(2))
Dim point2 As Point
point2 = workPart.Points.CreatePoint(coordinates2)
Dim coordinates3 As Point3d = New Point3d(pnt3(0), pnt3(1), pnt3(2))
Dim point3 As Point
point3 = workPart.Points.CreatePoint(coordinates3)
plane1.SetMethod(PlaneTypes.MethodType.ThreePoints)
Dim geom1(2) As NXObject
geom1(0) = point1
geom1(1) = point2
geom1(2) = point3
plane1.SetGeometry(geom1)
Dim feature1 As Features.Feature
feature1 = datumPlaneBuilder1.CommitFeature()
Dim datumPlaneFeature1 As Features.DatumPlaneFeature = CType(feature1, Features.DatumPlaneFeature)
Dim datumPlane1 As DatumPlane
datumPlane1 = datumPlaneFeature1.DatumPlane
datumPlane1.SetName(name1)
datumPlaneBuilder1.Destroy()
End Sub
Public Function GetUnloadOption(ByVal dummy As String) As Integer
'Unloads the image immediately after execution within NX
GetUnloadOption = NXOpen.Session.LibraryUnloadOption.Immediately
End Function
End Module

Data File Format:

0,0,0,100,0,0,0,100,0,PLANE1
0,0,0,100,0,0,0,0,100,PLANE2
0,0,0,0,100,0,0,0,100,PLANE3

Frank Swinkels

 

[kfraysur]

That is really great Frank. Thanks for the help.

How hard would it be to modify it for files that have one point coordinate per line? I am talking to the people writing the code that will output the files from a scanning system, but they are unsure what the final format will be. My test files have been structured with one point per line, and I have just modified the files to look like what this code accepts. Hopefully they can just output files that look like this, but if not I would like to have a backup plan as it were.

Again, thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

 

[FrankSwinks]

Not a problem regarding data format. All that is required is consistancy. How do you want to include the name?

Frank Swinkels