Time to change teams

Have you ever needed to convert the units (inches to millimeters or vice versa) of the part you are working on? If so, you probably already know about the utility program, ug_convert_part.exe. For those not yet familiar, ug_convert_part.exe will convert the units of a single part, an entire assembly, or an entire directory of parts (with optional sub-directories), overwriting the originals or creating copies in a folder you specify. Suffice it to say that it has all of your part unit conversion needs covered. But... It is a command line interface (CLI) program. You'll have to type in all the commands you want it to execute, making sure to follow the syntax it expects. Did you make a typo in the argument list? At best, it will give you an error message and won't run; at worst, it will run with an option you didn't intend, possibly overwriting multiple files.

The graphical user interface (GUI) has spoiled us. Even seasoned users tend to be intimidated by CLI programs, especially those used infrequently. But with the power of some journal code, we can tame the CLI program to do our bidding while simultaneously making it user friendly.

The code below will use the utility ug_convert_part.exe to do what is perhaps the most common operation: convert the part units of a given part and overwrite the file. The code operates on the current work part (actually, it works best if the desired part is both the work and displayed part). As a precaution, a copy of the part will be placed in your temp directory (just in case).

The limitations of this version are:

• only works on a piece part - if the part has one or more components, a message will display and the journal will exit.
• only works on the native NX filesystem. It will not work with Teamcenter or other PDM/PLM system that stores your files in a database. If Teamcenter is detected, a warning message will appear and the journal will exit.

'NXJournaling.com
'May 13, 2013
'
'journal to convert the units of the work part, native NX filesystem only
'journal closes the work part and calls ug_convert_part, reports success/failure, and reopens the part
'
'changelog:
' June 5, 2013 - bugfix: target units assigned incorrectly

Option Strict Off
Imports System
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports NXOpen
Imports NXOpen.UF
Imports NXOpen.Assemblies

Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim theSession As Session = Session.GetSession()
Dim ufs As UFSession = UFSession.GetUFSession
Dim theUISession As UI = UI.GetUI
Dim workPart As Part = theSession.Parts.Work
Dim partPath As String = workPart.FullPath
Dim partName As String = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(partPath)
Dim copyPart As String = System.IO.Path.Combine(System.IO.Path.GetTempPath, partName)

Dim lw As ListingWindow = theSession.ListingWindow
lw.Open()

Dim IsTcEng As Boolean = False
ufs.UF.IsUgmanagerActive(IsTcEng)
If IsTcEng Then
theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Native NX only", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Information, "This journal only works in native NX")
Exit Sub
End If

'lw.WriteLine("user: " & Environment.UserName)
'lw.WriteLine("part path: " & partPath)
lw.WriteLine("part name: " & partName)
'lw.WriteLine("copy destination: " & copyPart)
lw.WriteLine("current part units: " & workPart.PartUnits.ToString)

Dim targetUnits As String = ""
Dim unitArg As String = ""
If workPart.PartUnits = BasePart.Units.Millimeters Then
targetUnits = "inch"
unitArg = " -in "
Else
targetUnits = "metric"
unitArg = " -mm "
End If

Dim rm As RemoteUtilities = RemoteUtilities.GetRemoteUtilities()
Dim convertPath As String = rm.GetEnvironmentVariable("UGII_ROOT_DIR") & "ug_convert_part.exe"
'lw.WriteLine("UGII_ROOT_DIR: " & convertPath)

Dim c As ComponentAssembly = workPart.ComponentAssembly
If Not IsNothing(c.RootComponent) Then
lw.WriteLine("Assemblies not supported in this version, journal exiting")
Return
Else
lw.WriteLine("Part has no components, units will be converted")
End If

Dim response As Integer
response = theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Convert Units?", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Question, "Convert part to " & targetUnits & " units?")
'1 = Yes
'2 = No

If response = 2 Then
Return
End If

If ufs.Part.IsModified(workPart.Tag) Then
response = theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Save?", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Question, "Save part before closing?")

If response = 1 Then
'save and close
Dim partSaveStatus1 As PartSaveStatus
partSaveStatus1 = workPart.Save(BasePart.SaveComponents.True, BasePart.CloseAfterSave.False)
partSaveStatus1.Dispose()
workPart.Close(BasePart.CloseWholeTree.True, BasePart.CloseModified.UseResponses, Nothing)
workPart = Nothing

Else
'just close
Dim markId1 As Session.UndoMarkId
markId1 = theSession.SetUndoMark(Session.MarkVisibility.Visible, "Close Part")
workPart.Close(BasePart.CloseWholeTree.True, BasePart.CloseModified.UseResponses, Nothing)
workPart = Nothing
'UF_UNDO_delete_all_marks
End If

Else
'just close
Dim markId1 As Session.UndoMarkId
markId1 = theSession.SetUndoMark(Session.MarkVisibility.Visible, "Close Part")
workPart.Close(BasePart.CloseWholeTree.True, BasePart.CloseModified.UseResponses, Nothing)
workPart = Nothing
'UF_UNDO_delete_all_marks
End If

'save backup copy to temp folder before conversion
Dim tempPath As String = System.IO.Path.GetTempPath
My.Computer.FileSystem.CopyFile(partPath, copyPart, True)

'tell user about backup copy
theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Backup Created", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Information, "A backup file has been saved to: " & copyPart)

Dim conversionSuccess As Boolean = False

Try

Dim convertProcess As New Process

Dim myStartInfo As New ProcessStartInfo
myStartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
myStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
myStartInfo.FileName = """" & convertPath & """" & unitArg & """" & partPath & """"
myStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
myStartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True

convertProcess.StartInfo = myStartInfo
convertProcess.Start()

Dim std_out As IO.StreamReader = convertProcess.StandardOutput()
Dim std_err As IO.StreamReader = convertProcess.StandardError()

Dim stdOutput As String = std_out.ReadToEnd
Dim stdLines() As String = stdOutput.Split(ControlChars.CrLf)

For Each Line As String In stdLines
If Line.ToUpper.Contains("SUCCESS") Then
conversionSuccess = True
End If
'lw.WriteLine(Line)
Next

Dim stdError As String = std_err.ReadToEnd
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(stdError) Then
lw.WriteLine("")
lw.WriteLine("stdErr:")
For Each Line As String In stdError
lw.WriteLine(Line)
Next
End If

std_out.Close()
std_err.Close()
convertProcess.Close()

Catch ex As Exception

lw.WriteLine("Error with ug_convert_part.exe")
lw.WriteLine(ex.GetType.ToString & " : " & ex.Message)

End Try

If conversionSuccess Then
theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Success", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Information, "File converted successfully, reopening file")
Else
theUISession.NXMessageBox.Show("Failure", NXMessageBox.DialogType.Information, "File failed to convert, reopening file")
End If

Dim basePart1 As BasePart
Dim partLoadStatus1 As PartLoadStatus
basePart1 = theSession.Parts.OpenBaseDisplay(partPath, partLoadStatus1)

workPart = theSession.Parts.Work
partLoadStatus1.Dispose()

End Sub

Public Function GetUnloadOption(ByVal dummy As String) As Integer

'Unloads the image when the NX session terminates
GetUnloadOption = NXOpen.Session.LibraryUnloadOption.AtTermination

End Function

End Module

Conclusion

You can create a custom menu item and/or toolbar button to give your users one click access to part conversion. Or, if you need to convert entire assemblies or directories of parts, use the code as a guide and add in your desired options.

Happy coding!