Print all open drawings

The following journal code will print all drawing sheets from all fully loaded part files to your default printer. This can be useful if you want some quick print outs for reference. It should use the default paper size for your printer. If it does not, or you prefer a different paper size, you can uncomment or add the appropriate paper size in the PrintSheet subroutine.

Points of interest

The code uses some .net framework objects to determine the default printer.



The subroutine ChangeDisplayPart will make the given part the display part. Printing the drawing sheets didn't seem to work unless the part was either the display or work part. This subroutine could come in handy in other journal projects.



This journal also shows how to loop through the drawing sheets and update any views that are out of date.

The Code

Written and tested on NX 8.5; will probably work as far back as NX 6, though I cannot test that.


The "lw" calls are there for debugging only, uncomment them to see additional information.

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

Module Module1

Dim theSession As Session = Session.GetSession()
Dim defaultPrinterName As String = ""

Sub Main()

Dim workPart As Part = theSession.Parts.Work
Dim lw As ListingWindow = theSession.ListingWindow
'lw.Open()

Dim printerSettings As New System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings
Try
defaultPrinterName = printerSettings.PrinterName
Catch ex As System.Exception
defaultPrinterName = ""
Finally
printerSettings = Nothing
End Try

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(defaultPrinterName) Then
MessageBox.Show("No default printer found.", "Printer error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
Return
End If

For Each tempPart As Part In theSession.Parts

If tempPart.IsFullyLoaded Then
'lw.WriteLine("part: " & tempPart.FullPath)
ChangeDisplayPart(tempPart)

For Each tempSheet As Drawings.DrawingSheet In tempPart.DrawingSheets
'lw.WriteLine(" sheet: " & tempSheet.Name)
tempPart.DraftingViews.UpdateViews(Drawings.DraftingViewCollection.ViewUpdateOption.OutOfDate, tempSheet)

PrintSheet(tempPart, tempSheet)

Next
'lw.WriteLine("")

End If

ChangeDisplayPart(workPart)

Next

'lw.Close()

End Sub

Sub PrintSheet(ByVal thePart As Part, ByVal theSheet As Drawings.DrawingSheet)

Dim printBuilder1 As PrintBuilder
printBuilder1 = thePart.PlotManager.CreatePrintBuilder()

printBuilder1.PrinterText = defaultPrinterName

'printer settings, change as desired
printBuilder1.Copies = 1
printBuilder1.ThinWidth = 1.0
printBuilder1.NormalWidth = 2.0
printBuilder1.ThickWidth = 3.0
printBuilder1.Output = PrintBuilder.OutputOption.WireframeBlackWhite
printBuilder1.RasterImages = True
printBuilder1.Orientation = PrintBuilder.OrientationOption.Landscape
'printBuilder1.Paper = PrintBuilder.PaperSize.Letter
'printBuilder1.Paper = PrintBuilder.PaperSize.A4

Dim paper1 As PrintBuilder.PaperSize
paper1 = printBuilder1.Paper

Dim sheets1(0) As NXObject
sheets1(0) = theSheet
printBuilder1.SourceBuilder.SetSheets(sheets1)

Dim nXObject1 As NXObject

Try
nXObject1 = printBuilder1.Commit()
Catch ex As NXException
'optional: add code to log/display error
Finally
printBuilder1.Destroy()
End Try

End Sub

Public Sub ChangeDisplayPart(ByVal myPart As Part)

'make the given component the display part
Dim markId1 As Session.UndoMarkId
markId1 = theSession.SetUndoMark(Session.MarkVisibility.Invisible, "Display Part")

Try
Dim partLoadStatus1 As PartLoadStatus
Dim status1 As PartCollection.SdpsStatus
status1 = theSession.Parts.SetDisplay(myPart, False, False, partLoadStatus1)

partLoadStatus1.Dispose()
Catch ex As NXException
'optional: add code to log/display error
theSession.UndoToMark(markId1, "Display Part")
Finally
theSession.DeleteUndoMark(markId1, "Display Part")
End Try

End Sub

End Module