Extending SOLIDWORKS Interference Detection

Model c/o Malcom Ma

Have you ever run the SOLIDWORKS Interference Detection tool and thought, "If I could only save this list of interfering components?"

I was talking with a colleague who recently hit this problem square-on.  He wanted to work through hundreds of interference problems resulting from the lackluster design of a printed circuit board.  Here comes the SOLIDWORKS API to the rescue!

The fundamentals come from an API help example here.  Minor modifications were made to store the data being sent to the Debug window and save it to a text file.  Finally, to give the macro some real flair, adding the option to turn the interfering volumes into bodies in a part.

Rather than packing all of the code into the macro's main procedure, I've created new classes named InterferenceChecking and LocalInterferences.  These two classes have all of the routines needed and can be called from a separate application if you don't want to just run it as a macro.

Download the macro source code here (VB.NET)

Implement the new class like this.

Public Sub main()

    Dim model As ModelDoc2 = swApp.ActiveDoc

    Dim intCheck As New InterferenceChecking

    intCheck.CheckInterference(model, swApp)

    intCheck = Nothing

End Sub

The following is all code for the project, not including the calling reference.

Imports SolidWorks.Interop.sldworks

Imports SolidWorks.Interop.swconst

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Imports System

Imports System.Diagnostics

Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class InterferenceChecking

    Public Sub CheckInterference(ByVal model As ModelDoc2, _

    ByRef swApp As SldWorks)

        Dim swModelDoc As ModelDoc2 = model

        Dim swAssemblyDoc As AssemblyDoc

        Dim pIntMgr As InterferenceDetectionMgr

        Dim vInts As Object

        Dim i As Long

        Dim j As Long

        Dim interference As IInterference

        Dim vComps As Object = Nothing

        Dim comp As Component2

        Dim vol As Double

        Dim vTrans As Object = Nothing

        Dim ret As Boolean

        Dim repMessage As String = "Interference report for: " _

        & model.GetTitle & vbCrLf

        swAssemblyDoc = swModelDoc

        pIntMgr = swAssemblyDoc.InterferenceDetectionManager

        ' Specify the interference detection settings and options

        pIntMgr.TreatCoincidenceAsInterference = False

        pIntMgr.TreatSubAssembliesAsComponents = True

        pIntMgr.IncludeMultibodyPartInterferences = True

        pIntMgr.MakeInterferingPartsTransparent = False

        pIntMgr.CreateFastenersFolder = True

        pIntMgr.IgnoreHiddenBodies = True

        pIntMgr.ShowIgnoredInterferences = False

        pIntMgr.UseTransform = True

        ' Specify how to display non-interfering components

        pIntMgr.NonInterferingComponentDisplay = _

        swNonInterferingComponentDisplay_e. _

        swNonInterferingComponentDisplay_Wireframe

        ' Run interference detection

        vInts = pIntMgr.GetInterferences

        Debug.Print("Total number of interferences: " _

        & pIntMgr.GetInterferenceCount)

        repMessage = repMessage _

  & "Total number of interferences: " _

        & pIntMgr.GetInterferenceCount & vbCrLf

        ' Get interfering components and transforms

        ret = pIntMgr.GetComponentsAndTransforms(vComps, vTrans)

        Dim bodies(0) As Object

        ' Get interference information

        For i = 0 To UBound(vInts)

            Debug.Print("Interference " & (i + 1))

            repMessage = repMessage & "Interference " & (i + 1) _

& vbCrLf

            interference = vInts(i)

            ReDim Preserve bodies(i)

            bodies(i) = interference.GetInterferenceBody()

            Debug.Print( _

"  Number of components in this interference: " _

            & interference.GetComponentCount)

            repMessage = repMessage _

            & "  Number of components in this interference: " _

            & interference.GetComponentCount & vbCrLf

            vComps = interference.Components

            For j = 0 To UBound(vComps)

                comp = vComps(j)

                Dim cName As String = comp.ComponentReference

                If cName = "" Then cName = comp.Name2

                Debug.Print("   " & cName)

                repMessage = repMessage & "   " & cName & vbCrLf

            Next j

            vol = interference.Volume

            Dim volMessage As String = _

            "  Interference volume: " _

            & Format((vol * 1000000000), "#.###") & " mm^3"

            Debug.Print(volMessage)

            repMessage = repMessage & volMessage & vbCrLf

        Next i

        ' Stop interference detection

        pIntMgr.Done()

        If MsgBox("Save report to file?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNo _

        + MsgBoxStyle.Question) = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then

            'write out the report

            WriteReport(repMessage, model.GetTitle & ".txt")

        End If

        If MsgBox("Create intereference volume part?" & vbCrLf _

        & "*Complex interference can take time.", _

        MsgBoxStyle.YesNo + MsgBoxStyle.Question) _

  = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then

            'Create a part with the bodies array

            Dim intf As New LocalInterferences(bodies)

            intf.CreateInterferingBodiesPart(swApp)

            intf = Nothing

        End If

    End Sub

    Private Sub WriteReport(ByVal repMessage As String, _

    Optional ByVal defaultName As String = "")

        Dim sfd As New SaveFileDialog

        sfd.DefaultExt = "txt"

        sfd.Filter = "Text file(*.txt)|*.txt"

        sfd.FileName = defaultName

        sfd.OverwritePrompt = True

        Dim diaRes As DialogResult = sfd.ShowDialog()

        If diaRes = DialogResult.OK Then

            Dim filePath As String = sfd.FileName

            My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(sfd.FileName, _

            repMessage, False)

            Process.Start(sfd.FileName)

        End If

    End Sub

End Class

Class LocalInterferences

  Dim intBodies As Object

  Friend Sub CreateInterferingBodiesPart( _

  ByRef swApp As SldWorks)

    If intBodies Is Nothing Then

      Exit Sub

    End If

    Dim part As PartDoc

    part = swApp.NewPart()

    For i As Integer = 0 To UBound(intBodies)

      Dim feat As Feature

      feat = part.CreateFeatureFromBody3(intBodies(i), _

      False, swCreateFeatureBodyOpts_e.swCreateFeatureBodyCheck _

      + swCreateFeatureBodyOpts_e.swCreateFeatureBodySimplify)

    Next i

  End Sub

  Public Sub New(ByVal bodies As Object)

    intBodies = bodies

  End Sub

End Class