VB as it relates to PCDMIS

1. Ok, I have come across instances of people using VB in writing programs for PCDMIS.

2. Can any one point me in the direction of learning how to use Visual Basic as it relates to PCDMIS.

3. What does VB offer in relation to PCDMIS that PCDMIS without it can't?

4. What other application can be used in conjunction with PCDMIS?

5. Will the different varieties of VB work with PCDMIS? ( MS VB APPLICATIONS, VISUAL STUDIO, VB.NET, ETC...)

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vpt.se over 11 years ago

2. Study the PC-DMIS BASIC help file and skim through the posts in the code samples section.

3. Automation (controlled by you) or pretty much everything that PC-DMIS already does and don't do.

4. Almost any application can, but it often needs a "man in the middle" application that talks to both applications.
One that fetches the data from PC-DMIS and feeds it to the other application.

5. I believe so, yes. Not only VB but any programming language that supports OLE/COM.
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Josh Carpenter over 11 years ago

Hi Richard,
Looks like you are rapidly expanding your knowledge at your new job - awesome!

In a nutshell, we use VB in the form of text document scripts to automate actions in PC-DMIS and add additional capability.

Example 1: Script call in a program to get operator input in a single dialog box
At the beginning of the program, use the Insert - Basic Script command and navigate to a folder on the computer where OPERATOR_INPUTS.BAS is stored.
Note that it comes in Unmarked, we always have to use F3 to Mark a script call.

Our program looks like this:

CS1        =SCRIPT/FILENAME= C:\YOUR_FOLDER_HERE\OPERATOR_INPUTS.BAS
            FUNCTION/Main,SHOW=YES,,
            STARTSCRIPT/
            ENDSCRIPT/

If we were to open up Operator_input.BAS with Notepad or Wordpad or even Microsoft Word we would see this:

Sub Main
Begin Dialog DIALOG_1 50,10, 275, 300,      oOPERATORINPUT
  GroupBox 5,5,260,25
Text 20,15,85,12, "Enter Operator:"
  TextBox 85,13,135,12, .EditBox_1
  GroupBox 5,35,260,25
Text 25,45,85,12, "Enter Job Number:"
  TextBox 95,43,135,12, .EditBox_2
  GroupBox 5,65,260,25
Text 32,75,85,12, "Enter Serial Number:"
  TextBox 105,73,135,12, .EditBox_3
  GroupBox 5,210,172,25
Text 10,220,85,12, "Need Manual Alignment?"
  OptionGroup .GROUP_2
    OptionButton 105,220,25,12, "YES"
    OptionButton 145,220,25,12, "NO"
  OKButton 195,210,65,45
  CancelButton 120,275,48,16
End Dialog
Dim Dialg As DIALOG_1
button1 = Dialog(Dialg)
Dim Progtype As String
Dim MANUALQ As String
MANUALQ= "YES"
If button1 = 0 Then
  Progtype= "END"
Else
  Select Case Dialg.GROUP_2
    Case 0
      MANUALQ= "YES"
    Case 1
      MANUALQ= "NO"
  End Select
Dim SerNum As String
 Oper = Dialg.EditBox_1
 Job = Dialg.EditBox_2
 SerNum = Dialg.EditBox_3
End If
Dim App As Object
Set App = CreateObject("PCDLRN.Application")
Dim Part As Object
Set Part = App.ActivePartProgram
Dim Cmds As Object
Dim Cmd As Object
Set Cmds = Part.Commands
For Each Cmd In Cmds
  If Cmd.Type = ASSIGNMENT Then
    If Cmd.GetText(DEST_EXPR, 0) = "OPERATOR" Then
      bln = Cmd.PutText("""" + Oper + """", SRC_EXPR, 0)
      Cmd.ReDraw
    End If
    If Cmd.GetText(DEST_EXPR, 0) = "JOB" Then
      bln = Cmd.PutText("""" + Job + """", SRC_EXPR, 0)
      Cmd.ReDraw
    End If
    If Cmd.GetText(DEST_EXPR,0) = "SERNO" Then
      bln = Cmd.PutText("""" + SerNum + """", SRC_EXPR, 0)
      Cmd.ReDraw
    End If
    If Cmd.GetText(DEST_EXPR,0) = "MANUAL" Then
      bln = Cmd.PutText("""" + MANUALQ + """", SRC_EXPR, 0)
      Cmd.ReDraw
    End If
  End If
Next Cmd
End Sub

Lots of gobbledeygook, right? I understand very little of it, because I openly admit to being a Copy-Paste-Tweak hack programmer, not a true VB coder.
So, feel free to copy and paste this into a Text document and save it as OPERATOR_INPUTS.txt - but once it's saved, change the file extension from .txt to .BAS

In the program, we're going to need to add four variable assignments after the script call:
ASSIGN/OPERATOR=0
ASSIGN/JOB=0
ASSIGN/SERNO=0
ASSIGN/MANUAL=0
We'll see why once we run the program.
What the script does is pop up a simple VB Dialog Box that looks like the picture attached.
The operator fills in the fields, and clicks OK...
... and the script then takes their input and automatically pastes it into the variable assignments in PC-DMIS.

Then our program looks like:
ASSIGN/OPERATOR="JOSH"
ASSIGN/JOB="99999"
ASSIGN/SERNO="TESTSAMPLE31"
ASSIGN/MANUAL="YES"
because that's what was entered that run.

Attached Files

ADAM WALLACE over 11 years ago

one day Ill get here one day
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