Got Visual Studio and the Interop.PCDLRN.dll... Now what?

As I upgraded one CMM to Windows 7 64-bit, my small VBS helpers died in the process (still kickin' butt on XP though).
So, I have begun re-coding them in Visual Studio 2010 (I think). I have gotten so far in the coding where I need to connect to PC-DMIS and start interfacing with it. Now, I managed to find the DLL that is supposed to expose some interfaces and methods and I have successfully added it to my project.

Then what? How do I use the DLL to connect to PC-DMIS and expose the PartPrograms collection for instance?

Oh, I am using C# for this...

Any and all input, examples or suggestions are VERY welcome!

TIA!

Parents

cappy6124 over 8 years ago

vpt,

I'll start with a question. How would you connect to a currently running program in a PC-DMIS script?

dim app as object
set app = CreateObject("PCDLRN.Application")

the c# equivalent is very easy, there is actually a doc burried in the script editor help file called "Windows 7 automation notes"

the following code is derived from that.

// code to open pc-dmis, if pc-dmis is open, this c# application will connect to the currently running instance of PC-DMIS

using PCDLRN;


// class containing functions for interacting with pcdmis
public class PCDMISInterop
{
	Appliction pcdApp; // don't use IAppliction, instances of interface types cannot be created, Interfaces can only be inherated

	public Application PCDMISApplication
	{
		get{return this.Application;}
	}
	
	public PCDMISInterop()
	{
		startPCDMIS();
	}

	bool StartPCDMIS()
	{
	     try
	     {
	          Type pcdObjType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("PCDLRN.Application");
	          this.pcdApp = Activator.CreateInstance(pcdObjType);
	          string status = "";
	          /*
	              this while loop starts with status = "", and will query PC-DMIS for the text in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
	              when it finally says "READY" or it contains "DONE INIT", the loop will exit
	           */
	          while (status != "READY" && !status.Contains("DONE INIT")) 
	          {
	               System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000); // give pc-dmis a second to work
	               status = this.pcdApp.StatusBar.ToUpper();
	          }
	          return true; //pc-dmis started
	     }
	     catch
	     {
	          return false; // an error occured
	     }
	}
	
	// Gets the active part program
}

this is how you would use it in the main part of the program


using PCDLRN;

int main(void)
{
	PCDMISInterop PCDMIS = new PCDMISInterop();
	
	PartProgram pcdProgram = PCDMIS.PCDMISApplication.ActivePartProgram
	
	// the following 2 methods could be put into the PCDMISInterop Class to simplify the coding.
	
	// to open a part program
	PCDMIS.PCDMISApplication.PartPrograms.Open("C:\test.prg","CMM1"); // "CMM1" for online, "OFFLINE" for offline
	
	// to create a new part program
	PCDMIS.PCDMISApplication.PartPrograms.Add("C:\test2.prg",UNITTYPE.INCH/*UNITTYPE.MM for metric*/,"TESTPROBE");
	
	
}

I hope this helps.

I do a lot of Interop with PC-DMIS in C# so if you need anything send me a PM.

i some how ended up back on this page, in the method "StartPCDMIS()", I noticed that i should have used a different command to check when PC-DMIS is ready... so here's the Edit:

bool StartPCDMIS()
	{
	     try
	     {
	          Type pcdObjType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("PCDLRN.Application");
	          this.pcdApp = Activator.CreateInstance(pcdObjType);

                  int timeout = 100; // the number of seconds to wait...
                  pcdApp.WaitUntilReady(timeout);


	          return true; //pc-dmis started
	     }
	     catch
	     {
	          return false; // an error occured
	     }
	}

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