Automatically exporting a pointcloud

I've been working on this forever, no luck yet.
The sticky point is automating the Microsoft Windows dialog window IDs and their field IDs.

I also put it in as an improvement request to the software development team.

It is possible to do this if you have CAD++. You need to have a license for the COP(Cloud Of Points) commands. You create a COP feature that references the features containing the points you want to export ( it can only be points. Lines, planes, etc. won't export). Next you create a COP operator command with the subtype "export". Choose .iges as your file type and select a path. One trick here is that the path field has a bug in it (at least in 2013MR1 it does) that prevents you from using variables to define the export path. To get around this you can just export to a static path and file name and then use a "Move" command to rename the file and place it wherever you want (if you need to append a serial number, time stamp, etc). The final piece of the puzzle is to go up to the top of your program and create a COP operator with subtype "Empty" and reference your COP feature. So now when the program runs it will empty any old data from the point cloud, measure all of your features, collect the new measured data in the point cloud feature, and then export it in .iges format. I've been using this method in every program for years now without a single problem.

Well done DaSalo.

Nice one, thanks DaSalo that worked perfect.

Quick follow up question as well. Our CAD guys are asking for a nominal and measured pointcloud. If I write the program offline then its no problem but if I do it online then it outputs the measured values. Is there a way to either reset all measured values to nominal or tell the pointcloud output the nominal not measured points?

You can export only nominals by using the manual .iges export function in the "File" menu. You should only need to do that once so shouldn't be a big deal to export it manually. The COP functions don't have an explicit "Nominal Export" mode. I do it by running the program offline but I always program offline so not a big deal. There is also a function to reset all measured values to nominal. I believe it is in the operations menu. In my experience this one can be a bit funky because constructed features don't always update correctly. It appears that everything has been reset but until you actually run it offline it isn't fully reset.

Ok thanks very much for your help