MM4 to PC-DMIS

I've been through this, ten years or so ago. We had about fifty MM4 program to convert to PC-Dmis. The MM4 to PC-Dmis converter was a mess. So, I made all the conversions by hand. When I did the first conversion, I found that the user input, reporting and data processing parts of MM4 was a mess and time consuming to replicate in PC-Dmis, which was also the problem with the so-called converter.

I decided then to turn it into an opportunity to upgrade the MM4 programs. After we prioritized the MM4 programs, then starting with the 1st, I broke each MM4 program down to code that measures, code that reports and code that takes operator or data file input. I used C# with PC-Dmis Automation to perform the Operator input, data file processing and creating reports, which ended up being highly reusable C# code. All that was left to write in PC-Dmis was the measurement task, which ended up being pretty straight forward. I didn't aim for a direct replication of the MM4 process. Once the MM4 measurement process was understood, I made changes to improve positioning and, in some cases, efficiency in the order of hits. Much of our MM4 code was written by novices' years before so there was plenty of opportunity for improvements.

The result was smaller, cleaner and easy to follow PC-Dmis code that performs only the work of machine positioning and taking measurement hits. The original MM4 reports were replicated in an Excel document as a template, with improvements made from a wish list made by the former MM4 users. The C# program handled the collection of data needed by the measurement program as well as receiving the measurement results in real time, which were then written into the appropriate Excel template document cell. When measurement was completed the Excel document was saved as a PDF file, preserving the original Excel template document empty of data and ready for the next part.

I've been through this, ten years or so ago. We had about fifty MM4 program to convert to PC-Dmis. The MM4 to PC-Dmis converter was a mess. So, I made all the conversions by hand. When I did the first conversion, I found that the user input, reporting and data processing parts of MM4 was a mess and time consuming to replicate in PC-Dmis, which was also the problem with the so-called converter.

I decided then to turn it into an opportunity to upgrade the MM4 programs. After we prioritized the MM4 programs, then starting with the 1st, I broke each MM4 program down to code that measures, code that reports and code that takes operator or data file input. I used C# with PC-Dmis Automation to perform the Operator input, data file processing and creating reports, which ended up being highly reusable C# code. All that was left to write in PC-Dmis was the measurement task, which ended up being pretty straight forward. I didn't aim for a direct replication of the MM4 process. Once the MM4 measurement process was understood, I made changes to improve positioning and, in some cases, efficiency in the order of hits. Much of our MM4 code was written by novices' years before so there was plenty of opportunity for improvements.

The result was smaller, cleaner and easy to follow PC-Dmis code that performs only the work of machine positioning and taking measurement hits. The original MM4 reports were replicated in an Excel document as a template, with improvements made from a wish list made by the former MM4 users. The C# program handled the collection of data needed by the measurement program as well as receiving the measurement results in real time, which were then written into the appropriate Excel template document cell. When measurement was completed the Excel document was saved as a PDF file, preserving the original Excel template document empty of data and ready for the next part.