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Malerzów, April 28, 2013

Installation & Operating Instructions –

Macro Naming Version 1.0

1. Preliminary remarks

This document is a simplified installation & operating guide for Macro Naming

version 1.0 for Windows XP / 7 (32 or 64-bit) and CATIA V5 in English.

For proper installation and use of this macro it is necessary to meet the following

conditions:

application of CATIA V5 from Release 16 to 23 installed (with such releases the

macro has been tested, if there is any compatibility issues it is recommended to

contact me by email – contact details can be found on the last page).

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher installed,

1,0 MB free disk space (recommended location C:\).

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2. Installation

The installation process starts with extracting the received archive

AB_Naming_DEMO.zip and running the file AB_Naming_DEMO.exe.

In the appearing dialog box press the Next> button to proceed to the choice of

installation path:

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The recommended location for installation is set to the default "C: \ AB_Designer \

AB_Naming " directory. To change the directory, select the Browse…. Button. The chosen

location will be referred in the later section to as "installation directory". Selection is

confirmed by pressing the Next > button.

At this point, it may be necessary to add the installation file AB_Naming_DEMO.exe to the

list of trusted applications of installed antivirus software, as it can block the installation

procedure.

If the installation was successful, the following window should appear:

Now, exit the installation program by selecting the Finish button. In the event of any

issues it is recommended to contact us us email (contact details can be found on the last page).

Next run the CATIA application. Then go to the window Macros, using:

the first way: Shortcut Alt+F8,

the second way: menu Tools -> Macro ->Macros…

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In the current window select the Macro libraries… option

Then, in the drop-down menu select VBA Projects and press the Add existing

library… button. Selection dialog box opens:

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In the dialog box select the EXE_Start.catvba file from the installation directory (by

default „C:\AB_Designer\AB_Naming”) and confirm by pressing the Open button. Now you

are back in the dialog box

Macro libraries:

In the current window in the list with the name Current libraries: confirm with a

double click the path of the new library, whose default name is

„C:\AB_Designer\AB_Naming\EXE_Start.catvba”. After confirmation, you will return to the

Macros dialog box:

The installation process has been completed. By selecting the Run button the macro

starts. Renewed access to this window Macros is possible in two ways:

by shortcut Alt+F8,

from menu Tools -> Macro ->Macros…

Close the Macros window with the Close button.

The following step is to add a button to the toolbar, which allows a quick and easy

start of the Naming macro.

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The step described below is optional and does not affect the running of the macro and is only

intended to facilitate the access and accelerate its launch. To skip this step, go to Section 3.

Before starting this procedure, close all of its subwindows in the CATIA application

(parts, assemblies, drawings, etc.). The window should look like this:

Now, from the upper menu select Tools -> Customize… – the Customize window

should appear:

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Go to the Commands tab from the Categories list and select the Macros item, then

press the Show Properties… button. The window will be extended to additional functions:

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In order to assign an icon to macro, select the „…” button from the bottom of the

window. When the Icons Browser widow appears, select an icon by clicking it and confirm

the selection with the Close button. After returning to the Customize window, go to the

Toolbars tab:

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By clicking New… name selection window of new toolbar New Toolbar will open,

where under Toolbar Name item enter (for example) the name „AB Naming” and confirm

with the OK button. New toolbar should be now available in the Toolbars list in the

Customize window:

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With AB Naming selected, click Add commands… button and the list of ready-to-use

commands will be displayed:

From the list choose ABNaming_START and confirm with OK button.

After returning to the Customize window, close it with the Toolbars button. The button has

been added to the new Toolbar.

The macro will start by pressing the ABNaming_START button on the AB Naming

Toolbar which is accessible from each module of the CATIA application which is equal with

using the Run button in the Macros window.

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3. Start and Description of the Features

Running the macro opens start-up dialog box to select the installation path:

After pressing the Select installation path button for information purposes the macro

will display a dialog box where the „AB_Naming.exe” file is to be selected. After pressing

the OK button, selection dialog box appears:

According to the foregoing, select the „EXE_Start.catvba” file from the installation

directory (by default „C:\AB_Designer\AB_Naming”) and confirm by pressing the Open

button.

The path selecting procedure for the „AB_Naming.exe” file is to be performed only once

during the first start of the Naming macro and each time when the temporary files of the

application (by default C:\Users\User Name\ AppData\Local\Temp) have been removed. This

is the case with using all kind of „cleaning” software for register, system locations and

temporary files. Each subsequent run will be starting with the following step.

Starting the macro (with theABNaming_START button on the AB Naming Toolbar or

with the Run button in the Macros window) opens start-up dialog box:

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Before starting the macro keep in mind, that the highest position in the CATII tree should be

the CATProduct assembly which contains at least one component (CATPart, CATProduct

orComponent), otherwise the error message will be displayed and the macro will not start. It

is also recommended to save all changes (using the Save Management option).

If all relevant conditions have been completed, all main macros will open after

pressing START button:

Main menu can be separated into three basic areas:

View Port – used for visual control of the assembly status and performed changes,

described in Section 3.1.

Toolkit – menu used to make changes in names of components, described in Section

3.2. Menu shall possess four modes of operation: Replace / Add Text described in

Section 3.2.1. or Rename described in Section 3.2.2.

Selection box of save path – used for selection of save location for changed assembly

and for confirmation or discarding of the applied changes. Described in Section 3.3.

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3.1. View Port

Structure of an illustrative assembly in the CATII tree and its transfer into the macro

view port is shown in the diagram below:

The macro will not load elements hidden in CATII into the view port (option Hide/Show).

There is, however, an exception to this rule, namely: if a component appears in an assembly

more than once and only one instance is hidden, the component will be loaded into the view

port anyway. In addition, if a repeatedly used component is placed in a hidden location, the

location will be also leaded and changed.

Each component of the CATII tree is displayed in the view port only once and

contains 3 features:

1. File name on disk with extension. Letters A/C/P preceding a colon at the beginning of

the line accordingly mean: Assembly, Component, Part and are related to the type of

the component.

The only exception is Component, as it doesn't create any file on disk. In this case the

first name is the name of an Assembly, in which given Component is placed, then,

after a double colon the Part Number is displayed.

2. Part Number of the CATII tree.

Please note that despite the name “Part Number” there is no need to use only numbers

for it – letters can be used, too.

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3. Instance Name

The instance name is checked only „to dot”, because each instance used in the session

must have a unique name. If the instance names of repeatedly used components are

different from each other, then the third item is skipped in the view port. In that case,

the Check Instance function is used to control the instance name, described in the next

section.

In order to enable a quick, visual verification of what is happening with the names of

components in the assembly in the view port, a simple underline and colors system has been

created, whereby:

Underlining and marking in green means that all names (file, part and instance) are the

same.

Marking in green without underlining means that the file and part names are the same, only

the instance name is different.

Underlining and marking in red means that the file and part names are the different, but one

of them (the underlined one) is the same as the instance name.

Marking in red without underlining means that all names (file, part and instance) are different.

3.2. Toolkit

There are two buttons visible on the top of the kit:

Reset – used to undo all changes made in the view port to the selected component. It

becomes active when changes have been made in the view port (elements highlighted

in yellow),

Check Instance – used to verify names of component instance repeatedly used in the

session. Indicating a specific location in the view port and using the button opens the

following dialog box:

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There are three pieces of information displayed: file name and part name that are

shown also in the view port and all instance names (of the same repeatedly used component)

appearing in the assembly.

3.2.1. Replace / Add Text

Mode allowing changing one phrase to another or adding a new one to the name of

file, part or instance.

There are two editable boxes, starting from the top:

Old: – enter here the input phrase (the old one) which is to be changed ,

New: – enter here the out phrase (the new one) which should replace the old phrase or,

if applicable, which has to be added to the old name.

Below the editable boxes there is a frame with two options to select from:

Add at the beginning – selecting this option adds phrase given in the New: window at

the beginning of the old phrase,

Add at the end – selecting this option adds phrase given in the New: window at the

end of the old phrase.

In case of using the option of adding a new phrase to the old name, the box Old: has to be

empty, otherwise the option frame Add at the beginning / Add at the end remains inactive.

There is a frame with three options on the right side: File Name, Part Number and

Instance Name it is used to select the name that is to be changed.

Double click on the white background of the frame immediately selects all three items (File

Name, Part Number, Instance Name).

There are two green buttons below:

Select – allows to select components in the view port that are to be changed,

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All – automatically applies changes to all components currently located in the view

port.

The Select and All buttons become active once the change scheme has been defined,

i.e. whether the Old: and New: boxes are filled or the New: box only and any of following

option is selected (Add at the beginning / Add at the end) and at least one name will be

chosen from the frame on the right side.

In the demo version the All button is blocked and remains inactive.

Example 1 – adding „AB” phrase at the end of the file and instance name and part

number of two selected components.

Start with entering the „AB” phrase in the New: box, then in the window below mark

Add at the end and in the box on the right side select all three options – File Name, Part

Number and Instance Name.

Now, press the Select button and select any two components in the view port:

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Finish selection with the End selection button:

Chosen components are highlighted in yellow and their input names are displayed for

checking (after the symbols >:>).

Example 2 – changing the „V001” phrase to „V002” in the name of the file, instance

and part number (for full macro version only).

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Start with entering the „V001” phrase in the Old: box and in the New: box: „V002”,

then in the window on the right side select all three option Add a t the end and in the bpx on

the right side select all three options – File Name, Part Number and Instance Name. Now,

press the All button:

Similar to the Example 1, the modified components are highlighted in yellow and their

changed names will be displayed.

Selecting any component and pressing the Reset button undo the introduced changes.

3.2.2. Rename

This mode allows to rename file, part and instance and replace existing name with to

any phrase.

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Starting from the top, there is one editable New: box displayed – the text specified

therein will replace the selected names. The green Read Node button above is closely related

to that function and is used for importing names from the workspace to the New: box.

There is a frame below with four options to select from:

Text – to change selected names will be used phrase from the New: box (any or read

by the Read Node function),

File Name – selected names will be changed to file name,

Part Number – selected names will be changed to part number.

Instance Name – selected names will be changed to instance name.

The frame on the right side (to select File Name, Part Number and Instance Name) and

the Select and All buttons have the same function as in the Replace / Add Text mode.

Example 3 – reading file name of any component and its use for changing the instance

name of the same component.

Start with pressing the Read Node and reading the file name of the component.

Then, in the frame below the New: window select the Text option and in the frame on

the right side select Instance Name. Now, press the Select button and select the same

component in the view port:

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Similar to the Example 1 and 2, the modified component is highlighted in yellow.

Because of the fact that this part is in multiple use in assembly with different instance names,

its original name is not visible in the view port, but the input one only (after the symbols >:>).

Example 4 – changing the name of the file, instance and part number to the name of

the part in all components (for full macro version only).

Start with selecting the option Part Number in the frame at the bottom and selecting all

three items – File Name, Part Number and Instance Name in the frame on the right side. Now,

press the All button:

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Marking in yellow tells, as in previews examples, that the macro has modified all

components. The input names (after the symbols >:>) are visible only when they actually

have been changed, i.e. when the input name and the output name differ from each other.

3.3. Location Path Selection Box

All introduced so far changes have been related to the macro interface only and have

not affected assemblies opened in the CATII application. Next and last at the same time step

is saving changes that have been made. In order to do that, select first the save path. This is

done by the Destination Path: box with two yellow buttons:

Select Path – opens location dialog box where ultimately all modified components will

be saved.

Product Path– will automatically select location for editable assembly as save path –

all modified components will be overwritten.

Pressing the yellow OK button saves all modified components in the location

displayed in the Destination Path: box and reloads modified and saved assembly into to view

port:

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Pressing the red EXIT button closes the macro without saving changes.

A cross symbol in the top right corner that normally closes the window, in this case

restarts the macro and cleans all introduced changes.

4. Macro Personalization

Macro version described in this manual is the most versatile one which offers features

and tools selected for the fastest and most efficient use. There is of course the possibility to

adjust the Naming macro settings or extend the interface to new tools and functions in order

to maximize the functionality and adjust to individual needs or inertial requirements and

databases. The following provides an example for macro individualization for customer

needs:

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For any questions about personalization it is recommended to contact us by email

(contact details can be found on the last page).

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at the address below.

Contact address:

adrian.burzynski@abdesigner.pl