What's New in the ESPRIT 2009 API

The new functionality and enhancements in ESPRIT 2009 have prompted additions and changes to the ESPRIT API as well.

• A CadFiles collection containing references to all imported CadFile objects has been added to the ESPRIT Document. The CadFile object tracks the last modify time of the imported file on disk and has methods such as Restore and Update for when the CAD file changes.
• A DocumentProperties object has been added to the Document. It contains such properties as Author, BuildCreated, BuildLastSaved, Company, DateCreated, DateLastSaved, Notes, Size, and Title.
• A FreeFormFeature object was added for free form machining features. Like with other features, all of the FreeFormFeature objects in a Document will be accessible through a FreeFormFeatures collection.
• The FeatureRecognition for EDM has been enhanced to include new methods such as CreateDraftFeatures2, CreateRuledFeatureFromFaces, and CreateRuledFeatureFromTwoChains. These new methods will all return an array of FeatureFault objects to indicate any faults in the modeling of the solid elements.
• The GUI has new EditStation and EditTurret methods.
• An InsertTechnologyCount and InsertTechnologyItem have been added to the Operation object to make it easier to retrieve technology insertions and a RemoveInsertTechnology method added to make it easier to remove them.
• Each Operation has a new NeedsPartialRebuild property and a PartialRebuild method. Partial rebuild only updates technology related parameters; it does not actually modify the toolpath geometry.
• Each Operation also has a CollinearAxisMode and CollinearAxisPosition and a method to FixCollinearAxis and find the FixedCollinearAxis.
• The ESPRIT Document has new CreateHolderProfile and CreateToolProfile methods for getting the geometric profile of a given holder or tool. The tool profile is the profile that is revolved for mill tools and extruded for turning tools.
• The ESPRIT Document now has a GetAnyElementObject method to prompt the user to select an object from the graphics and to retrieve that object and its parent object. A new espDigitizeItem enumeration allows additional masks to be set on the digitize selection, including an espDigitizeSubElement mask.
• The new selection propagation methods PropagateByCavityFace, PropagateByCavityLoop, and PropagateByTopEdgeLoop have been added to the EspritSolids library and a Propagate method added to the ESPRIT Document.
• The Document has an ActiveSelectionSet property and the SelectionSet object now has OnAbort, OnAdd, and OnRemove events.
• The built-in Simulation has new OnComplete, OnOperationEnd, OnOperationStart, and OnToolCancel events.
• Several collections now have a Contains method to make it easier to test whether or not the collection contains a given object, and an IndexOf method to get the index of a given object within the collection. The collections and objects that have these methods are CadFiles, CustomPropertyList, Group, SelectionSet, and VisualAttributes.
• ConfigurationDraftConicModifiedCorner and ConfigurationReorderEdm were added to the Configuration. ConfigurationDraftConicModifiedCorner contains the default attributes for modified corners on DraftConicFeature objects, while ConfigurationReorderEdm contains the default settings for reordering EDM operations. The ConfigurationReorderEdm settings are organized into SortByCoordinate, SortByFeatureLength, SortSpiral, SortZigzagHorizontal, SortZigzagVectors, and SortZigzagVertical objects.

The API has been updated with the new technology for the 5-axis freeform cycles, the Undercut Mill tool, and the SolidWire technology for Charmilles-Orange, Agie, and AgieVision.

• Technology for 5 Axis simultaneous milling operations has been added. This includes cycles for TechMill5xComposite, TechMill5xContourMilling, TechMill5xSwarf, and TechMill5xZlevelMilling as well as TechLatheMill5xComposite, TechLatheMill5xContourMilling, TechLatheMill5xSwarf, and TechLatheMill5xZlevelMilling. There are, of course, many new technology parameters and new enumerations that have been added to support these machining cycles, as well as objects to define the TechMill5xApproach, TechMill5xFeedLink, and TechMill5xRapidLink.
• A new ToolMillUndercutMill tool was added.
• Support for Charmilles Orange series specific EDM machining has been added. This includes implementation of master technology objects for TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeContour2x, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeContour4x, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeCustom, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeDrill, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeInsert, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeManual, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangePartSetup, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangePocket2x, TechEDM_CharmillesOrangeStopInsert, and the individual cut technology objects SubTechEDM_CharmillesOrangeCutOff, SubTechEDM_CharmillesOrangeRoughCut, and SubTechEDM_CharmillesOrangeSkimCut.
• Specific machining technology for both Agie 123 and Agie Vision EDM has also been added. This includes implementation of master technology objects for TechEDM_Agie123Contour2x, TechEDM_Agie123Contour4x, TechEDM_Agie123Custom, TechEDM_Agie123Drill, TechEDM_Agie123Insert, TechEDM_Agie123Manual, TechEDM_Agie123PartSetup, TechEDM_Agie123Pocket2x, TechEDM_Agie123StopInsert, and the individual cut technology objects SubTechEDM_Agie123CutOff, SubTechEDM_Agie123RoughCut, and SubTechEDM_Agie123SkimCut for Agie 123 machines. For Agie Vision, the master technology objects are TechEDM_AgieVisionContour2x, TechEDM_AgieVisionContour4x, TechEDM_AgieVisionCustom, TechEDM_AgieVisionDrill, TechEDM_AgieVisionInsert, TechEDM_AgieVisionManual, TechEDM_AgieVisionPartSetup, TechEDM_AgieVisionPocket2x, TechEDM_AgieVisionStopInsert, with the individual cut technology objects being SubTechEDM_AgieVisionCutOff, SubTechEDM_AgieVisionRoughCut, and SubTechEDM_AgieVisionSkimCut.
• The TechnologyUtility now has an OnInitializeComplete event.

Several other general enhancements have been made.

• AllowGroupingOfSubElements was added to the Configuration.
• In order to support the new FreeFormFeature objects, a ComFreeFormFeature was added to the EspritFeatures library along with a ComFreeFormFeatureElement object.
• The EspritProperties library now contains a CustomPropertyList type and CustomPropertyListItem.
• A GetAllEntitiesWithCustomProperties method was added to the SolidSession in the EspritSolids library to facilitate the retrieval of solid entities with custom properties assigned to them.
• The FeatureUtility has new GetSubFeature and GetSubFeatureCount methods.
• The EspritSimulation library now has an ISimuToolShanks collection of ISimuToolShank objects. There is also a specific SimuMillToolShank object for mill tools.
• A GenerateRotatedProfile method was added to the ISimuBlock, SimuClamp, SimuFixture, SimuStock, and SimuTarget in the EspritSimulation library.
• The ESPRIT Document contains a VisualAttributes collection of VisualAttribute objects.
• ComFeature objects now have a Bridges property which returns a ComBridges collection of ComBridge objects.
• The EspritGeometryBase library now has IComEllipse and IComEllipseArc interface classes and the EspritGeometry library exposes a ComEllipseArc object.
• The EspritGeometryBase library now has an IComCurve interface class.
• An IVectorVisualAttribute object has been added to the main ESPRIT library.

Several problems were fixed in ESPRIT 2009.

• Could not modify ToolPath at all during the BeforeRebuild event. The event was only being passed a copy of the Operation and so any changes to it were discarded. Now any changes to the Operation or Toolpath in the BeforeRebuild event are preserved.
• It also was not previously possible to modify tool parameters within the OnModify event of a tool for a similar reason. The OnModify event is passed a copy of the tool technology and changes that were made there were being overwritten. This has been fixed so that any changes are copied back to the original tool.
• There was a regression failure with the espHatch and espLeader type masks when used with the GetAnyElement method that made it so you could never pick a Hatch or Leader from the graphics.
• CustomProperty values were not initialized properly. The value could never be changed unless a value was passed to the Add method when the CustomProperty was created, even though the value was an optional argument. Now the value can be omitted and the value set later if necessary.
• There was a conflict when using GetAnyElement or similar Get methods inside the EditTechnology event of the TechnologyUtility.
• The GetBoundingBox method was always failing for EspritSimulation.SimuTarget objects.
• Could not trigger a Rebuild from the Rebuild event even when override was being set to True. This safeguard was removed and now it is the responsibility of the macro programmer to avoid any recursive infinite loops should they have an application for this technique.

Topics were added for all of the new items added above, of course.

Note that the “What’s New” from versions previous to the current one can be found in the What Was New topic in the Appendix.