Distributive Systems

Querying Connectivity and Flow Information

This use case is intended to show how to obtain a part's connectors and get connectivity and connector flow data using a macro.

This macro opens the document CAAPspEduIn.CATProduct. From the root object of this document, the macro obtains a 3-D physical objects and then gets connected objects to it, and then gets connector and flow information for each connected connector.

CAAPspConnectivity is launched in CATIA [1]. No open document is needed.

CAAPspConnectivity.CATScript is located in the CAAScdPspUseCases module. Execute macro (windows only).

CAAPspConnectivity includes the following steps:

1. Prolog
2. Get a Physical (3D) Piping Object
3. Get PspConnectable Object
4. Get Connected Objects
5. Query Connector Information
6. Query Flow Information
7. Query Valid Connector types

Prolog

The macro first loads CAAPspEduIn.CATProduct.

Note: To open a different document, modify the variable sDocPath to point to the directory and sDocFullPath to point to full path name of the document.

    ...
    ' ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    ' Open the Distributive system document 
    Dim objPspDoc As Document
    sDocFullPath = CATIA.FileSystem.ConcatenatePaths(sDocPath, _    
       "\online\CAAScdPspUseCases\samples\CAAPspEduIn.CATProduct" )
        
    Set objPspDoc = CATIA.Documents.Open(sDocFullPath)
    ...

Next, the macro acquires the PspWorkbench object from the document using the top node (objPrdRoot) of the object tree.

    ...
    ' Find the top node of the Distributive System object tree - .  
    
    If ( Not ( objPspDoc Is Nothing ) ) Then
      Set objPrdRoot = objPspDoc.Product 
      If ( Not ( objPrdRoot Is Nothing ) ) Then
        Set objPspWorkbench = objPrdRoot.GetTechnologicalObject ("PspWorkbench")
      End If
    End If
    ...

Then it uses PspWorkbench get application corresponding to "Piping Design" and initialize it.

    ...
    If ( Not ( objPspWorkbench Is Nothing ) ) Then
      Set objPspApplication = objPspWorkbench.GetApplication(catPspIDLCATPiping)

      If ( objPspApplication Is Nothing  ) Then
        strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Unable to get objPspApplication" & vbCr               
      Else
        strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Success in getthing objPspApplication" & vbCr      
        objPspApplication.Initialization()             
      End If
    End If '--- If ( Not ( objPspWorkbench Is Nothing )...
    ...

Get a Physical (3D) Piping Object

Macro then gets PspAppFactory object (objPspAppFactory) from the objPspApplication object and gets a list of physical (3D) piping objects. It gets the first 3-D physical object from the list and stores in the variable objPspPhysical .

    ...
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' Get  a PspPhysical object in the Piping domain
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    If ( Not ( objPspWorkbench Is Nothing ) And _
         Not ( objPspApplication Is Nothing ) ) Then
                        
      Set objPspAppFactory = objPspWorkbench.GetInterface("CATIAPspAppFactory", _
                                                objPspApplication )      

      If ( Not ( objPspAppFactory Is Nothing ) ) Then      
        Dim objLPhysicals     As PspListOfObjects
        Set objLPhysicals = objPspAppFactory.ListPhysicals ( objPrdRoot , catPspIDLCATPIP)
        If ( Not ( objLPhysicals Is Nothing ) And _
           ( objLPhysicals.Count > 0 ) ) Then      
          Set objPspPhysical =  objLPhysicals.Item( 1, "CATIAPspPhysical" )
    ...

Get PspConnectable Object

It then gets PspConnectable object ( objPspCntbl) corresponding to physical object objPspPhysical .

    ...
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' Get objPspCntbl
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    If ( Not ( objPspWorkbench Is Nothing ) And _
         Not ( objPspPhysical Is Nothing ) ) Then  
    
      Set objPspPhyID = objPspWorkbench.GetInterface("CATIAPspID", _
                                                    objPspPhysical )      
      Set objPspCntbl = objPspWorkbench.GetInterface("CATIAPspConnectable", _
                                                    objPspPhysical )
    ...

Get Connected Objects

It then calls ListConnectables on objPspCntbl to get a list of connected objects (objLCntbles ) to it, and its list of connected connector objects objLCntrsOnThisObj.

...
      Set objLClassFilter = Nothing
      objPspCntbl.ListConnectables objLClassFilter, objLCntbles, _
                           objLCntrsOnThisObj,  objLCntrsOnConnected 
        
      If ( Not ( objLCntbles Is Nothing ) ) Then       
        strMessage_g = strMessage_g & _
          "Number of Connected objects= " &  objLCntbles.Count & vbCr          

        For intIdx = 1 To objLCntbles.Count 
          Set objAIDCntbl = objLCntbles.Item (intIdx, "CATIAPspID")          
          If ( Not (objAIDCntbl Is Nothing) ) Then
            strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Connected object ID =" & objAIDCntbl.GetID & vbCr               
    ...

Query Connector Information

Then macro gets PspConnector object objPspCntr in the list objLCntrsOnThisObj and calls local subroutine QueryConnector() to get connector information for each connector.

 ...
        For intIdx = 1 To objLCntrsOnThisObj.Count        
          Set objPspCntr = objLCntrsOnThisObj.Item (intIdx, "CATIAPspConnector")          
 ...
         '-----------------------------
          ' Query Connector flow information
          If ( Not (objPspCntrFlow Is Nothing) ) Then
            QueryCntrFlow objPspCntrFlow
 ...

Private subroutine QueryConnector uses the input parameter objPspCntrArg and gets the following connector information

• Connector name
• List of Attributes

 ...
 Private Sub QueryConnector (objPspCntrArg As PspConnector)
 ...
      If ( Not ( objPspCntrArg Is Nothing ) ) Then         
      ' ---------------------------
      ' Get Associated connectable

      Set objPspAssocCntbl = objPspCntrArg.GetAssociatedConnectable
      
      strCntrName =objPspCntrArg.ConnectorName 
      strMessage_g = strMessage_g & _
          "Connector name = " &  strCntrName & vbCr   
          
      Set objLStrAttrNames = objPspCntrArg.AttrNames       

      If ( Not ( objLStrAttrNames Is Nothing ) ) Then         
        strMessage_g = strMessage_g & _
          "Number of connector attributes = " &  objLStrAttrNames.Count & v
...

Query Flow Information

Then macro gets PspCntrFlow object objPspCntrFlow in the list objLCntrsOnThisObj and calls local subroutine QueryCntrFlow() to get flow information or each connector.

    ...
          '-----------------------------
          ' Query Connector flow information
          If ( Not (objPspCntrFlow Is Nothing) ) Then
            QueryCntrFlow objPspCntrFlow
    ...

Private subroutine QueryCntrFlow uses the input parameter objPspCntrFlowArg and gets the following flow information

• Flow capability of the connector
• Flow reality of the connector

  ...
  Private Sub QueryCntrFlow (objPspCntrFlowArg As PspCntrFlow)      
    Dim eFlowCapability As CatPspIDLFlowCapability 
    Dim eFlowReality    As CatPspIDLFlowReality  
          
    If ( Not ( objPspCntrFlowArg Is Nothing ) ) Then         
      ' ---------------------------
      ' Flow Capability information
    
      eFlowCapability = objPspCntrFlowArg.FlowCapability
      Select Case eFlowCapability 
        Case catPspIDLFlowCapability_Undefined
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow Capability in undefined" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowCapability_InDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow Capability is in inward direction" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowCapability_OutDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow Capability is in outward direction" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowCapability_InOutDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow Capability is in bi-directional" & vbCr               
      End Select

      ' ---------------------------
      ' Flow Reality information

      eFlowReality = objPspCntrFlowArg.FlowReality
      Select Case eFlowReality
        Case catPspIDLFlowReality_Undefined
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow in undefined" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowReality_InDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow is in inward direction" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowReality_OutDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow is in outward direction" & vbCr               
        Case catPspIDLFlowReality_InOutDirection
          strMessage_g = strMessage_g & "Flow is in bi-directional" & vbCr               
      End Select

      ' ---------------------------
      ' Set Flow Reality information
      If ( eFlowReality = catPspIDLFlowReality_Undefined ) Then
         eFlowReality = catPspIDLFlowReality_InDirection
         objPspCntrFlowArg.FlowReality = eFlowReality
      End If
  ...

Query Valid Connector Types

Then macro calls ValidConnectorTypes function of objPspCntbl to get a list a Valid connector types.

    ...
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' Get List of Valid connector types
    '-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    If( Not ( objPspCntbl Is Nothing )) Then      
      Dim objLStrValidCntrTypes   As PspListOfBSTRs              
      Set objLStrValidCntrTypes = objPspCntbl.ValidConnectorTypes 
    ...