Submitted by Junfanbl on Wed, 06/03/2015 - 08:36
Forums:
Hello,, I am familiar with the VBA syntax because I have used it in other applications. However I am not familiar with what the objects are in the NX API. What are the objects in order?
re: NX object model
The NX object model is too large and complex to do it justice in a simple forum post (the .net compiled help file that documents the object model is over 100 MB). The object model documentation can be found in the NX help files. The default option for the NX 9 documentation install does NOT include the programming help files; make sure to turn this option on when you install the help docs.
In the NX help "topics", scroll down to the bottom and click on "programming tools"; depending on your browser security, it may ask to open a new tab/window. The window will explain how to install the programming help docs; if they are already installed, click the link at the top of the page to get to the good stuff. The programming help that displays contains a lot of good general information that you should look through to get started, such as how to compile your code (if you have an author license), some examples, etc.; to get to the .net object model, go to NX Open -> open for .NET -> NX Open for .NET reference guide. This will open a page explaining that the .net reference guide is a compiled help file and due to security restrictions you have to "download" it to your computer (it cannot be viewed over the network). Save the file in a convenient location; when you open the file it looks similar to a web-browser. You can look through the contents or search for terms in the left pane, information about the object will be shown in the right pane.
If you are just starting out, I'd suggest recording a journal then typing the name of an object in the "index" of the net_ref doc to get more information about it (available properties and methods). Also, I strongly suggest getting an IDE such as VB express from Microsoft (the express version is free to use, only registration required). The "intellisense" feature greatly reduces typo's and shows what properties/methods are available as you code. Check out the resources page for a link to the VB express IDE. For NX 9, you will want to get the 2012 version of the editor of your choice (VB and C# are separate downloads).
A link to the resources page is below (it can also be found in the main menu on the left).
http://nxjournaling.com/content/resources
Try the SNAP docs
There's a brief overview of the NX/Open object hierarchy in the "Getting Started with SNAP" guide. It's in the chapter called "The Jump to NX/Open" or something like that. The same document also explains:
(1) Point objects versus Point3d objects
(2) Features versus DisplayableObject
both of which typically cause confusion.