SOLIDWORKS Visible or Background Example (VBA)

These examples shows several situations for running or attaching to SOLIDWORKS session through the API.

SOLIDWORKS not running: Launch invisibly and end SOLIDWORKS session

Sub Macro1()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     ' Close the SOLIDWORKS application. If you do not perform this step, SOLIDWORKS
     ' continues to run. If SOLIDWORKS is running in the background, the user is
     ' unaware that SOLIDWORKS is running and consuming their system resources.

     swApp.ExitApp     

 

     Set swApp = Nothing

End Sub

 

SOLIDWORKS running: Attach to existing SOLIDWORKS session and end SOLIDWORKS session

Sub Macro2()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     swApp.ExitApp

     Set swApp = Nothing

End Sub

 

SOLIDWORKS not running: Launch invisibly, become visible, and end SOLIDWORKS session

Sub Macro3()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Dim Part As Object

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     swApp.Visible = True

     swApp.ExitApp

     Set swApp = Nothing

End Sub

 

SOLIDWORKS not running: Launch invisibly, become visible, and leave SOLIDWORKS running

Sub Macro4()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     swApp.Visible = True

     swApp.UserControl = True

     ' Give control to the user, which leaves SOLIDWORKS running

End Sub

 

SOLIDWORKS not running: Launch invisibly, create part invisibly, close part, and end SOLIDWORKS session

Sub Macro5()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Dim Part As Object

     ' This must be explicitly defined for ISldWorks::ActivateDoc2

     Dim errors As Long 

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     Set Part = swApp.NewPart

     Set Part = swApp.ActivateDoc2("Part1",True,errors)

     Set Part = Nothing

     swApp.CloseDoc "Part1"

     swApp.ExitApp

     Set swApp = Nothing

End Sub

 

SOLIDWORKS not running: Launch invisibly, create part invisibly, make the part and SOLIDWORKS visible, and leave SOLIDWORKS running

Sub Macro6()

     Dim swApp As Object

     Dim Part As Object

     Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

     Set Part = swApp.NewPart

     Set Part = swApp.ActivateDoc("Part1")

     Part.Visible = True    

     ' Make the part and SOLIDWORKS visible

     swApp.UserControl = True   

     ' Give control to the user, which leaves SOLIDWORKS running

     Set Part = Nothing

     swApp.CloseDoc "Part1"

End Sub