Iterate thru entities in a chain Nethook ver. 2022

[Karl@CP PISTONS]

Hello all, I have a need to cycle thru all the entities in a selected chain and change the color and level of each. I have a valid chain and now need to iterate thru each entity in said chain.

Here is what I have

Dim chain As Mastercam.Database.Chain()
        Dim Count As Integer

        chain = GetChain("Select the CENTER containment chain.")

        Count = chain(0).CurvesCount

If (chain.Any()) Then '// set color, level and line width of each 
           For Each Entity As Mastercam.Database.Geometry In chain()
                Entity.Color = 31 '// Light Green
                Entity.Level = 20
                Entity.LineWidth = 4
            Next
        End If

 Private Function GetChain(Prompt As String) As Mastercam.Database.Chain()
        '// select the chain for the organize routine
        Call ClearGeometry()
        GetChain = ChainManager.GetMultipleChains(Prompt, False)

    End Function

 

I have a valid chain as the .CurvesCount returns the correct number of entities, but I get an error on the for each line stating that "Value type 'chain' cannot be converted to type 'geometry'

 

Thanks in advance

[Guest]

That's not going to work, what you are looping through is an array of chains, not an array of entities.

 

Iirc there is a function in the chainmanager to get the entities from each chain and return them as an array.

[Guest]

In c# I think this is what the code might look like

var chain = ChainManager.GetMultipleChains("Select the CENTER containment chain.", false);

if(chain == null){return;}
if(chain.Length < 1){return;}

var Count = chain[0].CurvesCount;

if (chain.Length > 0)// '// set color, level and line width of each 
{
	foreach(var chn in chain)
	{
		var entities = Mastercam.Database.ChainManager.GetGeometryInChain(chn);
		if(entities == null){return;}
		foreach(var entity in entities)
		{

     	 entity.Color = 31;//'// Light Green
	 	 entity.Level = 20;
    	 entity.LineWidth = 4;
		 entity.Commit();//Commit the changes to the database
		}
	}
 }

In Vb.net

Private Sub SurroundingSub()
    Dim chain = ChainManager.GetMultipleChains("Select the CENTER containment chain.", False)

    If chain Is Nothing Then
        Return
    End If

    If chain.Length < 1 Then
        Return
    End If

    Dim Count = chain(0).CurvesCount

    If chain.Length > 0 Then

        For Each chn In chain
            Dim entities = Mastercam.Database.ChainManager.GetGeometryInChain(chn)

            If entities Is Nothing Then
                Return
            End If

            For Each entity In entities
                entity.Color = 31
                entity.Level = 20
                entity.LineWidth = 4
                entity.Commit()
            Next
        Next
    End If
End Sub

 

[Karl@CP PISTONS]

Thank you. That was what I was looking for. I got this to work:

For Each Entity As Mastercam.Database.CurveGeometry In Mastercam.Database.ChainManager.GetGeometryInChain(chain(0))
                Entity.Color = 31 '// Light Green
                Entity.Level = 20
                Entity.LineWidth = 4
                Entity.Commit()
            Next

But that brought up anpther question as to how to determine if there was actually a valid chain. Your solution answerd that even before I asked.

Thank you again very much appreciated. 

[Guest]

Your welcome!! 

Hope all is well!!