I use the C:mcamx directory - lots of chooks hardcoded using that directory.

Thanks. But again, I didn't change a single line character in the chook code. In fact, it isn't even executing the chook, it is in the start up of the debug version of Mastercam. As I mention above, I can't even double click the debug version to get it to run. This seems to be related to my real problem.

Roger. I will send an email with the zipped project. I have not found any information online about what AfxSig_i_v_s does, and I couldn't find any info on it in the link on MFC messaging. Is there some documentation to explain setting up debugging with VS for mastercam chooks? I never thought anything was wrong with the chook, I was just trying to identify why running debug wouldn't work. To make sure of this, I dropped the dll (the same debug build) and the ft into my chooks directory, and pulled up the release X2 exe and was able to put a button on my toolbar, and run the chook wizard's sample app, which simply shows a message box (same code I'm emailing). I also tried removing all other FT files from my chooks dir, however, I get the same problem. Finally, should I or should I not be able to start the debug version of X2 by clicking the icon like I do for my release version? If I try this, I get an error message saying "psbodyshop.dll not found". I'm guessing this is getting closer to the source of my error.

Roger. My X2 version is 11.2.3.28 which I think is MR2. The SDK I got from the website, the installer package is labeled "x2-mr2-SDK-web". So things should be matched up? Yeah, I realized the art.ft was something different, just threw that in there to show you I did my search first. Thanks for the offer to email you, but like I said, it is the project generated with the Chook wizard that came with the SDK I mention above and nothing was changed. If it's still useful to email you, I can.

I am trying to get the debug Mastercam.exe to run with my VS2005 Chook project. I have added in project properties->Command->C:mcamxsdkdebugMastercam.exe, and the Working Directory is C:mcamx. This works fine, it compiles, then I F5 to start debugging, it opens the debugging Mcamx exe, and the welcome screen "X" comes up. Soon after I see the welcome screen, a break point is triggered. I click "Break" on that message, and back in VS2005 "wincore.cpp" is opened. The break is at line 2000. The line is copied here: code: case AfxSig_i_v_s: lResult = (this->*mmf.pfn_i_s)(reinterpret_cast<LPTSTR>(lParam)); break; The actual break point is on the middle line in the code above. I first noticed this problem on a project I had been working on. Thinking it was something I did in my chook, I used the new chookwizard with my SDK (yes my SDK is up-to-date and matching my X2 version) and created a blank/empty project. I still got the same exact error. I searched the forum, and changed my "art.ft" to "art.ftt". Any other suggestions???

Does anyone have any idea about this issue? Anyone use this function before?

Hello. I am trying to use this operation parameter and gather the information. My operation name is "op". Before "op.cmn.cycle_time" I threw in: code: operation_manager (&op, OPMGR_GET, &eptr, &succf); However, when I look at the data (that I output to a text file), I get 0.000 for any operation's cycle time. I noticed in the SDK that this parameter is the "calculated cycle time for nci section". Even though I specify the correct "op", do I somehow need to specify the nci file name? I have searched the forums for this, and found people saying that getting the cycle time is hard, but no one discusses this particular op_common struct parameter. Any suggestions are appreciated (I'm running X2, MR2).

I am still have problems with this issue. I get a box that has a title of "Warning". In the pop-up box I get this message: "Warning: cannot process finish pass with current offsets" I can select OK for every cut depth and it will calculate toolpaths, but I have to do this for every single cut depth. Again, this is a surface rough pocketing routine. Here are my chook code for a 0.1875" flat end mill: code: op.u.r_pocket.pocket.rough=FALSE; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.finish =TRUE; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_n = 2; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_step=0.09375; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_outer = FALSE; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.add_finish = TRUE; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.opt_fin = TRUE; op.u.r_pocket.pocket.tool_down = TRUE; I realize my stepover is 100%. Please, if you have any help on this issue I would appreciate it.

Can anyone suggest some places to find documentation on this issue? I need to program into my chook this method, turning off the roughing passes, and keeping the finishing passes in a surface rough pocketing routine. If I could understand the rules for the "fin_n" and "fin_step" properties, I could program it so that it wouldn't error out. Anyone have any suggestions?

First, thank you for your time Roger. Next, I want you to be sure, that since the first time you mentioned it, I have taken note that SilhouetteBoundary.dll is a chook. And while I've developed chooks, and know some about how to write code within them, I know very little about how to control them, and work back and forth with them. So you mentioning that it is a chook, I believe you are trying to remind me that because it is a chook, you can only do "x" when calling and receiving from it. But I don't really know much about "x", so just telling me it's a chook doesn't signal any "ahas" for me. Therefore, I've asked about dllimport, .lib files, and a lot about "running" and "calling" dlls. So: "it needs to do what any process has to do when calling a function within another DLL" doesn't get me very far That is why I really appreciate the example code As you'll see in my first post, my best guess was the LoadLibrary and FreeLibrary functions. Thanks for extending it and reassuring me that this is the right way to call that dll. You'll have to forgive my ignorance on a lot of these issues (as you've done before for other complaints of mine) I have a mechanical engineering degree and am working on my industrial engineering master's. So programming isn't my primary skill-set. Our research work takes full advantage of the open SDK, and is one of the main reasons we went with Mastercam. I will continue to try things with the GetSilhouetteBoundary function. I am guessing (hoping) it will return the chain of boundary lines that it created, and is expecting selected surfaces/solids. But I will test that. Thanks.

When I try something like this, as expected, I get a link error. code: extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) int GetSilhouetteBoundary(CHAIN ** chains); What .lib file links this function, that I can put in my project properties? Then I was going to put GetSilhouetteBoundary(CHAIN ** chains); into my chook's m_main. I really don't think I'm making my question clear. I simply want to do the equivalent of the vb function "RunMastercamChook(mychook)". But instead of from a vbscript, I want to do it from a chook.

How does the prm_chook Struct fit into all of this?

Has anyone tried this method of turning off the Roughing in a Surface Rough Pocket routine so that only the finishing passes are run? I still am having problems with understanding how the multi-pass system works (if I want to work my way toward the surfaces in multiple steps). I have also still not found how to run the chook code that is printed in the first message above.

Thank you. I am quite familiar with the chook process, and I've written plenty of chooks so I am familiar with m_main, I just installed my 6th SDK today. I do not simply run my chooks from the chooks folder. I wrap them with the Net-hook using script linker to a vbs file that I then make a button for. This vbs calls multiple chooks at once. I will look into the function table tomorrow, and I hope to find the names of other "exported" functions that I can use. In one of these chooks I would like to run your chooks like SilhouetteBoundary.dll. I ran some online utilities to see what the Silhouette and Create Boundary dlls export, and found these couple of functions: CreateBoundaryStart and GetSilhouetteBoundary But I do not know about what arguments these need, or return. For instance, if I wanted to pass all of my model's drive surfaces to SilhouetteBoundary.dll, how would I do that? Please tell me if I can be more clear on any of these questions/comments.

I like the Silhouette and Create Boundary DLLs. However, without knowing any of the functions, I cannot run the dll. For instance, I can use a LoadLibrary and FreeLibrary to open and close the external dll, but I think I need a function inside of that dll to call. I just want to run Sillhouette boundary function inside my code to create a toolpath boundary that I will chain together. Any ideas on how to do this?

I still have not found any solutions with this issue either. Do I have any reason not to call up my Post developer and say that there is a bug in their Post?

Anyone have any ideas about this issue, CNC Software?

Phew, thanks Todd. That is what I needed. Amazing how little things like that can mess up your day. I never had to do that before with this thing, not sure why it would wig out with this newest version. Thad, thanks for chiming in. I went to my config folder, but didn't find any mtb backups. Thanks.

I just downloaded X2 MR2. I replaced my old directory, keeping mcamx as my home directory. However, all of my toolbar settings are gone. So I turned off toolbars that I don't use. But when I went to resize the window, any toolbars that I turned off, turned back on. Is there a way to fix this , I tried searching the forum, and nothing came up.

As stated in the help, the spacing can't go over the stepover distance. This is true when the number of passes = 1. If you put a spacing value of more than the stepover distance, it won't error out, but it correctly doesn't allow the offset to be more than the stepover distance. However, when you put more than 1 for the # of passes, it will error out. My first thought, was that the total distance away from the surface must be radius+spacing < stepover. But that doesn't make sense, when the tool moves in from the outer pass, and works its way toward the surface. Therefore all that should be needed is spacing < stepover. What am I missing here?

I have noticed that the problem may not be due to my chook. There is some kind of relationship between: 1) Tool diameter 2) # of passes 3) Spacing For example, with a 3/16" tool, it does not give me an error when I run 2 passes at 0.004 spacing, but it does fail with 2 passes and 0.005 spacing. Any ideas on how to know where this limit is, would be appreciated.

Hello. I am running a chook that follows this pattern: 1) Import operation (surface rough pocket) 2) Select drive surfaces 3) Select toolpath boundary 4) Set operation settings 5) Get "hogging tool" (from .TOOLS file search) 6) Generate toolpaths 7) Save a .mcx file 8) Post the file 9) Repeat 6-8 3 more times (rotating part geometry each time) 10) Get "roughing tool" (from .TOOLS file search) 11) Repeat 6-8 3 more times (rotating part geometry each time) The problem I am having is with the newest post that I have for my Mazak. At random times, the surfaces and toolpath boundaries I selected, are somehow deselected. Whenever the problem does occur it is always between 10 and 11. The subsequent mastercam files all lose the drive surfaces and toolpath boundaries, and can't generate toolpaths. I have done two things to debug: 1) I have run some debug code to test whether the SELECT_BIT (for drive surfaces) and TEMP2_BIT (for toolpath boundaries) were still on between 10 and 11 mentioned above. They were always still selected. 2) I modified my "post_dlg_settings" to these: code: my_post_settings.export_oplist = FALSE; my_post_settings.export_prm = FALSE; my_post_settings.wcs_1014 = FALSE; my_post_settings.descriptor = FALSE; That seemed to work for awhile, but then today it failed again. Again, my other two posts have never failed in this way. Do you guys/gals have any other suggestions before I start pointing fingers at my Post developer (our local reseller)? Thanks.

I'm running an r_pocket routine in my chook. With the following settings with a 3/16" tool I get the error: "Warning:cannot process finish pass with current offsets". It gives me this for every step down in the surface rough pocketing routine. Here's my code: code: op.u.r_pocket.pocket.rough=FALSE; //turn Rough off op.u.r_pocket.pocket.finish =TRUE; ///< TRUE = Finishing enabled op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_n = 2; //# finish steps op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_step=0.01; // Finish pass step size op.u.r_pocket.pocket.fin_outer = FALSE; // TRUE = finish outer boundary I looked around at the other options in the struct, and didn't see anything that I needed. Is there something I'm doing wrong here?

Thanks Colin. I realize that you can include a .rc into the chook build. However, I call external programs in the middle of chooks in one VBScript. Using a VBScript is way easier to manage my mixture of chooks and other programs. Then my interface performs multiple chooks, etc... from one unified button. The nethook should not be creating these problems, and has never been a problem before. I've created quite a few fairly advanced chooks now, and am confident that they are programmed correctly. Furthermore, no changes were made to the chooks, the only thing that was different was the use of MR1. I just wonder about some bugs with moving to the SDK for MR1, and using VS2005's libraries.

I have built a button Mastercam using Scriptlinker. Then I built the vb script to call the chook using: RunMastercamChook(chook_5b) I built chook_5b using the SDK for X2 MR1. The chook and vbscript running it worked fine with the X2 non MR1 version. But doesn't now. Mastercam crashes at the point that it is going to run chook_5b. I sent the Crash Report Contents leaving my email. The Errorlog.txt file says that MSVCR80.dll caused an Unknown exception type... Then it later says debug strings >>App=vb_5_runVBS Entry=Run The MSVCR80.dll file is in the Microsoft Visual Studio 8 folder (I'm running VS2005 like I should be). Does anyone know about this error, or know how to fix it???