Matthew, After its all said and done I'm afraid its not possible to leverage the current .NET API in Lathe with your workflow and as your know ATP only supports Mill and Router. We have do have stories in our back log to expand our API into other modules but there is no definitive timeline at this time.

Matthew, Thanks for the infromation, I'll take a look at this today to see if its remotely possible. Thanks

Glad to hear you resolved your issue.

Matthew, I'm afraid not as there are some limitations with Lathe and the .NET API. Having said that, how complex of a process are you using with these core pins? What is your workflow? I'd be interested to see if it was something that might be possible moving forward with the API. Feel free to reply here or email me directly.

Jason, Did you follow the http://www.mastercam.com/en-us/Communities/3rd-Party-Developers/SDK-Downloads how to document?

JCDFCM, Apologies for not replying sooner, I completely missed this. I would just make sure to back up any tooldb files you intend to read/write directly, just to be safe.

It should work fine but you will need to remove the NETHook3_0.dll reference and replace it with the NETHook2_0.dll reference, both are located in your Mastercam installation folder. You may also need to set the .NET framework version of the project to a lower version, just go back one version at a time and rebuild until you have a successful build.

You could certainly use a layering scheme before hand for your files or implement a scheme for each file you merge and move geometry around. This example opens the first file and moves everything to level 500, the next file is merged and moved to level 501. var file = @"C:\Users\Mick George\Documents\my mcamx9\mcx\T.mcx-9"; var fileToMerge = @"C:\Users\Mick George\Documents\my mcamx9\mcx\T2.mcx-9"; // Open if (FileManager.Open(false, file, false)) { // Move everthing currently open to level 500 var geos = Mastercam.Support.SearchManager.GetGeometry().ToList(); foreach (var geo in geos) { geo.Level = 500; geo.Commit(); } // Merge if (FileManager.Open(false, fileToMerge, true)) { // Grab everything not on level 500 var allGeometries = Mastercam.Support.SearchManager.GetGeometry().ToList().Where(geo => geo.Level != 500); // Move to 501 foreach (var geo in allGeometries) { geo.Level = 501; geo.Commit(); } } } GraphicsManager.ClearColors(new GroupSelectionMask(true)); GraphicsManager.FitScreen();

The FileManager.Open method has a number of overloads, you can pass in a flag to merge the file with the existing file. The namespace Mastercam.Operations.OperationsManager.ImportOperation allows you to import operations from an external file or operations library. I think that between the two methods you should be able to accomplish what you are after. Feel free to reply if you need further help.

The post in question: http://www.emastercam.com/board/topic/82303-reading-tooldb-in-mastercam-x6-using-chooks/?p=1002101

This post might be of interest: http://www.emastercam.com/board/topic/82303-reading-tooldb-in-mastercam-x6-using-chooks/?p=1002101

I posted in the NETHooks/CHooks forum an example of running a query against the Mastercam tooldb if interested.

If you feel adventurous you could create a rather nice custom NET-Hook.

I have recently posted links to getting started with NET-Hooks and how to interact with a Tools database via a NET-Hook. A search on this forum should get you plenty of information.

// Run almost any Mastercam command - this gives access to every function // that is in the mastercam.ft file. The input character ‘codes’ are listed in the Mastercam.tt file following the function cpp command. Void RunMastercamCommand(String) (Input: character ‘code’ for each function) A list of commands are located in your Mastercam.FT file (Mastercam root directory), have a scan through the list to see if what you need it available. For example: Call RunMastercamCommand("create_ellipse") FUNCTION CPP "create_ellipse" SPNG 10425 LPNG 10426 TIP 5854 INTERRUPT_INLINE FCAT "Geometry" FNAME "Ellipse" END_FUNCTION

Mastercam as well as a few other apps do seem to be "snappier" on launch. No problems.

Can you email Technical DOT Support AT mastercam DOT com with your issue and include a sample drawing if possible and the reports so that we can try and replicate the problem.

While not C-Hook related I was able to whip up a C# NET-Hook example that connects to the router_inch.tooldb and gets all the information in the TlToolMill table. This might be of help to you. The NET-Hook project is using the SQLite providers that you can pull in from the nuget package manager (see image) There are a number of open source SQLite database programs out there that you can use to open a tooldb and see what tables are in there etc, be wary of making changes unless you know what you are doing. The project is rather big with the packaged assemblies so if you want it and have a place for me to upload it send me an email or PM me.

That worked

Tested with Win 10 and same as the others noted, no response running the executable. Checked running processes and it was not there.

Make sure the NET-Hook is not blocked

There is also an Introduction to C-Hooks document located on mastercam.com under the 3rd Party Developers menu you may find helpful.

Speaking of ATP, you map saved operations to level names, ATP can extract depths from geometry so you don't need to create operations with depths which allows for more flexibility. You have a few options.

In the past I have helped one our resellers develop a Visual Basic.NET NET-Hook that creates mold plates based on sizes selected from a library and applies roughing and finishing operations for dowel holes, bushings, sprue holes, overflows, flash and so on, so it's certainly possible. In that case there was no existing geometry the NET-Hook created it all but you would be a step ahead if you already have the part geometry. Using a layer scheme to separate operations would be the typical approach and with a DXF or DWG file output from AutoCAD would be easy enough.

I have added a Mastercam Visual Basic.NET Project Template for Visual Studio 2015 this includes the free Community Edition. To install it open Visual Studio select Tools->Extensions and Updates->Online and search for Mastercam. I have also updated the C# project template to the default Mastercam installation folder for references and upped the .NET framework from 4.0 to the recommended 4.5