Bill, Can you verify that the values in the XML file, that the report uses as its data source, has the correct values? The XML file will be located in your C:\Users\Public\Documents\shared mcamx*\common\reports\XML folder, sort by date to get the most recent file.

I created a X9 NET-Hook attached to this post. Copy the files to your C-Hook folder, make sure the DLL is not blocked (right click properties unblock) Add a button to a tool bar, got to settings customize and select the NET-Hook category and drag the button to a tool bar. Open a file and click the button, all levels that have geometry will be saved to a new drawing located in the same folder as the original drawing with the level name for the file name. Code for those interested: // All levels that have geometry var levels = LevelsManager.GetLevelNumbersWithGeometry(); // Sanity check if (levels.Any()) { // Get the current filename var currentFileName = FileManager.CurrentFileName; var currentPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(currentFileName); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentPath)) { LevelsManager.SetMainLevelVisibleSetting(false); foreach (var level in levels) { SearchManager.SelectAllGeometryOnLevel(level, true); LevelsManager.SetMainLevel(level); // Build a new filepath var levelName = LevelsManager.GetLevelName(level) + ".mcx-9"; var newFile = Path.Combine(currentPath, levelName); PromptManager.WriteString("Saving file " + newFile + "..."); if (!FileManager.SaveSome(newFile, false)) { EventManager.LogEvent(MessageSeverityType.ErrorMessage, newFile, "File save failed."); } } SelectionManager.UnselectAllGeometry(); PromptManager.Clear(); DialogManager.OK(levels.Length + " files saved", "Save level to drawing"); } } SaveLevelsToDrawings.zip

I may have done something like this, it does sound familiar, let me have a dig through our support database and get back to you later.

There is a tutorial at https://www.mastercam.com/en-us/Support/Tutorials/Mastercam that walks you through setting up ATP for processing a KCDw cutlist with Mastercam Router and another processing Moldbases with Mastercam Mill, the tutorial also explains how to use custom columns.

Do you have a sample file you can share and run some tests with it to see what I can find.

I do pass on information I see here but I am in software development not quality control. We have a dedicated quality control team with protocols in place for issues with the software and they monitor the forums at the official Mastercam website. Defects need to be verified, logged and then tracked and it helps to keep everything in a central location to help manage these kinds of issues, ultimately there are more eyes on it. I monitor both Mastercam and eMastercam multiple times every day even though I am not required to monitor eMastercam. I do so because there is a wealth of information gathered here over the years but more importantly to me I like the community. The reality, however, is Mastercam has an official forum and encourages users and resellers to use it because you will receive far more visibility from other CNC employees who do not visit eMastercam.

Greg, I agree the SDK is a bit of a beast and the documentation has always been less than stellar as its not entirely an easy thing to get into for a typical Mastercam user. We are making strides to rectify this but it's slow going, priorities and all that We do have a support email as mentioned on the C-Hook document so I would encourage you to use that as a means to communicate as there are more developers monitoring it.

Jim, You need to escape the spaces in the path, just wrap the path with quotations as shown below. Dim strCommandLine, strNciFileName strNciFileName = "E:\Program Files\mcamx9\common\Editors\CIMCOEdit7\History.txt" strCommandLine = Chr(34) & "E:\Program Files\mcamx9\common\Editors\CIMCOEdit7\CIMCOEdit.exe" & Chr(34) & " " & strNciFileName Call ShellAndWait(strCommandLine, true)

You should always post any major problems on the official mastercam forum so we can determine if this is a defect and get it into our system with a tracking #

Jim, Try accessing the page now, let me know if you still have problems

Craig, Yes, I am always looking for real world sample files for testing, if you can share anything you have that will certainly be helpful, you can email me or send me a PM, thanks!

Greg, Using the X7 MU1 should be OK, as there should not have been any “real” changes in the SDK from MU1 -> MU2 Mick

Greg, When you see that message it is often an indication of a version mis-match, that is the add-in's version does not match that of Mastercam. I'd need some more information and if possible sample code or screen-shots of your project configuration, or a sample project which would be ideal. Oh, I just looked on our site and we have the X7 and X7 MU1 SDK's but not a X7 MU2, this might be the problem, let me find out if MU1 works for MU2.

Yes thats fine, first thing with a new project is to determine if it can be done in the .NET API and if not it should be possible with the C-Hook SDK so go with that. The main difference, depending on the add-in complexity, is the turnaround time will very likely be longer with C-Hook development and you won't have access to all the juicy .NET framework namespaces.

Jim, The compiler tool set conversioning restrictions only apply to developing C-Hooks not NET-Hooks so as you mentioned you can use a lower .NET framework version for the NETHook2_0 reference and you should be good to go. For C-Hooks I have uploaded the document but the maintenance restriction on that link might still be in effect so I'll talk to the web guy tomorrow get that sorted as you only need to be a Mastercam user with a valid log-in the same as the NET-Hook link. The document will explain what you need in terms of a compiler and tool set for Mastercam X8 and X9 but I it slipped my mind to ask about X5, I'll check tomorrow and get back to you.

When you say you have a script are you referring to a Solidworks macro or a Mastercam VBScript?

I would highly recommend installing the free Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition, it is essentially a Professional level of Visual Studio that has superior debugging and supports custom templates and a ton of other features. The Community version can be used for all NET-Hook development and Mastercam X9/2017 C-Hook development. From what you describe you would likely need a C-Hook to do this, I recently up loaded an Introduction to C-Hook's document to mastercam.com under the 3rd Party Developers link that you should read through, it will explain what you need to do in order to build and debug a Mastercam X9 NETHook. Note that for Mastercam X8 you will need a Professional level of Visual Studio 2010 due to the tool set required but this is mentioned in the document.

I have added a document, Introduction to Mastercam C-Hooks that gives a brief step by step guide to installing and configuring a new C-Hook project for Mastercam X9/2017. Just log into mastercam.com to access the document and the SDK.

I assume you checking the option to Add part labels prior to nesting. Are you creating reports after nesting as this will allow you to cross reference each part with a part label. There are also some report templates that output bar code information for parts and sheets.

Jim, You have a couple of options, you could migrate your VBScripts to NET-Hooks which uses our .NET API, you can write those in Visual Basic .NET or C#. We just added an Introduction to VB.NET and C# NET-Hook programming on our website under the 3rd Party Developers NET-Hook Downloads page. The document does mention using our current API via a Nethook3_0.dll but you wont have that in X5 you would make a project reference to the Nethook2_0.dll library pretty much everything else in the document should apply. You can use the free Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition, which is essentially a professional level, to develop your NET-Hooks and it is far superior to the Express Edition you are currently using. The C-Hook SDK is maintained and updated for each new release as is our .NET API, however, the requirements for C-Hook development are not as flexible as with NET-Hooks. You can not use the Express edition of Visual Studio to develop C-Hooks as it does not have the required MFC support. Note that you can only use the Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition if you are developing C-Hooks for Mastercam X9 or 2017 so you would need to get an older copy of Visual Studio but I don't know the exact version off the top of my head but I can find out. You would also need to install the Mastercam X5 SDK and you would need to contact your reseller to get access to that, at least for the time being. I am not sure why there are no example VBScripts I am quite sure we were installing examples, in future releases of Mastercam we will no longer be installing VBScript examples.

We are no longer actively developing our VBScript API so we encourage our users to move to our NET-Hook API. We have just recently added a two documents on our site under the 3rd Party Developers page that gives an introduction to VB.NET and C# NET-Hooks so you may want to take a look at those. In regards to surface programming, we do have some surface capabilities with our NET-Hook API but it really depends on what you are looking to do. Our C-Hook SDK is more mature and as such is much larger with a lot more functionality, however the learning curve for C-Hook development is a lot higher and there are specific requirements based on what version of Mastercam you are targeting so keep that in mind. We are working on an Introduction to C-Hook document to accompany our other Intro documents and it should be available early next week.

Added a new document Introduction to C# NETHooks

Added a new document Introduction to VB.NET NETHooks

I agree, I have worked with a few "unskilled" machinists that were very good but because they didn't have the paper work they got paid less than a "skilled" machinist.

When I completed my fitter and turner apprenticeship many years ago in the UK and I was classified as a skilled machinist as opposed to a semi-skilled (Did the 4 years but failed the exams) or unskilled (No school but hands on training) you had to have the certificate on hand for any job interview as well as any other certification because your pay rate depended on it. Edit: Added proof Original apprenticeship contract with the employer, Laurence Scott and Electro Motors Ltd., right out of high school at the ripe old age of 16 and three certificates at the end of the 4 year apprenticeship.