Changing name of part to it's length using Beam FeatureScript

marco_teixeira

I tend to use the Beam FeatureScript alot in my projects, and thanks to the new BOM update its way easier to indicate parts in drawings.
So instead of having the parts being generated with the name "Part 1" etc. I want to have the name of the profile and the length in the name.
I have done the profile name part sucessfully however i cant get the length.
Here's what i have done:

var partName is string = definition.profile.size;

partName ~= "x";

partName ~= /*total lengh of part*/

setProperty(context, {

                    "entities" : qCreatedBy(id, EntityType.BODY),

                    "propertyType" : PropertyType.NAME,

                    "value" : partName

});

I got to the point of out putting some length values but they were pretty much all sketch lines summed up and the length comes in the form of ValueWithUnits and i only want the "Values" contained in it.
i used this line to do the above: evLength(context, {entities : definition.edges});
I want each individual line selected to have its length.
Does anyone have a solution for this?

Thank you

kevin_o_toole_1

As always, sharing a document will make answering the questions easier!

In the most likely case, evLength is the correct solution. For the "entities" there, you will want to pass in an individual edge, i.e. one element of the array returned by evaluateQuery(context, definition.edges)
Similarly, you'll want the "entities" of the setProperty call to point to a single beam. As for how that should be accomplished, it will depend on the layout of your current feature code – you want to make sure the right length gets attached to the right beam!

Let us know if you have further questions.

Jake_Rosenfeld

It may also be helpful to note that you can do the following to get your length in whatever unit you desire (lengths are always stored in meters, so the .value field of the valueWithUnits will always be in meters):

// lengthWithUnits is of type ValueWithUnits
var lengthWithUnits = evLength(...);

// lengthInInches and lengthInMillimeters are both raw numbers
var lengthInInches = lengthWithUnits / inch;
var lengthInMillimeters = lengthWithUnits / millimeter;

// These are both strings
var inchString = lengthInInches ~ "in";
var millimeterString = lengthInMillimeters ~ "mm";

NeilCooke

It's been a while since I wrote that feature, but remember that the length of the beam does not always equal the length of the sketch line (due to trimming or extending). Best way to measure each beam would be to do an evBox3d using the beam's sketch normal as the Csys.