In previous articles (BOM Data to Excel, Point Data to Excel), I've discussed the transfer of data from Pro/ENGINEER to Excel. Of course, transfering the data in the other direction, from Excel to Pro/Engineer, is not only possible, but it's just as easy.
In this two part article series, I will be discussing how to take data from a selected range in Excel and transfer that into a new table in a Pro/ENGINEER drawing, and vice versa. Part 1 concerns the Excel to Pro/Engineer transfer, and part 2 concerns the Pro/Engineer to Excel transfer.
HTML Page
The HTML page for this application is very simple: two javascript files, two buttons, and two status fields. pfcUtils.js is provided by PTC (see my pfcCreate optimization article).
All remaining code from this article is in the excel2table.js file. One of the buttons allows transfer from Excel to ProEngineer using the ExcelToTable() function, while the other allows transfer in the other direction using the TableToExcel() function. The two div fields allow for the display of error and general status information.
<HTML>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" type=text/javascript src="pfcUtils.js"></SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" type=text/javascript src="excel2table.js"></SCRIPT>
<BODY>
<form name="f">
<table border=1>
<tr>
<td>Excel</td>
<td>
<INPUT name="button1" type=button value=">>" onclick="ExcelToTable()">
<br>
<INPUT name="button2" type=button value="<<" onclick="TableToExcel()">
</td>
<td>Drawing Table</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br><font color='red'><a id="errmesg"></a></font>
<br><a id="mesg"></a><br>
</form>
</BODY>
</HTML>
ExcelToTable FunctionThe core of ExcelToTable() is pretty basic. Other than resetting the status fields, it uses ArrayFromExcel() to obtain an array of Excel data and ArrayToProETable() to create a drawing table from the array.
function ExcelToTable ( ) {
var mesg = document.getElementById("mesg");
var errmesg = document.getElementById("errmesg");
mesg.innerHTML = "";
errmesg.innerHTML = "";
var array = ArrayFromExcel();
if (array == null) {
mesg.innerHTML = "null array";
return;
}
if (array != null) { ArrayToProETable(array); }
}
ArrayFromExcel FunctionThe ArrayFromExcel() function has three main tasks: get the Excel session object using GetObject(), get the current range selection object, then loop through the rows and columns of the selection and extract the cell values.
Looping through the selection is done using Enumerator objects, one for rows and one for columns. The rows Enumerator is created using the 'rows' property of the selection object, then a for loop is used to iterate over the rows. For each row, a columns Enumerator is created using the 'columns' property, which references the selected columns of the row. The second for loop iterates over those columns, which in this case are cells.
The Enumerator has an item() method which is used to obtain the row object from the row Enumerator and the cell object from the column Enumerator. The 'value' property returns the cell value, which would usually be of type 'Number' or 'String'. Regardless of the type, the value is coerced into a String for ease of processing later. Pro/ENGINEER treats all table cell values as strings anyway, so it doesn't really matter too much what the type is.
The array used is two dimensional, populated in the iteration of the selection. A two dimensional array is created by first constructing an Array object, then populating it with array objects. The elements of the internal arrays contain the cell values. In the iteration, as a new row is processed, a new Array object is created and then assigned to the top level array. In Javascript, elements can be added to an Array object by a simple assignment statement, almost endlessly.
Once the iteration of the selection via Enumerator's has completed and the array has been populated, the array is returned.
function ArrayFromExcel ( ) {
var oXL = null;
var mesg = document.getElementById("mesg");
var errmesg = document.getElementById("errmesg");
// Try to access Excel and get Application object.
//
try {
oXL = GetObject("","Excel.Application");
if (oXL == null) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "Failed to get Excel session object.";
return null;
}
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "Excel must be running!";
return null;
}
// Get Selection object
var sel = null;
try {
sel = oXL.ActiveWindow.Selection;
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "Could not get Selection object.";
return null;
}
if (sel.columns.count <= 1 && sel.rows.count <= 1) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "A range of cells must be selected in Excel.";
return null;
}
mesg.innerHTML = "Selection: " + sel.rows.count + " rows, " + sel.columns.count + " columns";
var i_row = 0;
var e_rows = new Enumerator(sel.rows);
var array = new Array();
// Loop through each row of the selection
//
for ( ; !e_rows.atEnd(); e_rows.moveNext() ) {
var i_col = 0;
var row = e_rows.item();
var e_cols = new Enumerator(row.columns);
array[i_row] = new Array();
// Within the row, loop through each column
//
for ( ; !e_cols.atEnd(); e_cols.moveNext() ) {
var cell = e_cols.item();
var val = cell.value;
if (val == null) { val = "-"; }
array[i_row][i_col] = "" + val;
i_col++;
}
i_row++;
}
return array;
}
ArrayToProETable FunctionThe ArrayToProETable() function takes an array and creates a drawing table. Its main steps are: get the ProE session object, prompt the user for the table location, create the table creation instructions object, create the row and column specification objects, create the table, add content to the table cells, and display the table. As you can see, the ProE portion is quite a bit more complicated than the Excel part.
Included in the function, part of the row and column specs, are calculations to auto-size the rows and columns to fit the data in Excel. This is primarily for readability of the resulting table making it optional, but very helpful.
Also included is a workaround for a table creation bug that limits the size of a table to no more than 50 rows and/or no more than 50 columns. This is a bug in all Pro/Engineer API's, even Pro/Toolkit and J-Link. It doesn't mean that a huge table can't be created, just that it can't be created in one shot.
The workaround in the function is to create the table with a single row or column then add more rows or columns as necessary to get the table to the requested size. With the adjustment step (adding rows and/or columns) coming after the table creation step, but before the table display step, the time required by the workaround is hardly noticable, except with huge tables.
function ArrayToProETable ( array ) {
var errmesg = document.getElementById("errmesg");
var session = null;
var drawing = null;
// Get ProE session object
//
try {
session = pfcGetProESession();
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "Unable to connect to Pro/Engineer";
return null;
}
// Get model object and ensure it's a drawing
//
try {
drawing = session.CurrentModel;
if (drawing == null || drawing.Type != pfcCreate("pfcModelType").MDL_DRAWING) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "A drawing must be active!";
return null;
}
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML = "A drawing must be active.";
return null;
}
// Get location for new table by mouse click
//
var location = getMousePickPosition("Select location for table", true);
if (location == null) { return null; }
// Setup the table creation instructions object
//
var instrs = new pfcCreate("pfcTableCreateInstructions").Create(location);
instrs.SizeType = pfcCreate("pfcTableSizeType").TABLESIZE_BY_NUM_CHARS;
// Figure out max sizes to auto-expand the table
var ArrayMaxData = getArrayMaxData(array);
// Generate column data (for table creation instructions object)
// API Bug: Can't create table with more than 50 columns
// Workaround: Create with one column, add more later
//
var column_just = pfcCreate("pfcColumnJustification").COL_JUSTIFY_LEFT;
var columnData = pfcCreate("pfcColumnCreateOptions");
var columnOption = pfcCreate("pfcColumnCreateOption");
var maxOneShotCols = 50; // Most columns that can be created without workaround
if (ArrayMaxData.cols < maxOneShotCols) {
// Number of columns is ok, setup instructions to create table as-is.
// Use max column widths to auto-size columns
for (var i=0; i < ArrayMaxData.max_col_width.length; i++ ) {
var column = columnOption.Create(column_just, ArrayMaxData.max_col_width[i]);
columnData.Append(column);
}
}
else {
// Too many columns to create table as-is, setup instructions
// to create table with one column, expand after creation
var column = columnOption.Create(column_just, ArrayMaxData.max_col_width[0]);
columnData.Append(column);
}
// Add column data object to table creation instructions
instrs.ColumnData = columnData;
// Generate row data (for table creation instructions object)
// API Bug: Can't create table with more than 50 rows
// Workaround: Create with one row, add more later
//
var rowData = pfcCreate("realseq");
var maxOneShotRows = 50; // Most rows that can be created without workaround
if (ArrayMaxData.rows < maxOneShotRows) {
// Number of rows is ok, setup instructions to create table as-is.
// Use max row heights to auto-size rows
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
rowData.Append(ArrayMaxData.max_row_height[i]);
}
}
else {
// Too many rows to create table as-is, setup instructions
// to create table with one row, expand after creation
rowData.Append(ArrayMaxData.max_row_height[0]);
}
// Add row data object to table creation instructions
instrs.RowHeights = rowData;
// Create the table (no contents yet, and won't be visible yet)
//
var dwgTable = null;
try {
dwgTable = drawing.CreateTable(instrs);
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML += "Cannot create table: " + e.message;
return;
}
// Add rows if data had more than allowed to create in one shot
//
try {
if (ArrayMaxData.rows >= maxOneShotRows) {
for (var i=1; i < array.length; i++ ) {
// Add remaining rows needed. Index starts
// at 1 because one row already exists
dwgTable.InsertRow(ArrayMaxData.max_row_height[i], null, false)
}
}
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML += "Cannot add rows: " + e.message;
return;
}
// Add columns if data had more than allowed to create in one shot
//
try {
if (ArrayMaxData.cols >= maxOneShotCols) {
for (var i=1; i < ArrayMaxData.max_col_width.length; i++ ) {
// Add remaining columns needed. Index starts
// at 1 because one column already exists
dwgTable.InsertColumn(ArrayMaxData.max_col_width[i], null, false);
}
}
}
catch (e) {
errmesg.innerHTML += "Cannot add columns: " + e.message;
return;
}
// Fill in each cell with data
//
for (var i=0; i < array.length; i++ ) {
for (var j=0; j < array[i].length; j++ ) {
// Table cell indexes start with one, arrays with zero
writeTextInCell(dwgTable, i+1, j+1, array[i][j]);
}
}
// Display the table
dwgTable.Display ();
}
getMousePickPosition Function The getMousePickPosition() function is used to prompt the user for a position by using the left mouse button. It uses the UIGetNextMousePick() method of the pfcSession object to accomplish this. The function also hides the browser window, displays an alert dialog to prompt the user, and then restores the browser window to its previous size.
function getMousePickPosition ( prompt, hideBrowser ) {
var browserSize = null;
var session = pfcGetProESession();
if (hideBrowser) {
// Minimize browser, remember browser size for later restoration
browserSize = session.CurrentWindow.GetBrowserSize();
session.CurrentWindow.SetBrowserSize(0.0);
}
// Prompt user and get user specified location
alert(prompt);
var mouseButton = pfcCreate("pfcMouseButton");
var mouseClick = session.UIGetNextMousePick(mouseButton.MOUSE_BTN_LEFT);
if (hideBrowser) {
// Restore browser window
session.CurrentWindow.SetBrowserSize(browserSize);
}
return mouseClick.Position;
}
getArrayMaxData Function The getArrayMaxData function analyzes an array and returns an object containing four properties. Two properties are the number of rows and columns in the array, which is expected to be two dimensional. The other two properties are maximum column widths for each column and maximum row heights for each row.
If a row in excel contains a cell with a single linefeed character, that row will have a maximum row height of at least two characters. Similarly, if a column contains a cell with 50 characters, the maximum column width for that column will be at least 50 characters.
Once these values are populated, the object is returned to the calling function.
function getArrayMaxData ( array ) {
var obj = new Object();
// Figure out max size for each row and column to auto-expand
//
obj.max_col_width = new Array();
obj.max_row_height = new Array();
for (var i=0; i < array.length; i++ ) {
obj.max_row_height[i] = 0;
}
for (var i=0; i < array[0].length; i++ ) {
obj.max_col_width[i] = 0;
}
obj.rows = array.length;
obj.cols = 0;
// populate arrays of max column widths and max row heights
//
for (var i=0; i < array.length; i++) {
for (var j=0; j < array[i].length; j++) {
if (obj.cols < array[i].length) { obj.cols = array[i].length; }
var lines = array[i][j].split("\n");
if (lines.length > obj.max_row_height[i]) {
obj.max_row_height[i] = lines.length;
}
for (var k=0; k < lines.length; k++ ) {
if (lines[k].length > obj.max_col_width[j]) {
obj.max_col_width[j] = lines[k].length;
}
}
}
}
return obj;
}
writeTextInCell Function The writeTextInCell() function writes text to a specific table cell. If the cell data in Excel contains linefeeds, the result will be a table cell that matches with the same number of lines of text.
function writeTextInCell ( table, row, col, text ) {
var cell = pfcCreate("pfcTableCell").Create(row, col);
var lines = pfcCreate("stringseq");
var cell_lines = text.split("\n");
for (var i=0; i < cell_lines.length; i++ ) {
lines.Append(cell_lines[i]);
}
table.SetText(cell, lines);
}
There may be strange issues if "zombie" or multiple Excel sessions are running. If Excel is clearly running, but unexpected error messages are received, it may be best to kill all Excel sessions, then start it over again.
Part 2: Sending drawing table data to Excel
