Using Pro/Program to copy features

[Chris3]

It appears that this may not be possible, but has anyone successfully copied a feature out of one part by editing the pro/program, copying the feature, and then pasting it into a new part?

When I try and do this it complains saying that there is no internal feature ID that matches the one that I copied and pasted from another part.

I understand that there are more convenient ways to copy and past features, but for my own reasons if possible I would like to do it using Pro/Program. I know that Pro/Program can read in a design "from file" which made me think that this might have been possible. Maybe it can only change existing features though and not add new ones.

[Chris3]

To explain a little bit further: ultimately what I would like is the ability to create a Creo part using a text file.

[Chris3]

I am going to assume from the responses that the only way to re-create a part from using a plain text file would be to use one of the toolkits.

[tbraxton]

It is possible to generate a trail file (text) and then run that to create a part. In practice it is a bit tricky and a pain to debug but it is possible.

[Chris3]

In my experience trail files are prone to causing Pro/Exits and or just don't work after a couple of steps. They can be useful for some things but not for anything with a lot of steps.

In my particular case, I have a preexisting CAD model that I want to re-create (with a text file) and the trail file that was generated when it was created is long gone. Not only that but it has a bunch of iterations.

[tbraxton · Accepted solution]

In theory you should be able to step through the model using the model player for all features of interest. You can record this as a trail file. Trail files are not easy to debug but if you use these config options then it is workable IME.

CONTINUE_FROM_OOS   TRUE

set_trail_single_step   yes

[Chris3]

Thanks for the reminder about model player. Its been a long time since I played with that. I will this as the solution as I think it is the best answer I am going to get that isn't Pro/Toolkit.

[KenFarley]

Just recently I was able to use a trail file to generate hundreds of DXF files, by doing the things I wanted to repeat (all the stuff that I wanted to set for each DXF, like version and such) with one file, then duplicating the sequence of commands while merging in a list of all the files I wanted to process. It worked nicely, once I figured out the syntax of the trail file and what was important.

It's not easy, by any means, and mistakes cause Creo to crash ungracefully, but once I got it working it saved me from hours of loading in and DXF-ing file after file. You really do need a good text editor, too. "Notepad" or other stone tools of editing will not cut it...

[tbraxton]

The internal feature ID within a part is unique, so if you are trying to get a feature from another part that is why you are getting that error. Check to see if you can access the session ID within Pro/Program. The session ID is tracked internally for all in session items and this will allow you to identify a feature from another part. The session ID is not persistent (saved with file) and is only valid for in session objects so writing a text file with a session ID will not work unless you can determine session ID on the fly and modify the text file.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

I am almost sure that Pro/Program can only work with existing features and it is not able to add new ones.