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Getting Started With VBA For CATIA V6
This post will walk you through getting started with VBA for CATIA V6, but the process can easily be expanded for any application that has the capability to automated with VBA, such as Word, Excel, CATIA V5 etc..
VBA Fundamentals
So what is VBA, VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications and has been around for a long time, you may have recorded macros in Excel and just played them when you need these were recorded in the VBA language and you may have referred to them as scripts.
Within every programming language there are keywords, these keywords are interpreted and understood by the compiler, and syntax how these keywords are organized again interpreted and understood by the compiler. were going to look at just enough to get started and then explorer the other keywords and syntax as we go.
Commenting Code
In most code editors we can add comments to the code that the compiler will ignore, VBA is no exception to this. When we want to add a comment a single quote is used.
' This is a Comment
Keywords
Lets go through the basic keywords for VBA.
Dim (Declare In Memory)
The DIM (Declare In Memory) keyword allows us to create a space in memory and it has a syntax as follows;
Dim VariableName As String 'Dim Declare In Memory 'VariableName can be anything 'As is the keyword used prior to the variable type name 'String the variable type name
The “‘VariableName” can literally be anything, the As is another keyword, which is used prior to the variable Type Name, and finally the Type Name in this case is String, there are many Type Names but the standard ones tend to be;
- String to store text values, must be wrapped in double quotes e.g., “This is a String!”
- Long and Integer to store whole numbers
- Double to store numbers with decimals
- Boolean to store TRUE and FALSE values
- Object to store VBA objects such as worksheets and charts
A variable is a location in your computer’s memory that you define and then use to store values. This storage is temporary and the values are cleared when your macro ends. You can name a variable something meaningful and specify the type of data that it will store. You can then access and change that variable’s value as many times as you want in your VBA code.
When creating variables the variable name must not begin with a number, cannot use special characters such as %, &, ! or @, including spaces. Finally, reserved keyword such as Dim, Public or Next cannot be used. These reserved words are important for other VBA operations.
Set Keyword
Set, is a keyword used in VBA programming to assign a reference to an object, which is going to remain fix throughout the program. Within VBA we have two groups of things, Objects (Classes) and Property’s. Property’s are typically values so Integers, Doubles, Boolean, Strings etc.. Where as Objects are Classes they are collections of Methods, Other Objects and Property’s, they define a structure an object.
Why is this important, wee when dealing with variables or property’s vs. objects and equating them, we have to handle them slightly differently. Its pretty simple, when equating Objects we must use the Set keyword where as property’s we don’t.
Dim MyProperty As String MyProperty = "255,255,255" ' No Set Keyword Since its a Property Dim ioCATIA as Application Set ioCATIA = CATIA ' Set Keyword Required Since its an Object
Sub and Function
The code we write must be contained within a code block, there are two types of code blocks Subroutines and Functions. There is a very simple difference between these two type, a Subroutine executes the code within it, whereas a Function executes the code within it and returns something.
Every program must have an entry point, the main subroutine that is executed when the script is called. This subroutine can have nested subroutines and functions within it, and these nested subroutines and functions can have nested subroutines and functions within them and so on. So your program structure ends up being a tree structure. The other benefit of this is that code can be objectified and reused when ever you need to use it.
Both Sub and Function are keywords and have their own syntax as follows;
Sub SubroutineName() End Sub Sub SubroutineName2( InputVariable As Integer ) End Sub Sub SubroutineName3( InputVariable As Integer , InputVariable2 As String ) End Sub Function FunctionName() As Double End Function Function FunctionName2( InputVariable As Integer , InputVariable2 As String ) As Double End Function
The “SubroutineName” can literally be anything, the parenthesis give us the opportunity to pass in one or more variables into the subroutine or function. The End Sub tells the compiler when the Subroutine is complete. The Function syntax is very similar however notice the As Type Name statement at the end of the Function declaration. This tells the compiler the type of data being returned by the function, remember a subroutine just does something whereas a function does something and returns something. Like a manager who tells the employee to create a report and email it to them, so they can present it.
Some applications require the main subroutine to have a very specific name i.e. CATIA which requires the main routine to be CATMain.
Sub CATMain() End Sub
If this is not the case then its good practice to call out the entry point.
Sub ThisIsMyEntryPoint() End Sub
From the main subroutine we can call other subroutines and functions. When we do this we have to remember that subroutines just do something whereas functions return something dependent on their return type defined by the As Type Name after the closing parenthesis. Lets first look at calling a subroutine.
Within the Main Subroutine were calling the same Subroutine twice, but each time passing a different string, which is then displayed in a message box by the subroutine “DisplayMessage”.
Sub CATMain()
DisplayMessage("Hello World!")
DisplayMessage("Bob's Your Uncle.")
End Sub
Sub DisplayMessage(iMessage As String)
msgbox(iMessage)
End SubNow lets look at how we call a function, its not unlike calling a subroutine but we have to equate it to something. In this case the Function returns a String so we have to create a String variable (Message) and equate it to the “BuildMessage” function. This function similar to the previous example requires a string to be passed to it.
Sub CATMain()
Dim Message As String
Message = BuildMessage("Bob")
msgbox(Message)
Message = BuildMessage("Gavin")
msgbox(Message)
End Sub
Function BuildMessage(iName As String) As String
BuildMessage = "My Name is " & iName
End FunctionIf Else ElseIf End If
No programming language would be complete without the capability to check conditionality, in VBA we have two types If and Switch, lets look at If first. The If keyword is followed by a logic expression for example; <, <=, =, >=, >, <> there are some other logic expression but lets keep it simple. The logic expression does not have to be wrapped in parenthesis but this keeps it readable. If the logic expression is in parity Then the the code between the If and ElseIf, Else or End If is executed. The Then, ElseIf, Else or End If are all keywords that make up the syntax of the If, Else, ElseIf, End If.
If(boolean_expression) Then Statement 1 ..... ..... Statement n ElseIf (boolean_expression) Then Statement 1 ..... .... Statement n ElseIf (boolean_expression) Then Statement 1 ..... .... Statement n Else Statement 1 ..... .... Statement n End If
Let’s put some of this together, the msgbox(“Message”) is an out of the box VBA subroutine that requires a string to be passed into it as an input. This subroutine will display a message box to the user containing the passed in string. So lets use this to try out some simple If Statements.
Dim X as Integer ' Create a space in memory that will hold an integr value ,called X
X = 1 ' Initilize X with the value of 1
If( X = 1 ) Then ' evaluate if X equals 1
msgbox("True") ' If X equals one, display a message
End If ' end the if statement
X = 11 ' Initilize X with the value of 11
If( X < 10 ) Then ' evaluate if X is less than 10
msgbox("True")
Else
msgbox("False") ' If X is not less than 10, display a message
End If ' end the if statement
X = 15 ' Initilize X with the value of 15
If( X < 5 ) Then
msgbox("False")
ElseIf( X >=15 ) Then ' evaluate if X is Greater than or Equal to 15
msgbox("True") ' If X is greater than or equal to fifteen, display a message
Else
msgbox("False")
End If
So lets put some of this together, but to do that we want to make it a little more interactive by using an additional out of the box vba function; UserValue = InputBox(Message, Title, Default) this function displays a window which allows a user to enter a value which is returned by the function. This function takes in three inputs; a message, a title and a default value.
Were also going to use the And keyword to define a range within the logic expression, Or can also be used. Also within the msgbox subroutine we will use the & keyword to concatenate two strings together (remember when the compiler evaluates the variable at runtime the variable is replaced by its current value).
Sub CATMain()
Dim UserValue As Integer
Dim UserMessage As String
Dim UserTitle As String
Dim UserDefault As Integer
UserMessage = "Enter a Value Between 1 and 100."
UserTitle = "Enter Value."
UserDefault = 50
UserValue = inputBox( UserMessage , UserTitle, UserDefault)
If ( UserValue <=25 ) Then
msgbox( "You Selected a Value Between 0 and 25 : " & UserValue )
ElseIf ( UserValue > 25 And UserValue <= 50 ) Then
msgbox( "You Selected a Value Between 26 and 50 : " & UserValue )
ElseIf ( UserValue > 50 And UserValue <= 75 )
msgbox( "You Selected a Value Between 51 and 75 : " & UserValue )
Else
msgbox( "You Selected a Value Between 76 and 100 : " & UserValue )
End If
End SubFor Next
In any code its important to have the ability to loop, within VBA the For loop allows us todo that. The For loop requires a Counter, Start and End integer only the Counter must be a pre declared variable, since its value will increment with every loop. Within the For loop the Counter is initialized to the value of the Start integer. Then the To key word defines the End integer value, essentially the from to count. By default the For loop will increment by 1 every time the code hits the Next keyword. However we can use the Step key word to define the step size of the Counter value. After the Next keyword the Counter variable can be added again this is redundant in the latest VBA releases.
For counter = Start To End [Step stepsize] Statement 1 ..... .... Statement n Next [counter]
In the following examples, each For loop calls a simple subroutine to display the current Counter value. Each For loop example uses a slightly different For loop syntax, some counting in increments of 1 some in increments of 2 and some counting backwards.
Sub CATMain()
Dim Counter, Start, Target, StepSize As Integer
Start = 1
Target = 10
StepSize = 1
For Counter = Start To Target Step StepSize
'Statement 1
Messaging(Counter)
'Statement n
Next
For Counter = 1 to 10
'Statement 1
Messaging(Counter)
'Statement n
Next
For Counter = 1 to 10 Step 1
'Statement 1
Messaging(Counter)
'Statement n
Next
For Counter = 10 to 1 Step -1
'Statement 1
Messaging(Counter)
'Statement n
Next
For Counter = 1 to 10 Step 2
'Statement 1
Messaging(Counter)
'Statement n
Next Counter
End Sub
Sub Messaging(iCounter As Integer)
msgbox("Current Count is : " & iCounter)
End SubExit End
There are occasion when we just want to stop the code from running, this is where the End keyword is useful. For example we can use the msgbox as a function which returns a status i.e. which button did the user select within the message dialogue window; Yes, No, or Cancel. In this case No will end the Code with no message and Cancel will end the code with a message. Only Yes will allow any additional code to be executed.
Sub CATMain()
Dim msgboxResult As String
msgboxResult = MsgBox("Do You Want to Carry On?", vbYesNoCancel, "Carry On?")
If (msgboxResult = vbNo) Then
End
ElseIf (msgboxResult = vbCancel) Then
MsgBox ("Cancelling Command.")
End
End If
'Statement 1
'Statement ...
'Statement n
End SubThe Exit keyword is typically used in conjunction with a For loop, it allows a loop to stop loop prematurely based on a logic statement. In this case when the loop counter equals 5, an additional question asks if the user wants to exit the loop. If the response is yes then the for loop is exited.
Sub CATMain()
Dim ioIndex As Integer
For ioIndex = 1 To 10
If (ioIndex = 5) Then
Dim msgboxResult As String
msgboxResult = MsgBox("Do You Want to Exit the For Loop?", vbYesNo, "Exit Loop")
If (msgboxResult = vbYes) Then
Exit For
End If
End If
Next
End SubError Handling
Error Handling is very important and there are two frames of though on this; Catch any errors arising from the data being processed, or Catch any Error that were thrown intentionally or non-intentionally. I will be focusing on the data and intentionally throw errors in this section.
Within VBA by default an error will cause the execution to stop and an error message displayed. This default behavior can be turned off by using the following keywords in the following syntax.
On Error Resume Next
From this point onwards any error thrown will be ignored which maybe catastrophic for you code. We can turn error handling back on by using the following keywords in the following syntax.
On Error Goto O
In between these we can test for an error and then do something about it. In this example were asking the user to key in an integer value, but what if they don’t? Here is where we can use error handling to check for an error and then do something about it. In the first example we capture the error and set a default value for the integer variable. In the second example we keep looping until the user enters in an acceptable value or they choose to exit the script. Notice in the second example we have to reset the error handler to 0 before retrying, this is done by setting the Error Number property to 0.
We can use this same error handling to capture errors with code that maybe fragile based on the user data.
Sub CATMain()
On Error Resume Next
Dim UserValue As Integer
UserValue = InputBox("Enter an Integer Value.", "Integer Value", 0)
If (Err.Number <> 0) Then
MsgBox ("You Entered an Alpha Charter Silly, Were Going to Use the Default Value.")
UserVlaue = 0
End If
On Error GoTo 0
On Error Resume Next
Dim Passed As Boolean
Passed = False
Do While Passed = False
UserValue = InputBox("Enter an Integer Value.", "Integer Value", 0)
If (Err.Number <> 0) Then
Dim Status As String
Status = MsgBox("You Entered an Alpha Charter Silly, Did You Want to Try Again?", vbYesNo, "Try Again.")
If (Status = vbNo) Then
MsgBox ("Exitting Script.")
End
Else
Err.Number = 0
End If
Else
Passed = True
End If
Loop
On Error GoTo 0
End SubWhere possible its better to write same validation methods that you can use, prior to a line of code that potentially may throw an error. In the example below the function is designed to tell you if a directory exists. So prior to writing or reading a file from a directory we can validate if that directory exists. If the function returns False indicating that the directory does not exist we can go back to the user and ask them for a valid directory. This is better than allowing the error to happen, capturing this error and then doing something about it, we should be proactive not reactive.
Function DirectoryExists(Directory As String) As Boolean
DirectoryExists = False
If Len(Dir(Directory, vbDirectory)) > 0 Then
If (GetAttr(Directory) And vbDirectory) = vbDirectory Then
DirectoryExists = True
End If
End If
End FunctionWhen writing a function or subroutine its often a good idea to catch unknow or unintended errors. This is done by using the Goto keyword with the following syntax. At the Start of the subroutine or function we tell the error handler On Error Goto ErrorSub, ErrorSub is a specific line in the code denoted by this name ErrorSub followed by “:”.
So if an error is thrown then the code will automatically jump to ErrorSub, and a message box will be displayed with the Error Description. If an Error is not thrown then when we get to Goto EndSub we are jumping the error reporting piece, since no error has been captured and Ending the subroutine or function normally.
Sub SelectGridBounds()
'Error handling
On Error GoTo ErrorSub
'Statement 1
'Statement ...
'Statement n
'Error handling
GoTo EndSub
ErrorSub:
MsgBox Err.Description
EndSub:
End SubSo for now this is a good basis to get going with VBA.