Installing and Configuring Python Environment

This section describes how to download and configure Python with all the features required to work with the Cimatron API.

Installing Python

1. Go to Python website https://www.python.org/
2. Click Downloads > Windows and click on the link to download the setup files for the version of Python you require.

   

3. Run the downloaded setup file.
4. In the setup wizard, select the Add python.exe to PATH checkbox.
5. Click Customize Installation.

   

6. Select all the Optional Features and click Next.

   

7. Select all the necessary Advanced Options and click on the button Next.
8. Click Browse next to the Customize install location field and navigate to the folder containing CimatronE.exe, such as C:\Program Files\Cimatron\Cimatron\2024.0\Program. 
9. Click Install.

   

10. Click Close when complete.

    

Configuring Python for Cimatron

This section covers how to create a Application Manifest file and associate it with python.exe that will perform the side-by-side registration required by Cimatron API’s COM pointers. 

1. Navigate to the folder where CimatronE.exe is located, such as C:\Program Files\Cimatron\Cimatron\2024.0\Program.
2. Create a text file named python and change the extension to .manifest.
3. Copy the content from the example Python Manifest file to this file.
   • Edit the file, replace “Application Name” in the first <assemblyIdentity> tag with “python”.
4. Save and close this file.

Associate the Manifest file

This task requires the mt.exe tool, which is a part of Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). This tool is found at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x64\mt.exe

1. Add path of mt.exe to the windows paths in environment variables of windows
   • From the Windows task bar, search for Edit system environment variables and open the control panel.
   • Click Environment Variables.

      

     

   • In User Variables for <username>, click New.
   • In the new User Variable window:
     • enter a Variable name
     • click in the Variable value field and the click Browse File... . Add the path to where mt.exe is stored, such as C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x64\.
2. Open a Command Prompt window with Administrator privileges. 
   From the Windows task bar, enter cmd and either right click on the result to display the pop up menu or select the option in the adjacent submenu. Select 'Run as Administrator' and open the application.
   
3. Verify mt.exe is added to the path.
   mt.exe
   You will see an error message if the path variable is not successfully set.
4. In the Command Prompt window, enter
   cd <Cimatron Installation Directory>\Cimatron\Program (replace <Cimatron Installation Directory> with path of Cimatron installation path)
5. Run following command:

   mt.exe -manifest "python.manifest" -updateresource:"python.exe;#1"

6. If command executes successfully, your Python environment is correctly configured to use Cimatron APIs.

Creating a Python Visual Studio Project

This section describes how to create a Cimatron API Application using Python. The following steps and snapshots are based on Visual Studio 2019. You can install Python development component for Visual Studio from Visual Studio Installer > Modify > Python Development.

Start a New Project

1. Create a new Python Application project. Select Python Application and click Next.

   

2. In the subsequent screen, provide a Project name and click Create.

3. Change Python Environment—Select the Python Environment from the Cimatron Installation Directory (If the Python Environment window is not shown in the right most menu, click Tools > Python > Python Environments or View > Other Windows > Python Environments, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-K).

   

   Note:  If the option is not present, select Add Environment as shown below.

   

   • Click Existing Environment in the left column.
   • In Environment option, select environment from <Cimatron Installation Directory>\Cimatron\Program
   • If this option is not present, select Custom in environment and add the above environment in Prefix Path.
   • Click Add.

Add Interop References

Interop dlls are imported in python script using clr module. This module can be imported from pythonnet package.

1. Use AddReference function from clr module to add necessary interop dlls in .py file.
2. Attach all Cimatron API Interop Files
   • interop.CimAppAccess.dll
   • interop.CimatronE.dll
   • interop.CimBaseAPI.dll
   • interop.CimMdlrAPI.dll
   • interop.CIMMiscAPI.dll
   • interop.CimNcAPI.dll
   • interop.CimServicesAPI.dll
   • interop.CimElectrodeAPI.dll

Example

#import clr module

import clr

#add reference to required interop dll

clr.AddReference("interop.CimAppAccess")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimatronE")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimServicesAPI")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimBaseAPI")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimMdlrAPI")

#import added references

import interop.CimAppAccess as CimAppAccess

import interop.CimatronE as CimatronE

import interop.CimServicesAPI as CimServicesAPI

import interop.CimBaseAPI as CimBaseAPI

import interop.CimMdlrAPI as CimMdlrAPI

Get Access to IApplication interface

Start your application using the code in one of the following options.

• Option 1: If Cimatron is not running, then create a launch Cimatron and get application object.

  #AppAccess Object

  aCimAppAccess = CimAppAccess.AppAccess()

  #Cimatron Application Object

  aCimApp = None

  #Get Running instance of cimatron application

  #If not running, launch cimatron and get its instance

  while(aCimApp == None):

  aCimApp = (CimatronE.IApplication)(aCimAppAccess.GetApplication())

• Option 2: If Cimatron is not running, then create a launch Cimatron and get application object.

  #Create Main Cimatron Application object

  CimUtilityApp = CimAppAccess.CimUtilityApp();

  #Force start Cimatron Application

  CimApp = None

  while(CimApp == None):

  cimAppp = (CimatronE.IApplication)(CimUtilityApp.GetIApplication())

Write your code

If you have successfully compled all these steps, you are ready to use Cimatron API’s. Refer to the example in Example for a Code Example.

You can directly run this script from Visual Studio as long as it is being run using the python environment provided with Cimatron is being used

(Optional) Bundling into a single .exe

This is an optional step to bundle your .py file into an executable .exe file.

1. Ensure that path to python.exe is added in Environment Variables.
2. Create an app.manifest file in the same directory where .py file is present
   • Create a new text file.
   • Change name of the file to app and its extension to .manifest
   • Copy the contents from into this file.
   • Replace “Application Name” in the first <assemblyIdentity> tag with name of your .py file.
3. Install pyinstaller if its not already installed
   • You can check if pyinstaller is installed in your device by running command pyinstaller --version in Windows Terminal or Command Prompt.
   • If it is not installed, you can install it using the following command
     pip install pyinstaller in Windows Terminal or Command Prompt
4. Open windows terminal.
5. Change directory to folder where .py file is present using cd <dir-path>. Replace dir-path with path to .py file
6. Run following command to bundle it into an executable and place it into Cimatron Application directory:

   pyinstaller pythonextrudeapplication.py -F -m app.manifest --distpath <Cimatron Installation Directory>\Cimatron\Program

   Replace <Cimatron Installation Directory> with path to your Cimatron installation directory.

7. Executable will be generated in <Cimatron Installation Directory>\Cimatron\Program directory.

Example

Here’s an example to create a box using Cimatron API in python.

import clr

#Adding references of required interop dlls

clr.AddReference("interop.CimAppAccess")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimatronE")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimServicesAPI")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimBaseAPI")

clr.AddReference("interop.CimMdlrAPI")

 

#importing modules from interop dlls

import interop.CimAppAccess as CimAppAccess

import interop.CimatronE as CimatronE

import interop.CimServicesAPI as CimServicesAPI

import interop.CimBaseAPI as CimBaseAPI

import interop.CimMdlrAPI as CimMdlrAPI

 

#Getting AppAccess Object

aCimAppAccess = CimAppAccess.AppAccess()

 

#Getting instance of CimatronE Application

aCimApp = None

while(aCimApp == None):

aCimApp = (CimatronE.IApplication)(aCimAppAccess.GetApplication())

 

aPdm = aCimApp.GetPdm()

aDoc = (CimBaseAPI.ICimDocument)(aCimApp.GetActiveDoc())

aModelCont = (CimMdlrAPI.IModelContainer)(aDoc)

aMdlrModel = (CimMdlrAPI.MdlrModel)(aModelCont.Model)

 

#Creating Sketcher Procedure

aSketchProc = (CimMdlrAPI.MdSketcher)(aMdlrModel.CreateProcedure(CimMdlrAPI.MdProcedureType.cmSketcherProcedure))

aMdSketcher = (CimMdlrAPI.IMdSketcher)(aSketchProc)

aISketcher = (CimServicesAPI.ISketcher)(aMdSketcher.Sketcher)

 

#Setting rectangle co-ordinates

from System import Array, Double

myarray = Array[Double](4)

myarray[0] = -50

myarray[1] = -50

myarray[2] = 50

myarray[3] = 50

aISketcher.AddBox(myarray)

 

# Evaluate function to create the opened sketcher

aISketcher.Evaluate()

# Execute the Creation

aSketchProc.Execute()

 

#Getting sketcher body as entity using query and filter

aSqrSketch = None

aQuery = (CimMdlrAPI.IEntityQuery)(aSketchProc)

aFilter = (CimBaseAPI.FilterType)(aQuery.CreateFilter(CimMdlrAPI.EFilterEnumType.cmFilterEntityType))

aFilter.Add(CimBaseAPI.EntityEnumType.cmBody) # search for the single BODY created in the sketcher

aQuery.SetFilter((CimMdlrAPI.IEntityFilter)(aFilter))

aTmpEntList = aQuery.Select()

aSqrSketch=(CimMdlrAPI.ICimEntity)(aTmpEntList[1])

aProcExt = (CimMdlrAPI.MdSketcher)(aMdlrModel.CreateProcedure(CimMdlrAPI.MdProcedureType.cmExtrudeProcedure))

 

#Creating Extrude Procedure

IMdExtrude = (CimMdlrAPI.IMdExtrude)(aProcExt);

 

#setting necessary parameters

IMdExtrude.Contour = aSqrSketch

IMdExtrude.Delta = 50

IMdExtrude.Mode = CimMdlrAPI.ExtrudeSweepMode.cmExtrudeSweepModeNew

IMdExtrude.SideOption = CimMdlrAPI.ExtrudeSideOption.cmExtrudeBothSide

IMdExtrude.DraftAngle = 0

IMdExtrude.DraftSideOption = CimMdlrAPI.ExtrudeDraftSideOption.cmExtrudeDraftOutside

IMdExtrude.InvertOption = CimMdlrAPI.ExtrudeInvertOption.cmExtrudeForward

IMdExtrude.OpositDelta = 50

 

#Executing Extrude

aProcExt.Execute()