Solid Edge ST7 SDK
Working with Symbols
Programmer's Guide > Solid Edge > Environments > Draft > Working with Symbols

Symbols are documents that contain graphic elements. You can place these documents at a specified scale, position, and orientation. The document that contains the graphic elements is the source document; the document into which the source is placed is the container document. A source document is represented in a container document by a symbol. The symbol references the source document as the COM object. Using symbols, you can store a drawing of a nut, bolt, or screw in one document and place it in several documents at a user-defined size. In addition, symbols have the following benefits:

On the Insert menu, click Object to place a symbol in the interactive environment. When using Solid Edge though automation, you can place a symbol using the methods associated with the Symbols collection.

The Symbols collection object provides methods that enable you to place new symbols and to query for information about existing ones. The Symbol2d object provides methods and properties to enable you to review or manipulate the symbol geometry, the attachment between the symbol and the source document, and the user properties. You can also move and copy symbols.

You can place a symbol from any source document that is implemented as an ActiveX object. For example, a source document could be a Microsoft Word file, an Excel spreadsheet, or a Solid Edge document.

When you place a symbol, you must specify an insertion type. The insertion type affects the way the symbol is updated. Three options are available:

See Handling 'Application is Busy' and 'Call was Rejected By Callee' errors for information regarding the use of OleMessageFilter.
Symbols in Visual Basic .NET
Copy Code 
Imports SolidEdgeConstants
Imports SolidEdgeDraft
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Module Program
    <STAThread()> _
    Sub Main()
        Dim objApplication As SolidEdgeFramework.Application = Nothing
        Dim objDocuments As SolidEdgeFramework.Documents = Nothing
        Dim objDraft As SolidEdgeDraft.DraftDocument = Nothing
        Dim objSheet As SolidEdgeDraft.Sheet = Nothing
        Dim objSymbols As SolidEdgeFramework.Symbols = Nothing
        Dim objSymbol1 As SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d = Nothing
        Dim objSymbol2 As SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d = Nothing
        Dim objSymbol3 As SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d = Nothing
        Dim x As Double
        Dim y As Double
        Dim strSourceDoc As String
        Dim objWordDoc As Object = Nothing
        Dim objWordApp As Object = Nothing

        Try
            OleMessageFilter.Register()

            ' Connect to a running instance of Solid Edge
            objApplication = Marshal.GetActiveObject("SolidEdge.Application")

            ' Get a reference to the documents collection
            objDocuments = objApplication.Documents

            ' Add a Draft document      
            objDraft = objDocuments.Add("SolidEdge.DraftDocument")

            ' Get a reference to the active sheet
            objSheet = objDraft.ActiveSheet

            ' Get a reference to the symbols collection
            objSymbols = objSheet.Symbols

            ' Create a linked symbol
            objSymbol1 = objSymbols.Add( _
              OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLELinked, _
              "C:\MyFile.doc", 0.1, 0.1)

            ' Create a embedded symbol
            objSymbol2 = objSymbols.Add( _
              OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLEEmbedded, _
              "C:\MyFile.doc", 0.1, 0.2)

            ' Create a shared embedded symbol
            objSymbol3 = objSymbols.Add( _
              OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLESharedEmbedded, _
              "C:\MyFile.doc", 0.1, 0.3)

            ' Retrieve the origin of the first symbol
            objSymbol1.GetOrigin(x, y)

            ' Modify the first symbol's origin
            objSymbol1.SetOrigin(x + 0.1, y + 0.1)

            ' Set the angle of rotation of the first symbol to 45 degrees
            ' (in radians)
            objSymbol1.Angle = 45 * (Math.PI / 180)

            ' Find the path to the linked document
            If objSymbol1.OLEType = OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLELinked Then
                strSourceDoc = objSymbol1.SourceDoc
            End If

            ' Open the source document to modify it
            objSymbol1.DoVerb( _
              SolidEdgeConstants.StandardOLEVerbConstants.igOLEOpen)

            ' In this case, we know that we're dealing with a word document
            ' Get a reference the source document dispatch interface
            ' At this point, you can use the Word API to manipulate the document
            objWordDoc = objSymbol1.Object

            ' Get a reference to the word application object
            objWordApp = objWordDoc.Application

            ' Save and close the word document
            objWordDoc.Save()
            objWordDoc.Close()

            ' Quit word
            objWordApp.Quit()

        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
        Finally
            OleMessageFilter.Revoke()
        End Try
    End Sub
End Module
Symbols in C#
Copy Code 
using SolidEdgeFramework;
using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace SolidEdge.SDK
{
    class Program
    {
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            SolidEdgeFramework.Application application = null;
            SolidEdgeFramework.Documents documents = null;
            SolidEdgeDraft.DraftDocument draft = null;
            SolidEdgeDraft.Sheet sheet = null;
            SolidEdgeFramework.Symbols symbols = null;
            SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d symbol1 = null;
            SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d symbol2 = null;
            SolidEdgeFramework.Symbol2d symbol3 = null;
            double x = 0;
            double y = 0;
            string strSouceDoc;
            object wordDoc = null;
            object wordApp = null;

            try
            {
                OleMessageFilter.Register();

                // Connect to a running instance of Solid Edge
                application = (SolidEdgeFramework.Application)
                  Marshal.GetActiveObject("SolidEdge.Application");

                // Get a reference to the documents collection
                documents = application.Documents;

                // Add a Draft document
                draft = (SolidEdgeDraft.DraftDocument)
                  documents.Add("SolidEdge.DraftDocument", Missing.Value);

                // Get a reference to the active sheet
                sheet = draft.ActiveSheet;

                // Get a reference to the symbols collection
                symbols = (SolidEdgeFramework.Symbols)sheet.Symbols;

                // Create a linked symbol
                symbol1 = symbols.Add(
                    (int)OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLELinked,
                    @"C:\MyFile.doc",
                    0.1,
                    0.1,
                    Missing.Value);

                // Create a embedded symbol
                symbol2 = symbols.Add(
                    (int)OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLEEmbedded,
                    @"C:\MyFile.doc",
                    0.1,
                    0.2,
                    Missing.Value);

                // Create a shared embedded symbol
                symbol3 = symbols.Add(
                    (int)OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLESharedEmbedded,
                    @"C:\MyFile.doc",
                    0.1,
                    0.3,
                    Missing.Value);

                // Retrieve the origin of the first symbol
                symbol1.GetOrigin(out x, out y);

                // Modify the first symbol's origin
                symbol1.SetOrigin(x + 0.2, y + 0.2);

                // Set the angle of rotation of the first symbol to 45 degrees
                // (in radians)
                symbol1.Angle = 45 * (Math.PI / 180);

                // Find the path to the linked document
                if (symbol1.OLEType == OLEInsertionTypeConstant.igOLELinked)
                {
                    strSouceDoc = symbol1.SourceDoc;
                }

                // Open the source document to modify it
                symbol1.DoVerb(
                  SolidEdgeConstants.StandardOLEVerbConstants.igOLEOpen);

                // In this case, we know that we're dealing with a word document
                // Get a reference the source document dispatch interface
                // At this point, you can use the Word API to manipulate the document
                wordDoc = symbol1.Object;

                // Get a reference to the word application object
                wordApp = wordDoc.GetType().InvokeMember(
                  "Application", BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, wordDoc, null);

                // Save and close the word document
                wordDoc.GetType().InvokeMember(
                  "Save", BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, wordDoc, null);
                wordDoc.GetType().InvokeMember(
                  "Close", BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, wordDoc, null);

                // Quit word
                wordApp.GetType().InvokeMember(
                  "Quit", BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, wordApp, null);

            }
            catch (System.Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                OleMessageFilter.Revoke();
            }
        }
    }
}