MATLAB Function for Evaluating Body Position in SolidWorks Stuck in Busy Mode

I'm working on a MATLAB function that interacts with SolidWorks to evaluate the position of a body within a SolidWorks part. The function performs the evaluation correctly, but I'm encountering an issue where it gets stuck in a busy mode and doesn't exit. This results in MATLAB becoming unresponsive indefinitely.

function position = getposition(path, bodyname, N)
% Connect to SolidWorks

% Crea un'istanza dell'applicazione SolidWorks
swApp = actxserver('SldWorks.Application');

% Imposta l'applicazione SolidWorks come visibile
set(swApp, 'Visible', true);

% Apri il documento specificato
% 'path' deve essere il percorso completo del documento da aprire
swModel = invoke(swApp, 'OpenDoc', path, 1); % 1 per parti, 2 per assiemi, ecc.

% Ottieni il gestore delle configurazioni del modello aperto
configMgr = invoke(swModel, 'ConfigurationManager');

% Ottieni la configurazione attiva
config = invoke(configMgr, 'ActiveConfiguration');

% Ottieni i corpi solidi nella part
bodies = invoke(swModel, 'GetBodies2', 0, true); % 0 per corpi solidi
% swModel  = [];


numBodies = length(bodies);
if bodyname == "Grain"
    if N > 1
        if mod(N, 2) == 0
            bodyname = ["Grain_rep["+num2str(N/2)+"]","Grain_rep["+num2str(N/2+1)+"]"];
        else
            bodyname = "Grain_rep["+num2str(round(N/2))+"]";
        end
    end
end



position = zeros(length(bodyname),3);
j = 1;

% Loop through each body and get its name
for i = 1:numBodies
    body = bodies{i}; % SolidWorks uses 0-based indexing
    if length(bodyname)>1
        if contains(body.Name, bodyname)
            boundingBox = invoke(body, 'GetBodyBox');
            position(j,:) = [mean([boundingBox(1:3); boundingBox(4:6)])];
            j = j+1;
        end
    else
        if body.Name == bodyname
            boundingBox = invoke(body, 'GetBodyBox');
            position = mean([boundingBox(1:3); boundingBox(4:6)]);
            break
        end
    end

    bodies{i} = [];
end

position = position.*[-1 1 1];

release(swApp)
release(swModel)

end

Despite checking for any infinite loops or blocking calls, I haven't been able to identify the cause of the issue.

Has anyone faced a similar problem or can suggest a potential solution?

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Answer 1

[Saurav]

Hi Matteo,

I understand that your code becomes unresponsive when evaluating the position of a body in SolidWorks using MATLAB.

Your MATLAB script might be having trouble properly releasing resources or handling the SolidWorks COM object.

Here are a few suggestions to help you debug and potentially resolve the issue:

• Ensure Proper Release of COM Objects: Make sure that all COM objects are properly released. This includes not only ‘swApp’ and ‘swModel’ but also any other intermediate COM objects you create.
• Error Handling: Implement error handling to ensure that resources are released even if an error occurs. This can be done using a try-catch block. Refer to the following documentation to learn more about using a try-catch block within the code: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/try.html
• Debugging: Add debug statements to identify where the code gets stuck. “disp” or “fprintf” statements can be added to print intermediate values and track the execution flow.
• Close Documents Explicitly: Ensure that the opened document is closed before releasing the application.
• Use the recommended MATLAB syntax for COM objects: Refer to the following link to learn about the recommended syntax for creating variables for COM objects: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/handling-com-data-in-matlab-software.html#:~:text=Use%20one%20of,invoke(h%2C%27TestMeth1%27)%3B

I hope this helps!