Database and graphical objects in engineering design

Abstract

This paper introduces graphics programming in the Computer Aided Design environment. Using Visual Basic for Applications programming language methods, algorithms and procedures the following design problems can be solved: attaching information from database to a graphical object being drawn, reading information from certain graphical objects of a drawing and collecting, storing, presenting this information in database formats, carrying mathematical operations with read information. The algorithm has been formed to attach database record information to graphical object which gives the procedures how to: select one graphical object record in the database, create extended data of new graphical object, draw programming graphical object depending on extended data and scale in the drawing. The algorithm has been created to read the information from graphical objects and to collect extended data in the database records: select graphical objects in the drawing, take the first object, verify whether an object has extended data and collect extended data in the database record. The following phenomena are presented: procedure fragments and results dependent on selected record in the database of graphical object parameters; creation of extended data for new graphical object; and information transfer to another database. The following questions have been answered how the prepared procedures work to collect drawing information in the database with different number of graphical objects and with and without sorting procedure. The example of a facade drawing and database with doors information with program written in Visual Basic for Applications language has been given. The general purpose of this paper is to contribute to a debate about the possibility of Visual Basic for Applications graphics programming.