2025 Robert McAnany
Description and examples for Solid Edge Housekeeper's Run External Program task.
The external program is a Console App that works on a single Solid Edge file. Housekeeper serves up files one at a time for processing.
Most developers will want the source code, however compiled versions are available as Releases.
To work with Housekeeper's error reporting, the program should return an integer exit code, with 0 meaning success. Anything else indicates an error. If an exit code is not issued, Housekeeper assumes success.
In order to return an exit code, the declaration for Main() should be: Function Main() As Integer. The usual declaration, Sub Main(), does not return a value.
You can provide feedback to the user through Housekeeper's error reporting mechanism. See details on how to do so in the example programs CompareFlatAndModelVolumes and ChangeToInchAndSaveAsFlatDXF.vbs for examples for VB.NET and VBScript, respectively.
If the ExitCode is not 0, and your program does not implement error reporting, Housekeeper simply lists the exit code.
Housekeeper launches the program as follows:
Dim P As New Process
Dim ExitCode As Integer
Extension = IO.Path.GetExtension(Me.ExternalProgram)
If Extension = ".ps1" Then
P.StartInfo.FileName = "powershell.exe"
P.StartInfo.Arguments = String.Format("-command {1}{0}{1}", Me.ExternalProgram, Chr(34))
P.Start()
Else
P = Diagnostics.Process.Start(Me.ExternalProgram)
End If
P.WaitForExit()
ExitCode = P.ExitCode
No arguments are passed to the program. If you need to get a value from Housekeeper, such as a template file location, you can use the function GetSettings() as shown in FitIsoView. The function parses the form_main_settings.json file passed into the macro's startup directory. The file is updated just before processing is launched. It should always reflect the current status of the form.
Housekeeper maintains a reference to the file being processed. If that reference is broken, an exception will occur. To avoid that, do not perform Close() or SaveAs() (SaveCopyAs() is OK) on the document.
No assumptions are made about what the external program does. If you change a file and want to save it, that needs to be in the program. If you open another file, you need to close it.
Sample programs may be the easiest way to get started automating Solid Edge yourself. Here are a few sites to check out:
Jason Newell: SolidEdgeCommunity
Tushar Suradkar: SurfAndCode
Jason Titcomb: LMGiJason
Wolfgang Hackl: Cadcam-Consult
Kabir Costa: KabirCosta
Alan Pope: Cadcentral NZ
UK Dave: uk-dave
Francesco Arfilli: farfilli
Chris Clems: ChrisClems
Derek Gooding: DerekGooding
NosyBottle: NosyBottle
ZaPpInG: lrmoreno007
To suggest other sources, including your own, feel free to message me, RobertMcAnany, on the Solid Edge Forum.
If you're looking for someone to create a program for you, I know a couple of folks who do it for a living. Message me on the Forum and I'll pass along the request.