Code snippets

This page contains examples, pieces, chunks of FreeCAD python code collected from users experiences and discussions on the forums. Read and use it as a start for your own scripts...

A typical InitGui.py file
Every module must contain, besides your main module file, an InitGui.py file, responsible for inserting the module in the main Gui. This is an example of a simple one.

class ScriptWorkbench (Workbench): MenuText = "Scripts" def Initialize(self): import Scripts # assuming Scripts.py is your module list = ["Script_Cmd"] # That list must contain command names, that can be defined in Scripts.py        self.appendToolbar("My Scripts",list) Gui.addWorkbench(ScriptWorkbench)

A typical module file
This is an example of a main module file, containing everything your module does. It is the Scripts.py file invoked by the previous example. You can have all your custom commands here.

import FreeCAD, FreeCADGui class ScriptCmd: def Activated(self): # Here your write what your ScriptCmd does... FreeCAD.Console.PrintMessage('Hello, World!') def GetResources(self): return {'Pixmap' : 'path_to_an_icon/myicon.png', 'MenuText': 'Short text', 'ToolTip': 'More detailed text'} FreeCADGui.addCommand('Script_Cmd', ScriptCmd)

Import a new filetype
Making an importer for a new filetype in FreeCAD is easy. FreeCAD doesn't consider that you import data in an opened document, but rather that you simply can directly open the new filetype. So what you need to do is to add the new file extension to FreeCAD's list of known extensions, and write the code that will read the file and create the FreeCAD objects you want:

This line must be added to the InitGui.py file to add the new file extension to the list:

FreeCAD.addImportType("Your new File Type (*.ext)","Import_Ext")
 * 1) Assumes Import_Ext.py is the file that has the code for opening and reading .ext files

Then in the Import_Ext.py file:

def open(filename): doc=App.newDocument # here you do all what is needed with filename, read, classify data, create corresponding FreeCAD objects doc.recompute

To export your document to some new filetype works the same way, except that you use: FreeCAD.addExportType("Your new File Type (*.ext)","Export_Ext")

Adding a line
A line simply has 2 points.

import Part,PartGui doc=App.activeDocument l=Part.Line l.StartPoint=(0.0,0.0,0.0) l.EndPoint=(1.0,1.0,1.0) doc.addObject("Part::Feature","Line").Shape=l.toShape doc.recompute
 * 1) add a line element to the document and set its points

Adding a polygon
A polygon is simply a set of connected line segments (a polyline in AutoCAD). It doesn't need to be closed.

import Part,PartGui doc=App.activeDocument n=list v=App.Vector(0,0,0) n.append(v) v=App.Vector(10,0,0) n.append(v) p=doc.addObject("Part::Polygon","Polygon") p.Nodes=n doc.recompute
 * 1) create a 3D vector, set its coordinates and add it to the list
 * 1) ... repeat for all nodes
 * 2) Create a polygon object and set its nodes

Adding and removing an object to a group
doc=App.activeDocument grp=doc.addObject("App::DocumentObjectGroup", "Group") lin=doc.addObject("Part::Feature", "Line") grp.addObject(lin) # adds the lin object to the group grp grp.removeObject(lin) # removes the lin object from the group grp

Note: You can even add other groups to a group...

Adding a Mesh
import Mesh doc=App.activeDocument m = Mesh.Mesh m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 0.0,0.0,1.0, 0.0,1.0,1.0) m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 0.0,1.0,1.0, 0.0,1.0,0.0) m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 1.0,0.0,0.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0) m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0, 0.0,0.0,1.0) m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 0.0,1.0,0.0, 1.0,1.0,0.0) m.addFacet(0.0,0.0,0.0, 1.0,1.0,0.0, 1.0,0.0,0.0) m.addFacet(0.0,1.0,0.0, 0.0,1.0,1.0, 1.0,1.0,1.0) m.addFacet(0.0,1.0,0.0, 1.0,1.0,1.0, 1.0,1.0,0.0) m.addFacet(0.0,1.0,1.0, 0.0,0.0,1.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0) m.addFacet(0.0,1.0,1.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0, 1.0,1.0,1.0) m.addFacet(1.0,1.0,0.0, 1.0,1.0,1.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0) m.addFacet(1.0,1.0,0.0, 1.0,0.0,1.0, 1.0,0.0,0.0) m.scale(100.0) me=doc.addObject("Mesh::Feature","Cube") me.Mesh=m
 * 1) create a new empty mesh
 * 1) build up box out of 12 facets
 * 1) scale to a edge langth of 100
 * 1) add the mesh to the active document

Adding an arc or a circle
import Part doc = App.activeDocument c = Part.Circle c.Radius=10.0 f = doc.addObject("Part::Feature", "Circle") # create a document with a circle feature f.Shape = c.toShape # Assign the circle shape to the shape property doc.recompute

Accessing and changing representation of an object
Each object in a FreeCAD document has an associated view representation object that stores all the parameters that define how the object appear, like color, linewidth, etc...

gad=Gui.activeDocument  # access the active document containing all # view representations of the features in the # corresponding App document v=gad.getObject("Cube")   # access the view representation to the Mesh feature 'Cube' v.ShapeColor              # prints the color to the console v.ShapeColor=(1.0,1.0,1.0) # sets the shape color to white

Observing mouse events in the 3D viewer via Python
The Inventor framework allows to add one or more callback nodes to the scenegraph of the viewer. By default in FreeCAD one callback node is installed per viewer which allows to add global or static C++ functions. In the appropriate Python binding some methods are provided to make use of this technique from within Python code.

App.newDocument v=Gui.activeDocument.activeView class ViewObserver: def logPosition(self, info): down = (info["State"] == "DOWN") pos = info["Position"] if (down): FreeCAD.Console.PrintMessage("Clicked on position: ("+str(pos[0])+", "+str(pos[1])+")\n") o = ViewObserver c = v.addEventCallback("SoMouseButtonEvent",o.logPosition)
 * 1) This class logs any mouse button events. As the registered callback function fires twice for 'down' and
 * 2) 'up' events we need a boolean flag to handle this.

Now, pick somewhere on the area in the 3D viewer and observe the messages in the output window. To finish the observation just call

v.removeEventCallback("SoMouseButtonEvent",c)

The following event types are supported
 * SoEvent -- all kind of events
 * SoButtonEvent -- all mouse button and key events
 * SoLocation2Event -- 2D movement events (normally mouse movements)
 * SoMotion3Event -- 3D movement events (normally spaceball)
 * SoKeyboardEvent -- key down and up events
 * SoMouseButtonEvent -- mouse button down and up events
 * SoSpaceballButtonEvent -- spaceball button down and up events

The Python function that can be registered with addEventCallback expects a dictionary. Depending on the watched event the dictionary can contain different keys. For all events it has the keys: For all button events, i.e. keyboard, mouse or spaceball events For keyboard events: For mouse button event For spaceball events: And finally motion events:
 * Type -- the name of the event type i.e. SoMouseEvent, SoLocation2Event, ...
 * Time -- the current time as string
 * Position -- a tuple of two integers, mouse position
 * ShiftDown -- a boolean, true if Shift was pressed otherwise false
 * CtrlDown -- a boolean, true if Ctrl was pressed otherwise false
 * AltDown -- a boolean, true if Alt was pressed otherwise false
 * State -- A string 'UP' if the button was up, 'DOWN' if it was down or 'UNKNOWN' for all other cases
 * Key -- a character of the pressed key
 * Button -- The pressed button, could be BUTTON1, ..., BUTTON5 or ANY
 * Button -- The pressed button, could be BUTTON1, ..., BUTTON7 or ANY
 * Translation -- a tuple of three floats
 * Rotation -- a quaternion for the rotation, i.e. a tuple of four floats

Manipulate the scenegraph in Python
It is also possible to get and change the scenegraph in Python, with the 'pivy' module -- a Python binding for Coin.

from pivy.coin import *               # load the pivy module view = Gui.ActiveDocument.ActiveView  # get the active viewer root = view.getSceneGraph           # the root is an SoSeparator node root.addChild(SoCube) view.fitAll

The Python API of pivy is created by using the tool SWIG. As we use in FreeCAD some self-written nodes you cannot create them directly in Python. However, it is possible to create a node by its internal name. An instance of the type 'SoFCSelection' can be created with

type = SoType.fromName("SoFCSelection") node = type.createInstance

Adding and removing objects to/from the scenegraph
Adding new nodes to the scenegraph can be done this way. Take care of always adding a SoSeparator to contain the geometry, coordinates and material info of a same object. The following example adds a red line from (0,0,0) to (10,0,0):

from pivy import coin sg = Gui.ActiveDocument.ActiveView.getSceneGraph co = coin.SoCoordinate3 pts = 0,0,0],[10,0,0 co.point.setValues(0,len(pts),pts) ma = coin.SoBaseColor ma.rgb = (1,0,0) li = coin.SoLineSet li.numVertices.setValue(2) no = coin.SoSeparator no.addChild(co) no.addChild(ma) no.addChild(li) sg.addChild(no)

To remove it, simply issue:

sg.removeChild(no)

Adding custom widgets to the interface
You can create custom widgets with Qt designer, transform them into a python script, and then load them into the FreeCAD interface with PyQt4.

The python code produced by the Ui python compiler (the tool that converts qt-designer .ui files into python code) generally looks like this (it is simple, you can also code it directly in python):

class myWidget_Ui(object): def setupUi(self, myWidget): myWidget.setObjectName("my Nice New Widget") myWidget.resize(QtCore.QSize(QtCore.QRect(0,0,300,100).size).expandedTo(myWidget.minimumSizeHint)) # sets size of the widget self.label = QtGui.QLabel(myWidget) # creates a label self.label.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(50,50,200,24)) # sets its size self.label.setObjectName("label") # sets its name, so it can be found by name def retranslateUi(self, draftToolbar): # built-in QT function that manages translations of widgets myWidget.setWindowTitle(QtGui.QApplication.translate("myWidget", "My Widget", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8)) self.label.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("myWidget", "Welcome to my new widget!", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))

Then, all you need to do is to create a reference to the FreeCAD Qt window, insert a custom widget into it, and "transform" this widget into yours with the Ui code we just made:

app = QtGui.qApp FCmw = app.activeWindow # the active qt window, = the freecad window since we are inside it myNewFreeCADWidget = QtGui.QDockWidget # create a new dckwidget myNewFreeCADWidget.ui = myWidget_Ui # load the Ui script myNewFreeCADWidget.ui.setupUi(myNewFreeCADWidget) # setup the ui FCmw.addDockWidget(QtCore.Qt.RightDockWidgetArea,myNewFreeCADWidget) # add the widget to the main window

Adding a Tab to the Combo View
The following code allows you to add a tab to the FreeCAD ComboView, besides the "Project" and "Tasks" tabs. It also uses the uic module to load an ui file directly in that tab.

from PyQt4 import QtGui,QtCore from PyQt4 import uic def getMainWindow: "returns the main window" # using QtGui.qApp.activeWindow isn't very reliable because if another # widget than the mainwindow is active (e.g. a dialog) the wrong widget is   # returned toplevel = QtGui.qApp.topLevelWidgets for i in toplevel: if i.metaObject.className == "Gui::MainWindow": return i   raise Exception("No main window found") def getComboView(mw): dw=mw.findChildren(QtGui.QDockWidget) for i in dw: if str(i.objectName) == "Combo View": return i.findChild(QtGui.QTabWidget) raise Exception("No tab widget found") mw = getMainWindow tab = getComboView(getMainWindow) tab2=QtGui.QDialog tab.addTab(tab2,"A Special Tab") uic.loadUi("/myTaskPanelforTabs.ui",tab2) tab2.show
 * 1) from PySide import QtGui,QtCore
 * 1) tab.removeTab(2)

Opening a custom webpage
import WebGui WebGui.openBrowser("http://www.example.com")

Getting the HTML contents of an opened webpage
from PyQt4 import QtGui,QtWebKit a = QtGui.qApp mw = a.activeWindow v = mw.findChild(QtWebKit.QWebFrame) html = unicode(v.toHtml) print html

Retrieve and use the coordinates of 3 selected points or objects
import Part, FreeCAD, math, PartGui, FreeCADGui from FreeCAD import Base, Console sel = FreeCADGui.Selection.getSelection # " sel " contains the items selected if len(sel)!=3 : # If there are no 3 objects selected, an error is displayed in the report view # The \r and \n at the end of line mean return and the newline CR + LF. Console.PrintError("Select 3 points exactly\r\n") else : points=[] for obj in sel: points.append(obj.Shape.BoundBox.Center)
 * 1) -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 * 2) the line above to put the accentuated in the remarks
 * 3) If this line is missing, an error will be returned
 * 4) extract and use the coordinates of 3 objects selected

for pt in points: # display of the coordinates in the report view Console.PrintMessage(str(pt.x)+"\r\n") Console.PrintMessage(str(pt.y)+"\r\n") Console.PrintMessage(str(pt.z)+"\r\n")

Console.PrintMessage(str(pt[1]) + "\r\n")

List all objects
App.ActiveDocument=App.getDocument("Unnamed") doc = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument objs = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Objects for obj in objs: name = obj.Name       # list the names of the objects print name            # Displays the name of the object
 * 1) -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 * 2) List all objects
 * 1) print objs
 * 2) print len(FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Objects)
 * 1) doc.removeObject("Ortho") # Clears the designated object

Function resident with the mouse click action
class SelObserver: def addSelection(self,doc,obj,sub,pnt): # Selection print "addSelection" print doc                           # Name of the document print obj                           # Name of the object print sub                           # The part of the object name print pnt                           # Coordinates of the object
 * 1) -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 * 2) causes an action to the mouse click on an object
 * 3) This function remains resident (in memory) with the function "addObserver(s)"
 * 4) "removeObserver(s) # Uninstalls the resident function

def removeSelection(self,doc,obj,sub):  # Delete the selected object print "removeSelection" def setSelection(self,doc):             # Selection in ComboView print "setSelection" def clearSelection(self,doc):           # If click on the screen, clear the selection print "clearSelection"              # If click on another object, clear the previous object

s=SelObserver FreeCADGui.Selection.addObserver(s)   # install the function mode resident
 * 1) FreeCADGui.Selection.removeObserver(s) # Uninstall the resident function