Editing the ProFab V3.7 Tool Library

Copy the tool library file (MCH00xxx.TLB in the API folder) to another folder, just in case something goes bad.

Start ACCESS and open the Tool Library file.

There are four tables, Header, LoopEntity, Shape, and ToolDescription.

Open the LoopEntity, Shape, and ToolDescription tables.

Starting with the ToolDescription table, find the tool number you want to modify in the first column labeled ‘Tool ID’.

Scroll across to find the column titled ShapeID. This provides the reference into the Shape table for each tool. Remember this number.

Open the Shape table and in the first column, find the ShapeID. This is the row you need.

The second column, ShapeType for a Special tool shape is “0”.

Scroll across to find the column LoopEntityID. This provides the reference into the LoopEntity table for special tools. Remember this number.

Open the LoopEntity table and in the first column find the LoopEntityID for the first entity of the shape.

The second column, ‘Type’ indicates whether it is a Line or Arc entity. A “1” for a line and a “2” for an arc. If there is a minus sign (-) it means the arc is traveled clockwise instead of counterclockwise. On a line, it means the end points are switched. This is used to help ProFab draw around the shape in a continuous motion.

You will find columns Val1, Val2, Val3, Val4, and Val5. These are the data for the lines and arcs.

For a Line, only the first four are used. These are X, Y, X, Y for the two end points of the line.

For an Arc, it is X, Y, Radius, Start angle, Sweep Angle. Note the angle values are in Radians, not degrees.

One more column of importance is the NextEntityID. This tells you which entity is next in the loop. A NextEntityID of “0” means it is the end of the loop.

So now the real work, You are most likely missing every other entity of the tool shape. The existing entities are in sequence in the table, but there are no gaps in the ID number to allow you to insert the additional entities. So you will need to add them to the end of the table.

You can measure the DXF geometry in ProFab to get the X, Y and Radius values. To convert an angle to Radians, multiple the degrees by 0.017444 (3.14/180).

The NextEntityID is the real trick. After you add a entity, look back at the first entity in the loop. Take the NextEntityID from this line and place it in the new line you created. Place the EntityID of the new line into the NextEntityID of the first entity of the loop.

After you have added the missing entities, save the tables.

Open ProFab and see how you did.

Tips:

If you can, delete all of your specials which nee repair. Then add one and fix it in Access. Then add the next one and fix it in Access. This will keep you at one end of the table and make it a little easier to see the data for tool’s entities.