fcxref

• Introduction
• Motivation
• Approach
• Installation
• Usage
• Python API
• Command Line
• Supported FreeCAD Versions
• Changelog
• Contributing

Introduction

Manages FreeCAD external references.

"External references" are also known as external links or cross-document references.

The following operations are supported:

1. Finding external references
2. Renaming external references
3. and Removing external references (not yet implemented)

Motivation

On Expressions: Known issues / remaining tasks, it's mentioned:

There is no expression manager implemented where all expressions in a document are listed, and can be created, deleted, queried, etc.

Large complex FreeCAD projects typically rely on extensive use of cross-document referencing to properties such as aliases in spreadsheets.

When you have dozens of references to the same property, it becomes very difficult to find all the places where references exist or rename the property.

fcxref aims to fill this gap until similiar functionality can be added to FreeCAD core.

See the following related FreeCAD forum discussions for additional motivation:

• Expression engine - Automatic renaming
• Rename a file containing external links

Approach

fcxref relies on parsing the Document.xml in compressed .FCStd files.

Installation

Available on the Python Package Index (PyPI).

pip install fcxref

Usage

There are two ways to use fcxref:

1. via the Python API
2. vai the Command Line

The following 2 sections cover these 2 usage methods with documents in the example/ directory.

Consider you have a MainDocument.FCStd containing a spreadsheet that drives your model, and ExampleDocument.FCStd that references aliases in that spreadsheet.

Python API

find

from fcxref import find, Property

base_path = './example'
references = find(base_path, Property('MainDocument', 'Spreadsheet', 'Value'))
print('\n'.join(map(str, references)))

ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.B1 (content)
ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.A1 (content)
ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.B1 (alias)
ExampleDocument Box.Length (expression)

rename

The rename function takes:

1. the base path to look for FreeCAD documents in
2. the name or label of the document
3. the name or label of the object
4. and a 2-element tuple containing the property before and after renaming.

It returns a dictionary where keys are filepaths to updated .FCStd files, and values are XML Element objects representing updated Document.xml files.

from fcxref import rename

base_path = './example'
root_by_document_path = find(base_path, 'MainDocument', 'Spreadsheet', ('Value', 'RenamedValue'))
print(root_by_document_path)

{'ExampleDocument.FCStd': <Element 'Document' at 0x7efcd281cc20>, 'MainDocument.FCStd': <Element 'Document' at 0x7f4d13c39270>}

Command Line

Upon installing fcxref, the fcxref command will become globally accessible.

For usage information, pass --help to each command.

Each command scans for *.FCStd files recursively from the current working directory.

Thus, you should navigate to a directory where you store your FreeCAD documents before executing fcxref commands.

$ fcxref --help ↵
usage: fcxref [-h] [--version] {find,rename} ...

Manage cross-document references to properties.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  --version      show program's version number and exit

Commands:
  {find,rename}
    find         Find cross-document references to a property
    rename       Rename cross-document references to a property

find

$ fcxref find --help ↵
usage: fcxlink find <document> <object> <property>

Surround arguments containing special characters in quotes (e.g. "<<My Label>>").

positional arguments:
  document    Document name or label.
  object      Object name or label.
  property    Property.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

Simple Queries

$ fcxref find MainDocument Spreadsheet Value ↵
ExampleDocument.FCStd
  ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.B1 (content) [direct]
  ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.A1 (content) [indirect]
  ExampleDocument Spreadsheet.B1 (alias) [indirect]
  ExampleDocument Box.Length (expression) [indirect]

4 references to MainDocument#Spreadsheet.Value across 1 document(s) found.

💡 TIP: When using special characters on the command line such as < and > for label names, surround the argument in double-quotes.

rename

$ fcxref rename --help ↵
usage: fcxlink rename <document> <object> <from_property> <to_property>

Surround arguments containing special characters in quotes (e.g. "<<My Label>>").

positional arguments:
  document       Document name or label of reference to rename.
  object         Object name or label of reference to rename.
  from_property  Property of reference before renaming.
  to_property    Property of reference after renaming.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit

Simple Renames

The rename command will prompt users for confirmation before modifying any files, and defaults to "No" if an explicit "Yes" is not provided.

$ fcxref rename MainDocument Spreadsheet Value RenamedValue ↵
The following 2 document(s) reference MainDocument#Spreadsheet.Value:
  ExampleDocument.FCStd
  MainDocument.FCStd

Do you wish to rename references to MainDocument#Spreadsheet.RenamedValue? [y/N]
y ↵
2 document(s) updated.

Supported FreeCAD Versions

Currently only FreeCAD 19 and greater is supported.

If changes are minimal, then supporting older versions may be considered.

Changelog

See Changelog.

Contributing

See Contributing Guidelines.