External module

Let's assume we want to use the LegoBrick from an external file.

Fortunately, this is simple! We just have to create a second file my_brick.µcad:

microcad create my_brick

The directory structure is supposed to contain these files:

lego_brick.µcad
my_brick.µcad

Let's add the following content to the my_brick.µcad file to create a few bricks with different parameters:

mod lego_brick;

use lego_brick::*;

// 2x2 double height
double_2x2 = LegoBrick(rows = 2, columns = 2, base_height = 9.6mm * 2);

// 4x2 single height
single_4x2 = LegoBrick(rows = 4, columns = 2);

// 3x2 one-third height
third_3x2 = LegoBrick(rows = 3, columns = 2, base_height = 3.2mm);

// generate geometry placing all elements side by side
use std::ops::translate;

single_4x2;
double_2x2.translate(y = -40mm);
third_3x2.translate(y = 40mm);

As you can see in the first line we use a mod statement to load our external module lego_brick.

Visibility

To make this work, we also need to change one line in our final part:

pub part LegoBrick(rows = 2, columns = 4, base_height = 9.6mm) {

Here we add the keyword pub to make LegoBrick visible from outside modules (like our my_brick.µcad):

Now you can export my_brick.µcad to generate the result of our tutorial.