STEP Tools Weekly Newsletter

[Martin Hardwick]

== STEP Tools Weekly Newsletter -- 1 May 1998

This weekly newsletter is a brief update of what is going on in STEP
and at STEP Tools, Inc.  If you want to know more, try the STEP Tools 
web site (http://www.steptools.com) or the contact for each article.

There will be a break in these newsletters until June 22 while
Martin Hardwick is at STEP meetings in Europe.

--------------------
AP-203 to XML Translator

An AP-203 to XML translator has been added to our online web
translation service.  XML is a new standard for transmitting
structured data on the world wide web. XML is similar to Part 21, but
different because Part 21 data is described by an EXPRESS schema, and
XML data is described by a Document Template Description (DTD).

The new translator converts an AP-203 Part 21 file to XML. It has been
restricted to AP-203 to keep the interface simple. If anyone wants
other kinds of EXPRESS data translated to XML please contact us.

Those who use the new translator will quickly see that XML files are
much more verbose than Part 21 files (about 10 times larger).  They
are designed for use in world wide web browsers, not CAD systems.
The translator follows the conventions being developed by the SGML
Preliminary Work Item of STEP. These conventions are being refined
in response to comments from early users, and are likely to be
ammended at the upcoming STEP meeting in Bad Aibling.

    http://www.steptools.com/translate

--------------------
Upcoming Classes

June may be the best month to visit Troy. We have two classes
scheduled. The first is an "Introduction to STEP". The one day class
is to be held on Monday June 15. The second is "Implementing STEP
Translators". The four day class will be held June 16 to June 19.

    http://www.steptools.com/training/

--------------------
ISO STEP Meeting in Bad Aibling 

The next ISO STEP meeting will be held in Bad Aibling Germany from
June 6 to June 12. Highlights of the meeting will include sessions on
STEP XML translation, making STEP more modular, a review of AP212
(cable wiring and harnesses), correcting the recently released
EXPRESS-X draft and finalizing a CD for SDAI Java.

    http://www.nist.gov/sc4/meetings/bad_aib/sc4n724.htm

--------------------
STEP-NC Meeting in Stuttgart 

A STEP-NC meeting will be held from June 15 to 17 to further refine
the ISO 14649 standard for machine tool controllers.

--------------------
Translation Service Statistics

The following is a usage summary for our translation service this week.
For more information see http://www.steptools.com/translate

Period Covered: Sun May 24 - Sun May 31
    Total usage: 29
    Sucessful usage: 23 (79%)
    Errors: 6 (20%)

--------------------
Why Customers Prefer our Products

STEP Tools, Inc. software is installed at over 300 sites on a wide
variety of UNIX and PC boxes. It is used in commercial CAD, CAM, CAE
tools like Unigraphics, Bentley, 3D-Eye/Trispectives, Alias/Wavefront,
Hitachi Zosen, Bridgeport Controls and Tecnomatix.  You can find a
list of reasons why people prefer our products at:
    
    http://www.steptools.com/products/stdev/reasons.html


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