STEP Tools Weekly News for Monday April 5

[Martin Hardwick]

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).

--------------------
Part 21 for Modules

An Part 21 ammendment is being sent for ballot to the ISO TC184/SC4
countries.  The ammendment allows a Part 21 file to contain multiple
data sections, where each section can be described by a different
schema. The ammendment makes it possible for STEP data exchange to
support the following scenarios:

* A file for XYZ Corp might have two sections -- one conforming to the
  AP-203 standard and the other containing extra information for XYZ
  Corp. suppliers.

* A file for an NC Controller might have three sections -- one
  conforming to AP-203 for design data, another conforming to AP-224
  for manufacturing feature data, and the last conforming to the ISO
  14649-11 standard for NC milling data.

* A file written by a CAD company might be divided into modules, one
  module per section, to support the new modular architecture for STEP
  being defined by PDES, Inc.

The most important feature of the new ammendment is that it allows for
a clear distinction between the data in a file that conforms to an AP
standard and the data that belongs to an application, organization or
consortium specific extension.


--------------------
New Slides posted to Web Site

A new set of slides showing the vision and mission of STEP Tools have
been posted to our web site. The new slides describe our achievements
over the last eight years and show where we are going. A large section
describes the new ST-Repository product and shows how it can be used
to manage standard product data for supply chains and virtual
enterprises.

    http://www.steptools.com/~hardwick/sti99/


--------------------
Object Oriented Information Modeling with EXPRESS 

The EXPRESS information modeling language is widely used inside and
outside of STEP to describe object-oriented information models for
Mechanical and Electrical Products, Asset Management, Laboratory
Analysis, Geological Modeling and other applications.

This course introduces the student to information modeling, the
EXPRESS language and its companion EXPRESS-G language. Demonstrations
and class exercises are included in the course.

    April 13 - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Troy, New York
    April 14 - 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM


--------------------
Application Programming with STEP

The ISO 10303 STEP standard for product data exchange can be used to
define shared product databases within organizations and to implement
electronic commerce between organizations. 

This course shows programming professionals how they can implement
these and other applications using ST-Developer.

   May 12 - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Troy, New York
   May 13 - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM 
   May 14 - 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM


--------------------
Translation Service 

Summary:
Period Covered: Sun Mar 28 02:25:03 1999 -- Sun Apr  4 03:25:03 1999
Total usage: 72
Successful usage: 63 (87%)
Errors: 9 (12%)


Translator	total	errors	success rate

acis-ap203	20	6	70%
ap203-acis	12	0	100%
ap203-vrml	4	0	100%
ap203check	20	0	100%
expfront2	2	0	100%
express2html	1	0	100%
gifviz		2	0	100%
step2xml	8	1	87%
steptoimage	2	1	50%
xml2step	1	1	0%

=======================================
All-Time stats

------------------------------------
Summary:
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Apr  4 03:25:16 1999
Total usage: 3767
Successful usage: 3302 (87%)
Errors: 465 (12%)


Translator	total	errors	success rate

acis-ap203	770	31	95%
ap203-acis	1425	143	89%
ap203-stl	98	36	63%
ap203-vrml	350	95	72%
ap203-xml	87	18	79%
ap203check	157	16	89%
expfront	124	17	86%
expfront2	83	0	100%
express2html	256	2	99%
expxfront	11	1	90%
gifviz		136	42	69%
iges-ap202	10	0	100%
sp203-xml	13	2	84%
step2xml	38	7	81%
steptoimage	196	50	74%
xml2step	13	5	61%


--------------------
Our Tools

Our tools have been used to implement the STEP translators of EDS
Unigraphics, Bentley Microstation, Alias Wavefront, IRONCAD, CADKEY,
Boeing DCAC/MRM and many more. For more information on classes,
consulting and any of these tools contact info at steptools.com.

Programming:
* ST-Developer -- programming tools for writing STEP applications,
  translators and databases.

* ST-ORACLE -- SQL programming tool for moving STEP data into and
  out of ORACLE databases. 

* ST-ObjectStore -- ObjectStore binding of ST-Developer for moving
  STEP data into and out of ObjectStore databases.

* ST-ACIS Library -- programming functions to convert STEP data to 
  and from ACIS models and SAT files.

* ST-Parasolid Library -- programming functions to convert STEP data to 
  and from Parasolid models.

Desktop:
* ST-EXPRESS -- desktop tool to visualize EXPRESS schemas.

* ST-ACIS Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data to
  ACIS and vice versa.

* ST-Parasolid Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data to
  Parasolid and vice versa.

* ST-Visualizer -- desktop tool to view, analyze and check the
  accuracy of STEP databases.

Database:
* ST-Repository -- STEP database with services for product data
  translation, visualization, integration, and archiving.


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