STEP Tools News for Tuesday January 9th, 2001

[Martin Hardwick]

This 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). 

--------------------------- 
STEP-NC Pictures

We have added pictures of the STEP-NC demonstration to our home
page. The picture show who was at the meeting and some of the
demonstration. They were supplied courtesy of Benet Laboratories
of Watervliet Arsenal.


----------------------------- 
EXPRESS-X for DIS

ISO has announced that EXPRESS-X has passed its Committee Draft Ballot
and can advance to DIS status as soon as all of the ballot comments
have been addressed. A workshop will be held during the upcoming STEP
meeting in Funchal, Portugal for this purpose.

EXPRESS is the information modeling language used to define the data
models in STEP. However, EXPRESS only defines how data is modeled it
does not define how that data represents the information requirements
of a user. In the current Application Protocols these information
requirements are documented using awkward mapping tables.

EXPRESS-X is an extension to EXPRESS that can define information
mappings as well as the information models. With EXPRESS-X all the
information requirements of an Application Protocol are documented in
one model and it becomes possible for Application Protocols to share
data in the same database, and for application programs to modify
units of functionality within Application Protocols without processing
the whole AP.  Both of these capabilities will make STEP databases and
applications much easier to write in the future.

Passing the CD ballot means that EXPRESS-X is ready for testing by
vendors.  Several, including STEP Tools, have already implemented
EXPRESS-X processors.


------------------------------------- 
More Translation Services

In the last letter we announced the addition of OSEB and CEB XML
translators to our ST-Repository translation service.  In this letter
we are pleased to announce three more additions:

    1. An EXPRESS short name generator
    2. An EXPRESS long name duplicate checker
    3. AP-214 validator

The short name generator creates a sample set of short (6 character)
names for an EXPRESS model. The names generated are the ones that
would be registered as the standard ones for this model by STEP Tools
if the model was to become a STEP standard and if no other model
reserved the names before the registration.

The long name checker scans an EXPRESS model for unique names. If a
model is part of STEP then it should not duplicate any of the names
used in the other STEP models. This tool can be used to check new STEP
models against the existing models and will identify any name
duplicates in the new model.

The AP-214 validator checks an AP-214 data file for conformance to the
requirements defined in the AP-214 EXPRESS model. The translation
service already contains an AP-203 checker, and the new checker has
the same facilities as this one but with many more validation
functions.


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

This was a slow week being the first week of the New Year.

Summary: 
Period Covered: Sun Dec 31 03:25:03 2000 -- Sun Jan 7 03:25:03 2001 
Total usage: 27 
Successful usage: 27 (100%) 
Errors: (0%)

Translator              total   errors  success rate
ACIS to STEP:           4       0       100% 
STEP to ACIS:           12      0       100% 
Parasolid to STEP:      1       0       100% 
Visualization Service:  2       0       100%
======================================= 
All-Time stats
------------------------------------ 
Summary: 
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Jan 7 03:25:55 2001 
Total usage: 11641 
Successful usage: 10398 (89%) 
Errors: 1243 (10%)


Translator              total   errors  success rate
ACIS to STEP:           2724    63      97% 
STEP to ACIS:           3663    250     93% 
STEP to XML:            87      18      79% 
AP203 Checker:          747     49      93% 
CEB XML Writer:         12      1       91% 
EXPRESS Checker:        11      1       90% 
OSEB XML Writer:        4       0       100% 
Parasolid to STEP:      438     121     72% 
STEP to Parasolid:      536     145     72% 
STEP to XML:            483     36      92% 
Visualization tools:    617     148     76% 
Visualization Service:  151     18      88% 
XML to STEP:            106     21      80%


--------------------------- 
Tools From STEP Tools, Inc.

The world's foremost firms use the STEP Tools product line to help 
them share engineering product information. Over one million people 
use product data applications built with ST-Developer, the company's 
flagship product. 

Manufacturing Tools: 
* ST-Repository -- a database for sub-contracting manufacturing tasks
over the Internet.

Programming Tools: 
* ST-Developer -- programming tools for writing STEP applications, 
translators and 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 Tools: 
* 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-Viewer -- desktop tool to view, analyze and check the 
accuracy of STEP data.

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