STEP Tools News for Tuesday April 24

Tue Apr 24 14:19:41 EDT 2001

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 
at http://www.steptools.com

---------------------------- 
XML Options for ST-Developer

The last ISO meeting gave tentative approval for Part 28 (XML 
Bindings) to become a Technical Specification. Therefore, ST-Developer 
customers may want to start using XML for data exchange and business 
object applications. To meet this demand we are making the XML tools 
in ST-Repository that are not specific to data sharing available to 
ST-Developer customers.

The new ST-XML product includes three optionss. The Translator option 
reads Part 21 files and writes XML. The Library option adds the 
capability to read and write XML directly to ST-Developer 
applications. The Unlimited option is for Library customers that want 
to resell a product containing the ST-XML libraries.

For more information see the Product Plans slides on the STEP Tools
home page: http://www.steptools.com

----------------------------- 
Standards supported by ST-XML

ST-XML™ is an extension of ST-Developer that uses the EXPRESS-X 
view and query language defined by Part 14 of the STEP ISO 10303 
standard, and the XML bindings defined by Part 28 of the standard to 
convert STEP Part 21 data into STEP XML data and XML business object 
data.

Two XML bindings are supported by ST-XML. The Object Serialization 
Early Binding (OSEB) is a general purpose binding that can be used to 
represent any kind of EXPRESS defined data and is the best for data 
defined by the Application Interpreted Model (AIM) of a STEP 
Application Protocol. In the OSEB relationships between EXPRESS 
defined entities are represented by XML attributes. The OSEB is 
included in the first version of Part 28.

The Containment Early Binding (CEB) is a best for data that does not 
contain cyclic references. This data can be produced from STEP AIM 
data by an EXPRESS-X mapping. In the CEB relationships between EXPRESS 
defined entities are represented by XML elements. A binding similar to 
the CEB should be included in the next version of Part 28. Customers 
wanting to produce XML data similar to that used in the majority of 
XML applications will prefer the CEB.

EXPRESS-X is an extension of the EXPRESS language for mapping and 
query applications. EXPRESS-X specifications can be used as a system 
neutral definition of the relationship between a business object and 
the contents of a STEP Application Protocol. ST-XML contains an 
interpreter that uses an EXPRESS-X specification to materialize XML 
business objects in the OSEB or CEB formats from STEP data.

-------------------- 
STEP-NC Publications

There have been five articles on STEP-NC in the last three months.

2001 April - Modern Machine Shop - Feature Recognition - The Missing 
Link to Automated CAM
2001 April - Injection Moulding Magazine - E-Capable CNC Gains Ground
2001 March - Industry Week - The Next STEP 
2001 March - Metalworking Equipment News - Product News Segment - 
ST-Developer™ v8.0 from STEP Tools
2001 January - Manufacturing Engineering - STEP Into NC 
2001 February - NASA Tech Briefs (Applications Brief) New User 
Interface for NASA System Simulation
2000 September - Manufacturing Automation - STEP Tools Advances 
Product Data Exchange in Manufacturing
2000 November - American Machinist (Technology Trends) Revealing the 
Next STEP
2000 July - Machine Design - What You Should Know About STEP
2000 July - Modern Machine Shop - STEP NC - The End of G-Codes?

--------------------------- 
Translation Service 
Period Covered: Sun Apr 15 03:25:02 2001 -- Sun Apr 22 03:25:02 2001 
Total usage: 61 
Successful usage: 59 (96%) 
Errors: 2 (3%)

Translator total errors success rate 
ACIS to STEP: 2 0 100% 
STEP to ACIS: 7 0 100% 
AP203 Checker: 29 0 100% 
CEB XML Writer: 1 0 100% 
OSEB XML Writer: 1 0 100% 
Parasolid to STEP: 3 0 100% 
STEP to Parasolid: 5 0 100% 
Visualization tools: 2 2 0% 

======================================= 
All-Time stats 
------------------------------------ 
Summary: 
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Apr 22 03:25:49 2001 
Total usage: 12933 
Successful usage: 11648 (90%) 
Errors: 1285 (9%)

------------------------------------------ 
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 -- STEP database with WSDL/SOAP services for sharing 
STEP-CAD, STEP-PDM and STEP-NC information with the supply chain.

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. 
* ST-XML - programming functions to convert STEP data to STEP XML and 
business object data.

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 dimension STEP data. 
* ST-XML -- desktop tool to extract XML data from STEP data.

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