Programming API for FEMAP

An Introduction to
The Hows and Whys

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What is an API?

The FEMAP API is an OLC/COM based programming interface and is object

oriented programming. If you have never programmed in an object oriented
code, it can seem quite different and foreign.

API means Application Programming Interface. It is important to understand

that the API script you write is not part of FEMAP, but is a stand alone program
that is interacting with FEMAP.
There are a number of codes that can call FEMAP through the API: Visual Basic,
VBA (Excel, Word, Access, ... ), C, or C++.
The most commonly used codes used are Visual Basic, VBA, and WinWrap.
WinWrap is a flavor of Visual Basic that is included with FEMAP. In the FEMAP
interface, WinWrap is noncompilable, for this reason many choose not to use it,
but it is a very convenient way to program if your specific application does not
need to be compiled.
This tutorial will focus exclusively on using WinWrap via the FEMAP API window.

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This is the optional FEMAP

API editing window.
Although the window appears
to be part of your FEMAP
session, it is not. It is merely
a code editing tool.

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What is Object Oriented Programming?

Traditional programming is usually seen as being a set of functions, or simply

as a list of instructions.
Object Oriented Programming (or OOP) can be seen as a group of Objects
that cooperate with each other. Each of the objects have their own distinct set
of capabilities.
OOP programming is quite complex and includes topics such as inheritance,
encapsulation, among others. These more complex ideas are not immediately
necessary, and will not be discussed. In fact, the FEMAP API has made it
pretty much unnecessary to ever have to learn these concepts.

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Organization

It is helpful to think of each of the entities as being separate.

Your Visual Basic code acts like a traditional code, i.e. as a
set of instructions.
The VB code makes requests of the API, which then acts
upon those requests either by retrieving from and putting
things into the FEMAP database.
FEMAP is a database, which only holds and displays data.

API

Visual Basic Code

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FEMAP

The FEMAP API Objects

The objects found in the FEMAP API fall into two categories:

The FEMAP Application Object

Stand Alone Objects

Generally speaking, these objects act have the following properties:

The FEMAP Application Object has all the properties needed to create
things. It is the object that will be used to create geometry, measure
things, mesh geometry, delete entities, etc.

The Stand Alone Objects are used to manipulate existing entities.

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Anatomy of a Simple API

Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7

Now well walk through a simple API.

All this API does is move a set of
selected nodes 10 units in the x
direction. Yes, there is a function that
will do this directly without an API, but
we are starting simple. The entire
script is shown on the left. We will
walk through each step in this API.

Dim messageString as String

messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)
End Sub

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Defining an Object
Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)

Sub Main at the top of the script signifies

that what follows is the main program.

Next we create an object called femap.

We then set this object equal to the
current femap session. Essentially
what this does is create the FEMAP
Application Object and appropriately
calls it femap. So the object femap now
has all the properties of the FEMAP
Application Object.
What we want to do will also require
the help of another object, called the
Set object. entitySet now has all the
properties inherent in the Set object.

End Sub

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Entity Types
Each entity in the FEMAP
API is identified by a name
and an number. The entity
can be referred to by
either. In the preceding
piece of code where I refer
to the node entity as the
number 7, I could also
have referred to it as
FT_NODE. Either way the
API will know to which
entity type you are
referring.

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Data Types
Visual Basic requires the programmer to declare all variables before they
are used as well as what type of data they will be. The six data types are
shown below. WinWrap corresponds to the Visual Basic 6 data types.

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Dimensioning Variables
Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet

Dim vecMove(3) As Double

vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID

Next we declare a 3 dimensional array,

composed of 8-byte real numbers called
vecMove. This array will represent the
vector along which the translation will take
place. We then specify each value in the
array.
We also declare a variable called
entityType as a 4-byte integer and assign
it a value.

Dim vecLength As Double

rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)
End Sub

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Using the Capabilities of an Object

Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7

Dim messageString as String

messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move

Next, we will declare a string, and

give it a value.

rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)
End Sub

Now what we want to do is collect

from the user, what nodes they
would like moved.
The Set object has a handy
capability that allows us to do this
called select.

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Object Syntax
rc = object.capability(requirements, output)
The syntax in the above statement is standard. The object is what is being asked to
act. The capability is what the object is being asked to do. The requirements are
what the object needs in order to execute the capability. The output is what the
object will produce, although often times capabilities will have no output.
The term rc is the return code and will generate a specific value depending on a
number of object success states. The rc status is explained in more detail in a
subsequent slide. The reality is that it is an extra - sort of a bonus feature to help in
debugging or controlling sequence execution.

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Objects that Produce an Output

How this all works is best explained by a more
concrete example. Think of an object as a person, a
person who will do things that you ask. Will call this
person Mike. Say we want Mike to go to the store
and buy an apple. In order for Mike to do this, we
need to to provide him with a car and money. For this
capability, Mike will produce an output: an apple. The
statement would look like this:
OBJECT

CAPABILITY

REQUIREMENTS

OUTPUT

rc = Mike.GetApple(Money, Car, Apple)

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Objects that Produce NO Output

Now suppose we want Mike to wash the dishes
in the kitchen. We need to provide him with the
dishes, soap, a sponge, and a sink. After he is
done he will produce NO output for us because
we havent asked him to bring us anything. All we
have done is ask him to go off and do something.
The statement looks much like the previous one.
OBJECT

CAPABILITY

REQUIREMENTS

NO OUTPUT

rc = Mike.DoDishes(Dishes, Sponge, Soap, Sink)

Sometimes we ask objects to organize things. Sometimes we will ask them to
create or move things. The only time objects will have output is if we ask them to
bring us something specific. This most likely seems fairly abstract, but once you
see how it actually works you will see that it is very intuitive.
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CAPABILITY
OBJECT

Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")

What the OBJECT needs in order

to execute the CAPABILITY.

rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)

Dim entitySet As Object

Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0

Dim entityType as long

entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)
End Sub

The syntax of the entitySet.Select object

capability follows the standard syntax.
For this object there is no output, only
requirements. This is because we are
not asking the object for anything
concrete (like a value), we are asking
the the object to place certain entities
into a set. The effect is having our
desired entities added to the entitySet.
(Later, we will use an object that will
produce an actual output, a required
distance.)

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OBJECT

CAPABILITY

What the OBJECT needs to use

the CAPABILITY.

rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)

A Set object is used to store a set of entities, i.e. a list of nodes. The select capability
displays the above shown dialogue box so the user can select which nodes they are
interested in. After the user selects these nodes, they are added to the set called
entitySet.
In order to do this, the Set object needs:
it needs to know what type of entity to ask for: entityType, which has already been
set to 7; this number corresponds to the node entity,
the True statement tells the object to clear the set of any old entities that may be in it,
and a message to give the user: messageString

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Return Codes
Often statements like the following are found
in APIs:
FEMAP Return Codes
rc = object.capability(requirements,output)
The rc stands for return code. After the
object executes its capability, it returns a
code that corresponds to its success in
executing the capability. If the object is
successful, a -1 is returned. If it is not
successful, something else will be returned
depending upon what went wrong. All the
return codes are found in the table on the
right.

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One More Type of Object Syntax

Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0

Certain object capabilities require no

input and do not provide output in the
convectional way.
Such is the case with the object.ID
statement.

Dim entityType as long

entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)

Dim setID As Long

setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)
End Sub

Instead this syntax returns the desired

value to the variable on the left hand
side of the equal sign. In this case setID
will take on the ID number of the object
entitySet. A single program can have
multiple set objects defined, each
containing their own data. Each of these
sets would have a specific ID to
differentiate them.

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Retrieving the Length of the Move Vector

Sub Main

Dim femap As femap.model

Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID

Dim vecLength As Double

rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)

We will now use a capability of the FEMAP

Application Object to find the magnitude of
the nodal move we will be requesting.
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)
CAPABILITY

INPUT

OUTPUT

What we are asking of the FEMAP

Application Object is for it to take our
vector, called vecMove, and tell us how
long it is. What the object gives us, is a new
value for vecLength. If the operation is
successful, rc will be given the value of 1.

rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)

End Sub

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Moving the Nodes

Sub Main
Dim femap As femap.model
Set femap = GetObject(,"femap.model")
Dim entitySet As Object
Set entitySet = femap.feSet
Dim vecMove(3) As Double
vecMove(0) = 10
vecMove(1) = 0
vecMove(2) = 0
Dim entityType as long
entityType = 7
Dim messageString as String
messageString = Please Select the Nodes You Would Like To Move
rc = entitySet.Select(entityType,True,messageString)
Dim setID As Long
setID = entitySet.ID
Dim vecLength As Double
rc = femap.feVectorLength(vecMove,vecLength)

rc = femap.feMoveBy( entityType, setID, False, vecLength, vecMove)

And last, but certainly not least, we will

request that the FEMAP Application
Object moves our nodes.
This capability, called feMoveBy, has
the following requirements:
what type of entity it is moving,
what set contains the IDs of the
entities to move,
whether or not this is a radial
translation,
the length of the translation,
and a vector specifying the direction
of the translation.

End Sub

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Conclusion
What is most interesting about the script we just explored, is that it only does one
thing: it moves the nodes. Everything else found in script exists only to provide the
last command with the information it needs to make the move. This is fairly
common. Often much of the API script is devoted to retrieving things from the
database, interpreting them, changing them, and then finally inserting them back in.
In our case, we retrieved the node numbers of that were to be moved, organized
them into a set, and then requested that the FEMAP Application Object move
them.
The previous example is a simple one that uses very little logic. There are no for or
while loops and no if else statements, but all of the standard logic statements are
available and are used all the time. Anyone with basic programming skills should
be able to utilize them as they would in any other language.
You should now understand the basics needed to read and understand basic APIs.
The only way to become a PRO at writing them is to sit down and do it. In no time
you will find that the structure and capabilities are extremely powerful. You will also
find that you will never again need to scratch your head and say, I wish the
FEMAP programmers would have included this feature.

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