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Designing Custom Exporter Modules

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Requirements for Custom Exporter Modules Implementing Translation with CAD and SimMechanics Link APIs

Requirements for Custom Exporter Modules

A custom exporter module works with intermediate representations of CAD assembly data. For an overview of the types of CAD assembly and SimMechanics Link data and their relationship, see Translating Machines from External to Physical Modeling Representations with the API preceding.

A custom exporter module:

• Issues function calls to the APIs of both the CAD platform and the SimMechanics Link utility.

• Transfers assembly representation data from the assembly, through the CAD API, to the Physical Modeling XML file, through the SimMechanics Link API.

Custom Exporter Module Communicates with APIs (Detail)

Using the SimMechanics Link API Functions

The SimMechanics Link API is a library of API functions that you call to construct a unified, selective representation of an assembly and write it as an XML file. Programming Custom Exporter Modules with the SimMechanics Link API following describes how to create, compile, and execute custom exporter modules in C/C++ with the SimMechanics Link API function library.

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Implementing Translation with CAD and SimMechanics Link APIs

Extracting Selective CAD Assembly Data

To extract the selected assembly data required for export, consult your CAD platform API documentation and determine which functions of the CAD platform API you need to accomplish this.

Constructing the Intermediate API Representation

To construct the intermediate representation of an assembly, use the following functions from the SimMechanics Link API, in the order shown. The API also contains other functions you might need in special cases. For more information, consult the SimMechanics Link Reference.

Step	To...	Use SimMechanics Link API Function...	...and SimMechanics Link API Objects
1.	Set length and mass units for CAD assembly. The defaults are meters (m) and kilograms (kg), respectively.	pmit_set_units	—
2.	a. Create CAD model object to contain data for CAD assembly	pmit_create_cadmodel	PmitCadModelH
	b. Create API representation translator object	pmit_create_cad2sm	PmitCad2SMH
3.	Set translational, rotational, and numerical tolerances for CAD assembly	pmit_set_tolerances	PmitCad2SMH
4.	a. Create object to contain data for CAD subassemblies and parts	pmit_create_cadmodel	PmitCadModelH
	b. Create reference to CAD model object	pmit_create_cadmodelref	PmitCadModelH, PmitCadModelRefH
	c. Add reference within existing CAD model object to child model object by adding transform	pmit_add_refincadmodel	PmitCadModelH, PmitCadModelRefH
5.	a. Create object to contain data for CAD assembly component (part or rigid subassembly)	pmit_create_assemcomp	PmitAssemCompH
	b. Add reference within existing CAD model object to child assembly component object	pmit_add_refincomp	PmitAssemCompH, PmitCadModelRefH
6.	a. Create object to contain data for constraint between CAD components (parts or rigid subassemblies)	pmit_create_constrain	PmitAssemCompH, PmitConstrainH, PmitConstrainType, PmitGeomType
	b. Add constraint object to CAD model object	pmit_add_constrain	PmitCadModelH, PmitConstrainH

Exporting the Intermediate API Representation into Physical Modeling XML

To export the selective representation of your assembly into a Physical Modeling XML file, use the following functions from the SimMechanics Link API, in the order shown.

Step	To...	Use SimMechanics Link API Function...	...and SimMechanics Link API Objects
1.	Enable translation of CAD assembly data into SimMechanics model	pmit_create_cad2sm	PmitCad2SMH
2.	Write Physical Modeling XML file from selective CAD representation of assembly	pmit_write_xml	PmitCad2SMH

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Translating Machines from External to Physical Modeling Representations with the API

Programming Custom Exporter Modules with the SimMechanics Link API

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