What is API?
Before taking a look at Tekla Structures Open API, let's deal with the concept itself and abbreviation Open API. API stands for 'Application Programming Interface', which serves to facilitate interaction between programs and their integration. Simply put, API is a sort of an adapter between different programs.
Open API is an open application interface that enables a developer to view various codes of libraries and use them for integration with another program and software development, etc. The use of public APIs allows you to save time without carrying out various routine operations.
If we take specifically Tekla Structures Open API, it is used to develop applications (* .exe), plugins (* .dll), macros and scripts (* .cs) and COM applications, for example, VBA macros.
Macros and scripts are saved as a simple text file, compiled and executed from the main Tekla application.
Any set of user actions in Tekla can also be saved as a script and 'played' later. As mentioned earlier, this allows you to automate a huge number of routine operations.
Tools for developing applications and software
Applications are developed using integrated development environment 'Microsoft Visual Studio'. This environment is a multifunctional program, which in addition to the typical writing of the development code, can automatically complete the code itself, compile, create graphical interface elements of the future application that simplifies and speeds up the development process. Tekla Structures applications are developed in the C# programming language.
For a general overview, let's take a short example (without describing the code) of the process of developing the simplest application for creating a beam in Tekla.
Everything starts with creating a project. Since we will create an application with a user interface, we choose an option to create on the basis of Windows Forms (.NET Framework).