Debugging the Tekla PowerFab Open API

Updated: 7 Feb 2024

Tekla PowerFab Interface Test

The Tekla PowerFab Interface Test program is installed with Tekla PowerFab (C:\Program Files (x86)\Tekla\Tekla PowerFab\Tekla.PowerFab.Interface.Test.exe) and is a useful tool for testing and debugging API commands.

Elements of the XML request

The root element of the XML request is FabSuiteXMLRequest.

The element under FabSuiteXMLRequest indicates the command that should be executed.

When you open the Interface Test Program, this Connect request will be displayed:

<FabSuiteXMLRequest>
	<Connect>
		<IPAddress>localhost</IPAddress>
		<PortNumber>3306</PortNumber>
		<Username></Username>
		<Password></Password>
	</Connect>
</FabSuiteXMLRequest>

Add a Username and Password and click the Submit Request button to test the connection to PowerFab. This example uses defaults from the default database included with the PowerFab installation:

<Username>admin</Username>
<Password>fab</Password>

Elements of the XML response

The root element of the XML response is FabSuiteXMLResponse.

Under FabSuiteXMLResponse there may be XMLError or XMLWarning elements.

XMLError

Here is an XMLError example where the end tag missing:

<FabSuiteXMLRequest>
	<Connect>
		<IPAddress>localhost</IPAddress>
		<PortNumber>3306</PortNumber>
		<Username>admin</Username>
		<Password>fab</Password>
	</Connect>

Missing end tag would produce the following response:

<FabSuiteXMLResponse xmlns="http://www.fabsuite.com/xml/fabsuite-xml-response-v0108.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <Lang>en</Lang>

  <XMLError>Fatal Error (7, 12): input ended before all started tags were ended; last tag started is 'FabSuiteXMLRequest'</XMLError>

</FabSuiteXMLResponse>

If there is an XMLError the request will not be processed.

XMLWarning

In the following XMLWarning example the password is misspelled:

<FabSuiteXMLRequest>
	<Connect>
		<IPAddress>localhost</IPAddress>
		<PortNumber>3306</PortNumber>
		<Username>admin</Username>
		<Pass>fab</Pass> --Password element mispelled
	</Connect>
</FabSuiteXMLRequest>

The unknown password would cause a response like this:

<FabSuiteXMLResponse xmlns="http://www.fabsuite.com/xml/fabsuite-xml-response-v0108.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <Lang>en</Lang>

  <XMLWarning>Element FabSuiteXMLRequest-&gt;Connect-&gt;Pass-&gt;Pass (fab) is unknown.</XMLWarning>

  <Connect>
    <ErrorMessage>MySQL error: 1045 - Access denied for user 'admin'@'localhost' (using password: NO)</ErrorMessage>
    <Successful>0</Successful>
  </Connect>

</FabSuiteXMLResponse>

An XMLWarning will not prevent the request from being processed. In this case, the connection is attempted with a blank password and the login fails.

Successful

The command response always contains the Successful element:

1 = successful
0 = unsuccessful

If the request was unsuccessful then there is also an ErrorMessage element to give further information.

Returned data

In addition, if the command returns any data it will also be listed under the response element. For example, the Version command returns the version number of the Tekla PowerFab Open API:

<FabSuiteXMLRequest>
	<Version/>
</FabSuiteXMLRequest>

<FabSuiteXMLResponse xmlns="http://www.fabsuite.com/xml/fabsuite-xml-response-v0108.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <Lang>en</Lang>

  <Version>
    <Successful>1</Successful>
    <MajorVersion>2023</MajorVersion>
    <MinorVersion>B3</MinorVersion>
    <InterfaceVersionNumber>2023.0.0</InterfaceVersionNumber>
  </Version>

</FabSuiteXMLResponse>