How Tekla Open API works
Updated:
18 Mar 2020
Learn what Tekla Open API is and how it works.
For example, what are the design principles of the API and what methods are common to all object classes.
What Tekla Open API is?
Tekla Open API is an Application Programming interface.
Tekla Open API lets users’ 3rd party applications integrate and communicate within the Tekla Structures modeling and drawing environment.
Applications that are programmed with Tekla Open API work in conjunction with Tekla Structures.
Tekla Open API is also known as the .NET API
Tekla Open API is developed on the Microsoft .NET Framework. Thus it is sometimes called .NET API.
All code examples in Tekla Developer Center and for example in Tekla Discussion Forum are implemented with Microsoft Visual Studio using C#-language.
Design principles of object classes
All object classes in Tekla Open API have been designed with following principles:
- Object initialization is similar to object creation in user interface of Tekla Structures. For example Beam is initialized by giving two positions in constructor method.
- Field naming in object classes follows dialog field names (in English language) as much as possible.
Common methods for manipulating objects
All object classes in Tekla Open API have common methods for manipulating objects in model or drawing such as
- Select() for object selection
- Insert() for creating a new object instance
- Modify() for modifying an object
- Delete() for deleting an object
