APISynthesisResourcesTutorial

This tutorial introduces you to the basic functionalities of the Synthesis API. You will learn how to use the API to create new and update existing resources in a Synthesis repository.

In the Synthesis Platform, repositories contain projects, and projects contain resources, analyses and other related items. Therefore, to read or write data to a Synthesis repository, we must begin by first connecting to a Synthesis repository and then accessing one of its projects.

Connecting to a Synthesis Repository and Project

Reference Links

• Repository Class
• ConnectToRepository Method
• NameIdPair Class
• GetAllProjects Method
• SetCurrentProject Method
• DisconnectFromRepository Method
• GetCurrentProject Method

1. Start with the following basic code for connecting to a standard Synthesis repository.

VBA|VB.NET

 'Declare a new instance of the Repository class. 
  Dim MyRepository As New Repository

 'Specify the full path to the Synthesis repository. 
 'The following code assumes that a standard repository called "RSRepository1.rsr10" exists in the C drive. 
  MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10")

The Repository class provides other methods for connecting to standard or enterprise repositories. In this example, we use the basic ConnectToRepository method because we are creating a simple application.

2. Next, we select one of the projects in the repository as our current (or active) project.

VBA|VB.NET

 'Declare a new instance of the NameIDPair class. 
  Dim ListofProjects() As NameIDPair

 'Get a list of all projects in the repository. 
  ListOfProjects = MyRepository.Project.GetAllProjects()

 'Set the first available project in the repository as the current project. 
  MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(ListofProjects(0))

Any time you wish to switch to another project in the repository, you can always use the Project.SetCurrentProject method to specify a new active project.

However, if you wish to access projects from another repository, you’ll first need to disconnect from the current repository by using the DisconnectFromRepository method, and then use the ConnectToRepository method again to connect to the desired repository.

VBA|VB.NET

 'Disconnect from the Synthesis repository. 
  MyRepository.DisconnectFromRepository

Verify it works

Let’s verify that our connections to the repository and project work.

Here’s the code we have so far, with additional code added right before disconnecting from the repository to verify the result:

VBA|VB.NET

 'Declare a new instance of the Repository class. 
  Dim MyRepository As New Repository
 
 'Specify the full path to the Synthesis repository. 
 'The following code assumes that a standard repository called "RSRepository1.rsr10" exists in the C drive. 
  MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10")

 'Declare a new instance of the NameIDPair class. 
  Dim ListofProjects() As NameIDPair

 'Get a list of all projects in the repository. 
  ListOfProjects = MyRepository.Project.GetAllProjects()

 'Set the first available project in the repository as the current project. 
  MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(ListofProjects(0))

 'Verify connection to repository and project. 
 'The following code displays a message box containing the name and ID number of the current project. 
  Dim ProjectName As String
  Dim ProjectID As Integer 
  ProjectName = MyRepository.Project.GetCurrentProject().Name
  ProjectID = MyRepository.Project.GetCurrentProject().ID
  MsgBox ("You are currently connected to: " & ProjectName & ", ID#" & ProjectID)

 'Disconnect from the Synthesis repository. 
  MyRepository.DisconnectFromRepository

On the Debug menu, click Start to run the application. A message box displays the name and ID number of the first available project in the repository. You can verify the information by opening the repository in any Synthesis application and checking for the name of the project. (The project ID can be found by xxx.)

Creating a New Synthesis Resource

Now that we know how to connect to a repository and a project, let’s try adding a new model resource to a repository.

Reference Links

• cModel Class
• SetModel Method
• cModel Constructor (VB.NET)
• ModelTypeEnum Enumeration
• ModelCategoryEnum Enumeration

1. We begin again by connecting to a Synthesis repository and a project.

VBA|VB.NET

 'Connect to a Synthesis repository and set the first available project in the repository as the active project. 
  Dim MyRepository As New Repository
  MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10")
  MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(1)

2. Use the cModel class to create a 2-parameter Weibull reliability model with beta 1 and eta 100. Name the model, "MyNewModel."

For VBA, use the SetModel method to define the model. For VB.NET, use the parameterized constructor to create and define the model.

VBA 

 'Declare a new instance of the cModel class. 
  Dim Amodel As New cModel

 'Define the model's properties. 
  Dim ModelType As ModelTypeEnum
  Dim ModelCategory As ModelCategoryEnum
  Dim ModelName As String
  Dim ModelParams(1) As Double

  ModelType = ModelTypeEnum_Weibull2
  ModelCategory = ModelCategoryEnum_Reliability
  ModelName = "MyNewModel"

  ModelParams(0) = 1
  ModelParams(1) = 100

  Call AModel.SetModel(ModelType, ModelCategory, ModelName, ModelParams)

 'Add the new model to the current project. 
  Call MyRepository.Model.AddModel(AModel)

VB.NET

 'Declare a new instance of the cModel class. You can use an in-line parameter list to define the model. 
  Dim newModel As New cModel(ModelTypeEnum.Weibull2, ModelCategoryEnum.Reliability, "MyNewModel", 1, 100)

 'Add the new model to the current project. 
  MyRepository.Model.AddModel(AModel)

Verify it works

On the Debug menu, click Start to run the application. Then in the Synthesis repository, open the project’s Resource Manager (Project > Synthesis> Resource Manager) and then select the Models page. A model named "MyNewModel" should be on the list.

Updating an Existing Resource

Reference Links

• GetModel Method
• Guide to Using Item IDs with the Synthesis API

This next section demonstrates how to update the properties of an existing resource in a Synthesis repository.

1. First, connect to the Synthesis repository and project.

VBA|VB.NET

 'Connect to a Synthesis repository and set the first available project in the repository as the active project. 
  Dim MyRepository As New Repository
  MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10")
  MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(1)

2. Next, retrieve the resource to be updated from the repository. For this example, let's retrieve the model we created in the previous section. (The model was called "MyNewModel.")

The following code demonstrates how to retrieve the model, assuming that its ID# is 21.

VBA

 Retrieve the model with ID# 21 from the repository. 
  Dim Amodel As New cModel
  Set AModel = MyRepository.Model.GetModel(21)

VB.NET

 Retrieve the model with ID# 21 from the repository.  
  Dim Amodel As New cModel
  AModel = MyRepository.Model.GetModel(21)

3.