Brian Johnson

RSA Pro with python.

Let’s start with pywin32. Install into a virtual environment:

pip install pywin32

The script:

import win32com.client as win32

rsa = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch("Robot.Application")
print("Hello, World")
print(rsa.__module__)

rsa.Visible = True

_ = input("Press ENTER to quit:")

rsa.Quit(0)

The rundown:

The API for Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional is based on COM. Thus, for this example we import the win32com.client module and use win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch("Robot.Application") to create the application object. I forget the details at the moment, but there are two approaches to generating the Python code to wrap the COM object: dynamic and static. I think this is the dynamic approach as pywin32 created the IRobotApplication.py file in C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\Temp\gen_py\3.11\F3A37BD0-AA2D-11D2-9844-0080C86BE4DFx0x1x0. More to come on all this as I research it all again.

The print(rsa.__module__) line outputs win32com.gen_py.F3A37BD0-AA2D-11D2-9844-0080C86BE4DFx0x1x0.IRobotApplication

RSA Pro is launched, but not visible. rsa.Visible = True renders the application to the screen.

The console may very well close automatically, so the _ = input("Press ENTER to quit:") allows us to pause and admire our work.

Finally, calling rsa.Quit(0) closes the application. An IRobotQuitOption, despite its name, is required. The API documentation lists three options. The enums are self-explanatory:

I_QO_DISCARD_CHANGES = 0
I_QO_PROMPT_TO_SAVE_CHANGES = 1
I_QO_SAVE_CHANGES = 2

Resources:

[https://pypi.org/project/pywin32/] [https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Where-can-be-found-SDK-package-for-Robot-Structural-Analysis-2021.html]

Would be great to have visual scripting provide a list of node options for an input based on the inputs signature. Example: Bending stress requires a moment and an elastic section modulus. A moment is characterized by a float/double, units of force-length (e.g. kip-feet). Options with that type of signature output would be functions like wL^2 or PL. Alternatively, it could be a direct input box or a list of moments.

If a list is fed to a function as an input, then the function could use a map or similar “functional” functions. Perhaps there is a default and options to choose from.

I also think ASTs would be good for transforming a graph into python code. A recent reference: youtu.be/XhWvz4dK4…

To Install PowerShell 7 using winget, first find the Id.

PowerShell

winget search Microsoft.PowerShell
Name               Id                           Version Source
---------------------------------------------------------------
PowerShell         Microsoft.PowerShell         7.3.6.0 winget
PowerShell Preview Microsoft.PowerShell.Preview 7.4.0.5 winget

Then install it using the noted Id.

winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source winget

How cURL on PowerShell with an Autodesk Platform Services authentication endpoint example. Put this in a script (<script_name>.ps1) or copy and paste directly to the prompt.

$CLIENT_ID = '<Get from your App portal'
$CLIENT_SECRET = '<Get from your App portal>'
$CLIENT_CONVERT = $CLIENT_ID + ':' + $CLIENT_SECRET
$CLIENT_CONVERT
$creds = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($CLIENT_CONVERT))
curl.exe -v 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v2/token' `
    -X 'POST' `
    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' `
    -H 'Accept: application/json' `
    -H "Authorization: Basic $creds" `
    -d 'grant_type=client_credentials' `
    -d 'scope=data:read'

Note that curl is a PowerShell alias for the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet. You need to invoke curl.exe for it to behave like the bash version.

There are two approaches to use with Invoke-webRequest.

The first uses command line flags.

Invoke-WebRequest https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v2/token `
    -Headers @{Accept = 'application/json'; `
        Authorization = "Basic $creds" 
} `
    -ContentType 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' `
    -Method 'Post' `
    -Body @{grant_type = 'client_credentials'; `
        scope          = 'data:read'
}

The second encapsulates all the parameters into a dictionary.

$LoginParameters = @{
    Uri     = 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v2/token'
    Method  = 'POST'
    Headers = @{
        Accept        = 'application/json'
        Authorization = "Basic $creds"
    }
    Content = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    Body    = @{grant_type = 'client_credentials'
        scope           = 'data:read'
    }
}

Invoke-WebRequest @LoginParameters

Reference:

• Invoke-WebRequest

I ran into an issue concatenating a string within the following PowerShell command.

$ curl.exe -v 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v2/token' `
    -X 'POST' `
    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' `
    -H 'Accept: application/json' `
    -H "Authorization: Basic $creds" `
    -d 'grant_type=client_credentials' `
    -d 'scope=data:read'

What worked in the built-in PowerShell 5.x and PowerShell 7.x:

"Authorization: Basic $creds"

This worked in PowerShell 7.x but not PowerShell 5.x:

'Authorization: Basic ' + $creds

Their output looks the same when you create a variable from each an echo them to the terminal, but the API server does not like the latter.

Here is a good reference: https://lazyadmin.nl/powershell/concatenate-string/

I get the following error message using WSL2 Ubuntu:

$ ping google.com
ping: google.com: Temporary failure in name resolution

To fix this do the following:

$ sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

Change or add:

nameserver 8.8.8.8

You probably have to do this each time you start a session. I think there is a fix, but my company has a security policy that I cannot change locally. Maybe, I can run a script during the session opening to update this file.