Welcome to ETABS_Wrapper

C# wrapper for the CSI ETABS API, converting all functions to tuple return types

Example Usage

Currently the ETABS 2016 C# API passes values using ref parameters, which is painful. For example, to get the axial force, the following code is required:

int NumberResults;
NumberResults = default(int);
string[] Obj, Elm, LoadCase, StepType;
Obj = Elm = LoadCase = StepType = default(string[]);
double[] ObjSta, ElmSta, StepNum, P, V2, V3, T, M2, M3;
ObjSta = ElmSta = StepNum = P = V2 = V3 = T = M2 = M3 = default(double[]);
AnalysisResults.FrameForce(Name, ItemTypeElm, ref NumberResults,
							ref Obj, ref ObjSta, ref Elm, ref ElmSta,
							ref LoadCase, ref StepType, ref StepNum,
							ref P, ref V2, ref V3, ref T, ref M2, ref M3);

This library of extension methods simplifies this using ValueTuples and discards (C# 7.0, .NET Framework 4.7)

(_,_,_,_,_,_,_,_,double P,_,_,_,_,_)=AnalysisResults.FrameForce(Name, ItemTypeElm);

or

var results = AnalysisResults.FrameForce(Name, ItemTypeElm);
double P = results.P;

or

double P = AnalysisResults.FrameForce(Name, ItemTypeElm).P;

Use extensions in your plugin

To use this library in your plugin:

• Project>ProjectName Properties>Application>Target Framework>.NET Framework 4.7 (or greater)
• References>Add reference>Browse>ETABS2016_Extensions.dll
• Intellisense should now include (extension) overloads for most ETABS functions

Create wrapper for other versions of ETABS API

Currently, wrappers have been generated only for ETABS2016, but can easily by created for other versions of the API (e.g. ETABS2017):

In ETABS_Wrapper project:

• References>Add reference>Browse>select ETABS2017.dll
• Right click on project>Initialize Interactive with Project> WrapperGenerator.CreateWrapper("ETABS2017","ETABS2017");
• Solution>Add>New Project>ETABS2017_Extensions

In new project:

• Copy Extensions_2017 folder and new wrapper classes to new project
• Solution Explore>Show All Files
• Select folder Extensions_2017>Include in Project
• References>Add reference>Browse>select ETABS2017.dll
• Build project