Architecture of the STEP Interface

STEP as reference

The STEP product model is made up of the following three levels:

Level

Content

1

Language EXPRESS , whose grammar and semantics are both described and standardized in STEP.

EXPRESS is mapped onto different implementation forms:

  • ISO 10303-21 Clear text encoding of the exchange structure as file interface

  • ISO 10303 22 SDAI for C, C++, CORBA IDL and so on as program or object interface

2

General model modules for the structure of application-specific product models.

These model modules present the basic design that can be be specialized and combined for the application.

3

As application-specific product models, application protocols represent the basis for the implementation of the STEP standard (abbreviation AP )

See: STEP interface

STEP interface components

The SAP System STEP interface includes the following internal and external components. These components cooperate with each other via a RFC destination.

The following graphic shows the architecture of the STEP interface. After the graphic you have detailed information about the components.

Internal components

The following overview contains the internal components of the STEP interface.

Components

Use

Programs

Export and Import of product data

Application log

To display the Application log , that records the transformation results

Customizing

You make the following settings in Customizing:

  • Management of Control data for the STEP processor

  • Settings for the data transformation ( Mapping model )The attribute mapping tool transfers the attribute values from the source data into the permitted attribute values in the target system.

External components

In a STEP RFC server there is a tool that you can use to carry out the complex mapping of the data from the SAP System and the STEP data model into an EXPRESS based development environment.

The following overview contains the external components of the STEP interface.

Components

Use

EXPRESS Data Dictionary

The model definition of the EXPRESS profile is saved in this component:

The model definition includes

  • Information about the data structures that are defined in the STEP application protocols (such as AP214).

  • Specification of the algorithms and consistency requirements

EXPRESS parser

The model definition of the STEP application protocol exists as EXPRESS source text in ASCII files. The EXPRESS parser analyzes these texts and fills the Express Data Dictionary with relevant objects.

STEP Instance Repository

Here the characteristics (instances) of the EXPRESS entities are saved. The instances are related to their type definition in the Express Data Dictionary. The instances can be generated, changed or deleted.

STEP File ParserandSTEP File Formatter

With the parser the instances that are contained in a STEP exchange file after the selected ISO standard, are read into the STEP Instance Repository.

With the formatter, instances are exported out of the STEP Instance Repository into an exchange file according to the selected ISO standard.

Structure mapping tool

This mapping tool carries out the transformation between the various data structures.The attribute values are first copied as they are contained in the source data.