XML Assembly Tree

HOOPS Converter can parse a model file, assign unique IDs to each part, and build an XML file based on that data. You can then correlate the model parts with your external data and incorporate it into HOOPS Web Viewer using those unique IDs. The XML file is generated during the conversion process if HOOPS Converter is passed the output_xml_assemblytree argument.

Generating XML data

The following will generate an XML file called my3dModel.xml based on the model in my3dModel.CATPart.

converter --output_sc "models/my3dmodel" --output_xml_assemblytree "my3dModel.xml" --input "c:\temp\my3dModel.CATPart"

XML Data Format

Below is a snippet from an XML file generated by HOOPS Converter. Note the flat structure of the file. The developer is responsible for parsing the XML.

Each part of the model is associated with a <ProductOccurence> tag in the XML. The part name and file path identifiers will already be known to you. You simply need to associate either identifier with the ID generated by HOOPS Converter (represented by the XML Id attribute). You can use this ID via APIs in the HOOPS Web Viewer to control object properties, the HOOPS Web Viewer also returns this ID when responding to a query or selection event.

We export as much data as possible to the XML file. Here are the definitions of some of the more important tags:

Name - The name of the part or assembly.
FilePath - The location of the file containing this part/assembly.
Id - The ID of the part/assembly.
Children - The IDs of the children of this assembly.
InstanceRef - The ID which defines the instantiated part/assembly.
UnitFromCAD - A boolean indicating if the Unit should be applied to the model.
Unit - A double which indicates the size of 1 unit in millimeters.
ModellerType - A flag which indicates the source of the data. See table below for more details.
ProductFlag - A flag which indicates if the node represents a configuration, part or assembly. See table below for more details. (for future use)
Layer - The layer to which this product occurrence is associated with.
Behaviour - Flag that describes the inheritance properties of the graphical data. Refer to the HOOPS Exchange documentation if you need more information.

Below is the table of values for the ModellerType flag:

ModellerType	Description
0	Unknown
1	Retired
2	CatiaV4
3	CatiaV5
4	Retired
5	NX
6	Parasolid
7	Retired
8	Retired
9	IGES
10	Retired
11	VDA-FS
12	STL
13	VRML
14	Retired
15	ACIS
16	ProE
17	Retired
18	STEP
19	I-DEAS
20	JT
21	Retired
22	SolidWorks
23	CGR
24	PRC
25	XVL
26	Retired
27	Retired
28	Retired
29	3DXML
30	Inventor
31	Retired
32	PDF
33	U3D
34	IFC
35	Retired
36	Retired
37	Solid Edge
38	OBJ
39	Retired
40	Retired
41	3DS
42	Retired
43	Rhino
44	XML

Below is the table of values for ProductFlag:

ProductFlag	Description
0x0001	Default container, configuration or view
0x0002	The product occurrence is internal. Only used when the product occurrence has no father.
0x0004	The product occurrence is a container.
0x0008	The product occurrence is a configuration.
0x0010	The product occurrence is a view.
0x0100	The configuration does not include the model data or the model data is not up to date.

Connecting HOOPS Web Viewer

How do you use the ID attribute to show your data in HOOPS Web Viewer? There are many ways to do this, and you are free to choose the one most suitable for your application. A common example use case is as follows:

Model file is processed by HOOPS Converter, and the XML integration file is generated
Developer parses the XML file and creates a mapping between each part of the model and corresponding external data. He does this by correlating the HOOPS Converter ID with either the part name or model file path.
Developer writes logic to retrieve data in response to user interaction in HOOPS Web Viewer. If you’re storing your data locally, this could entail looking it up in a data structure. You could also make a call to a remote database or web server.
Developer calls the appropriate API functions to display the external data in HOOPS Web Viewer.