Question 1
What type of software should offer CIS compatibility, and why?
Answer to Q1
Any software that generates information related to steel frames would benefit from CIS
compatibility. The information generated by that application would then be
available for import into
other applications in the supply chain, thus reducing manual input.
Because end users can benefit from the productivity increases provided by
CIS-compatible software, they are beginning to demand CIS-compatibility in the products
they buy.
Previous options have been tried, such as integrated solutions in one package ('this
product can do it all'), and specialist applications with one-to-one translators. High
development costs and a proliferation of proprietary translators have hampered these
approaches.
A standard for data exchange means the vendor has only to write one import and one
export translator for each application.
Question 2
What is involved in developing a CIS translator?
Answer to Q2
Translator development consists of two parts. Firstly, use the guides and
descriptions provided in the CIS documentation to map data entities and
attributes from your software onto the CIS schema. Secondly, create the
translator software to represent the data schema and the associated mapping to
the base data.
The CIS data schema exists both as a paper definition and an EXPRESS language
schema. Software tools are available to create the software to describe the
schema from the EXPRESS source, and to assist in the creation of the appropriate
cross mapping.
Question 3
Are you aware of any sample translator code available for downloading so
that one might get the gist of a real implementation?
Answer to Q3
A small sample of translator code is included with the CIS/2 documentation.
Other software vendors may be willing to share their code with you – but that
would be subject to negotiation.
Question 4
Several applications generate a great deal of data my application doesn't
care about. Must I import and export this extraneous data even if my application
is not concerned with implementation of this data?"
Answer to Q4
No, your application will only import data belonging to those CCs with which
it is concerned. Similarly, other applications would only export data belonging
to those CCs with which it is concerned.
Optionally, an export translator may enable the user to specify that only
some information is exported. In this way other applications might export just
the data you need.
Question 5
How do I prevent accidental loss of data during data exchange process?
Answer to Q5
Data will be lost if the "ASCII Part 21" data exchange file is
corrupted during the transfer of the file. This could well render the file an
invalid Part 21, which would be detected by the import translator.
In practice exchange files are likely to be compressed during transport (by
zipping for example), and typically such compression will detect any data loss.
Question 6
If I have 10000 Cartesian points, must I have an equal number of
representations?
Answer to Q6
No, you need at least one representation
