#seu12 madison miner software engineer eda, inc

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Architecture for a Web-Based engineering automation program

Madison Miner Software Engineer

EDA, Inc.

© Siemens AG 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Siemens PLM Software

Presenter background

• EDA has been an automation consultant for over 21 years.

• Madison has been a software engineer @ EDA for 9 years.

• EDA has experience automating Solid Edge, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Google SketchUp, MS Office and more.

• EDA has automated quoting, drafting, design, engineering and manufacturing.

• EDA has developed many Web-Based engineering, sales and quoting programs.



Why automate Solid Edge over the web?

Advantages:

• Easy to maintain and deploy.

• Easy to use.

• If the program only generates .SAT or .DWG files,users do not have to have Solid Edge installed.

• Easy to develop a high quality interface.

• Can be used by mobile devices, Macs, Linux, etc.

• Available anywhere in the world 24 hours a day.

Disadvantages

• Can be difficult to develop back end.

• Internet connection required for use.

• Can be troublesome supporting multiple browsers.



What kind of program can you automate over the Web?

Engineering:

• 3D Models or 2D Drawings can be delivered through the browser or email.

Sales and Quoting:

• Web systems can be built for in-house sales, customers or both.

• Saves sales staff time & reduces back and forth with engineering

Customer Ordering:

• Web application can help customer with configuration of custom products, tracking past orders, order modification.

• Provide customers with drawings/models, with or without quote.

• Providing a drawing assists in the preliminary discussions and gives the customer a good understanding before they talk with salesmen.

• Reduced mistakes, increased sales and customer loyalty.



What does a web-based automation system look like?



Users



Server System



Server System

Can be installed on one logical server. However, at least two logical servers are recommended.

Required Components:

• Web Based UI

• Queue

• Solid Edge

Recommended Components:

• Separate Solid Edge Controller

• Database



Web Server



Web Server

Software

• Windows Server 2008 (Apache or other)

• SQL Server (MySQL or other)

• ASP.NET (PHP or other)

User Interface

• HTML/XHTML

• Flash can be used but is not recommended.

Database

• Stores Users, Sales, Model info etc.

Queue

• First-In-First-Out or other priority

• Keep the Queue on the logical web-server to allow multiple Solid Edge Servers



Communication Between Web Server and Solid Edge Server



Communication Between Web Server and Solid Edge Server

Many different methods could be used:

• .NET Remoting • Has been deprecated and rolled in to WCF• Easy to set up• Works well

• .NET Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)• Can be faster and more scalable



Solid Edge Server



Solid Edge Server

Installed Software

• Windows 7 (Same as your current SE users use)

• Solid Edge Controller (custom program)

• Solid Edge

Solid Edge Controller

• Windows or Console program

• Listens for request from Web server

• Automates Solid Edge

• Restarts Solid Edge if necessary

• Reports Errors, including timeouts

• Delivers completed drawings and models

• Notifies the webserver when the job is complete



Model Delivery System



Model Delivery System

Email Delivery

• Does not require the user to wait while models are built

• Allows an opportunity to capture a visitor’s email address

• Works well up to ~50MB files

Asynchronous Web Delivery

• Does not require the user to wait

• Works well for any size files

Synchronous Web Delivery

• Easiest to develop

• Require the user to wait while files are created

• Works well for fast jobs (2D)

• Works well for any size files

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Architecture for a Web-Based engineering automation program

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