Getting Started

In this section we will build a skeleton synchronous Pro/Toolkit application from the scratch. You should have a compiler to compile code. In this example I will be using the Microsoft Visual C++ 6 and Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0. I will use the command prompt for compiling the code with the help of PTC provided standard make files. Create a folder and copy the "make_basic" file from the "[TK_LOADPOINT]/ [MACHINE]/obj" folder. Now open the file with any text editor and edit the text in the file as shown below:

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Line#23 -->> EXE = pt_basic.exe change it to EXE = tkapp.exe ( we will call our application "tkapp")
Line#24 -->> EXE_DLL = pt_basic.dll change it to EXE_DLL = tkapp.dll
Line#27 -->> PROTOOL_SRC = ../../../protoolkit change it to PROTOOL_SRC = [PROE_LOADPOINT]/protoolkit (this is required for the compiler to know the location of the library file and the include files of Pro/Toolkit)
Line#29 -->> PRODEV_SRC = ../../../prodevelop change it to PRODEV_SRC = [PROE_LOADPOINT]/prodevelop (this is required for the compiler to know the location of the library file and the include files of Pro/Develop)
Line#73 -->> OBJS = pt_basic_src.obj pt_utils.obj change it to OBJS = tkapp.obj (we indicate that there will be an intermediate file with the name tkapp.obj created)
Line#94 -->> pt_basic_src.obj: $(PROTK_APPLS)/pt_basic/pt_basic_src/pt_basic_src.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(PROTK_APPLS)/pt_basic/pt_basic_src/pt_basic_src.c change it to tkapp_src.obj: tkapp.c
Remove the line starting with "pt_utils.obj" completely.

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Save the file and exit the editor. Now the second task is to get the source code going. To start with, we will write a small program in Pro/Toolkit. As mentioned in my previous blog, for a synchronous application the requirement is to have a user_initialize() and a user_terminate() function. We will open a text editor again and write the code as shown below (The name of the code file should be tkapp.c):

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#include "ProToolkit.h" // This include file is a must
/********************************/
int user_initialize() // This is a must for sync applications
{

printf("\nHello Pro/Toolkit World !!\n");
return (0);
}
/********************************/
void user_terminate() // This is a must for sync applications
{
printf("\nGoodbye !!\n");

}

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Save the file as tkapp.c in the same directory which was created in step 1. Open a command prompt and then go to the directory which was created in step 1. At this point you will have to set the environment for using Microsoft Visual C++ tools on the command window. You will type something like this on the command prompt "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin\VCVARS32.bat" (The path could vary if you have the "Microsoft Visual Studio", installed on a different folder). After running this batch file (VCVARS32.bat), you will get a system message as “Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual C++ tools.”
Once the environment is set in the command prompt, we will compile the program “tkapp.c” by using the namke function, we will type “nmake -f make_basic”. This is going to compile the program and give us the “tkapp.exe” which is our first executable Pro/Toolkit application. Please refer to the command line snapshot below for more details.

Once the application is ready we will have to just make a protk.dat file to register the application in Pro/ENGINEER. The protk.dat file is a text file which has .dat extension for Pro/ENGINEER to recognize and register the Pro/Toolkit application. I am pasting the contents of the protk.dat file for the above application below:

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name tkapp
Startup exe
Allow_stop True
Delay_start False
exec_file tkapp.exe
text_dir .
END
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For details about the contents of the protk.dat file please refer to PTC guide for Pro/Toolkit (tkuse.pdf). After having the protk.dat file you may launch Pro/ENGINEER from the same directory and get the application running as shown in the snapshot below:

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This is a skeleton application to have us up and running. The subsequent blog entries will deal with more complex features of Pro/Toolkit. I hope that all the readers will be able to follow the steps and complete the application as suggested in this blog. Please feel free to write to me and I will be glad to answer. Do subscribe to this blog and get updates as and when it happens. I will be posting the entries on regular intervals, do leave me a comment; I will be happy to interact with you. In case you require the source code and other files from this application, feel free to write to me at Alxn.Page@gmail.com. Thanks for your valuable time in reading through…. Bye for now, God Bless!!

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TRADEMARKS: Pro/ENGINEER, Wildfire, Pro/Toolkit, Pro/Develop, J-Link, Pro/Web.Link and VB API are the registered trademarks of PTC (http://www.ptc.com/). All other products or services mentioned in this blog are the trademarks or service marks of their respective companies or organizations.