1. Set Up Your Environment

This documentation provides step-by-step instructions for setting up your environment for developing with HOOPS Exchange.

The process includes installing a development environment, downloading and extracting the library package, obtaining and configuring the license, and testing the installation using sample codes.

Installing Your Development Environment

Developing applications with HOOPS Exchange for Windows is typically done using the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

To get started, visit the Microsoft Visual Studio download page and choose the edition of Visual Studio that suits your needs. During the installation process, make sure to select at least the Desktop development with C++ component set.

../_images/setup-env-vs-components.png

Additionally, verify that your installed compiler adheres to the HOOPS Exchange platform requirements.

After completing the installation, restart your computer to ensure that all changes take effect.

Installing HOOPS Exchange

  1. Getting HOOPS Exchange:

    This is your first visit to our website, and neither you nor your company has ever used or licensed our products before:

    • Go to our User Dashboard page and click the Sign Up link.

      ../_images/user-dashboard.png

    • Create your self-evaluation account. You will be emailed a link to verify your account details.

    • Once you’ve verified your account, click on Product Downloads and then Download HOOPS Exchange to be taken to the Developer Zone.

      ../_images/download-links.png

    • Lastly, click the Download button for your chosen operating system.

      ../_images/download-exchange.png

    If you are on a Windows or Linux platform, you may download the Installer or the ZIP file. macOS users must use the ZIP file. To download the iOS or Android package, please Contact Us.

    ../_images/download-installers-zip.png

    Read the Package Hierarchy page for more information about the download package content.

    • Installer: Run the installer and follow the instructions to install the package on your local machine.

    • ZIP file: Locate the downloaded package file, which is a zip archive.

    You can use either a built-in extractor or third-party software to extract the contents to your chosen destination folder.

  2. Obtaining, Setting Up and Checking the License:

    Before you can use this product, you must have a valid HOOPS Exchange license:

    • If you are using the Installer, you’ll be required to input the license key to complete installation of the SDK.

    • The generated key is permanent and accessible from the Developer Zone at any time during your evaluation.

      ../_images/HE-License-Key.png

    If you are using the ZIP file, you will need to copy and paste your new license key into the license file available in your installation folder:

    • Locate the folder where you have previously extracted HOOPS Exchange on your system.

    • Navigate to the ../include/ directory.

    • Edit the file hoops_license.h and enter your new license key.

      ../_images/Enter-the-Key.png

    From the Developer Zone, clicking Active Evaluations at the top right of the page and then License Key will give you access to your license status.

    ../_images/dz-main-screen.png

    HOOPS Exchange only requires a new license key if you are currently using a key which was generated for a prior major version. For example, developers upgrading from HE 2024.0.0 to HE 2024.1.0 may use the same key, but those upgrading from 2023.0.0 to 2024.0.0 need to generate a new key.

    The expiration date for the generated license key is tied to your contract with Tech Soft 3D. If you have signed a license agreement for HOOPS Exchange, then the license key that is generated will be a perpetual (non-expiring) license key. If you are evaluating HOOPS Exchange, then the license key will expire when your evaluation expires. Evaluation license keys will expire at the end of the evaluation period and are not suitable for production software. Any software that uses an evaluation license key will no longer work after the evaluation period.

    HOOPS Exchange releases are not binary compatible with older releases. You must recompile your application when updating to a new version of HOOPS Exchange. Please see Distributing Your Application section for an up-to-date list of binaries required for distribution.

Testing the Installation

Now that you’ve completed the setup and successfully configured a valid HOOPS Exchange license, it’s time to test the installation using sample codes provided with HOOPS Exchange.

Locate the folder where you have previously extracted HOOPS Exchange on your system and navigate to the ../samples/ directory:

  1. Build the solution

    If you are on a Windows platform:

    • In the ../samples/ folder of your installed package, open the exchange.sln file using Visual Studio.

    • Select the Debug, x64 mode.

    • Go to the tab Build and build the entire solution.

    Out of the box you should obtain: Build: 18 succeeded, 2 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped.

    The 2 failing samples are the .Net Wrapper (our HOOPS Exchange C# sample) and TranslateToPkParts (our Bridge to the Siemens Parasolid API ).

    This is the expected behavior as these two samples required further more configuration to run. (Download Microsoft .NET for Visual Studio and visit the TranslateToPkParts page for more details).

    ../_images/vs-build-solution.png

  2. Test a sample

    In Visual Studio from the Solution Tree explorer:

    • Locate the sample ImportExport

    • To run the sample, right click on it and select Debug -> Start New Instance.

      • The sample will read a sample input file, _Aquo Bottle.CATProduct, and convert it to PRC format.

      • The result file is located alongside the input file.

    • Locate the newly created file _Aquo Bottle.CATProduct.prc in your output folder from the installation folder ..\samples\data\catiaV5\CV5_Aquo_Bottle

    • Open the HOOPS Demo Viewer desktop application.

    • Drag & drop your resulting _Aquo Bottle.CATProduct.prc file to quickly visualize the assembly:

    ../_images/AquaBottle.png

    For more details on using the HOOPS Demo Viewer, consult the HDV Documentation Page.

Conclusion

You have successfully set up your environment for HOOPS Exchange, including Visual Studio installation, package download and extraction, license configuration, and testing using sample codes.

You are now ready to start working with HOOPS Exchange. If you encounter any issues or have questions, please refer to our support resources or forum.

You are now ready for our next tutorial: File-to-File Translation.