HyperWorks Automation Toolkit

Code written using the automation toolkit is portable across various HyperWorks applications (HyperMesh vs. fepre client) and versions (v6.0 vs. v6.1).

The functions in the HWAT are intended to provide a consistently high-level programming interface to the HyperWorks Tcl scripting API. Operations that would need to be performed repeatedly through API calls can be bundled into a single HWAT operation; speeding development, and also make debugging a much easier task.

Additionally, the HWAT provides some widgets and application tools that are not normally found in the core. For example, the AppHost tool allows a user to develop code that can be used as a task in a Process Manager workflow, and also deployed as a stand-alone macro. This provides maximum use case coverage for any application or macro with minimal additional effort. The three basic features provided by the HWAT follow.

Augmentation to HW Core

In this scenario, the HWAT is more of a staging ground for future core functionality. It provides the opportunity to implement and deploy required functionality quickly, and debug and document the algorithms so that migration to core will be much easier. As the functions are migrated from the HWAT into the HW core, the end user of the HWAT does not need to be concerned with modifying their code - it will continue to function in the same, consistent manner. The only outwardly noticeable difference will be that certain operations, as moved into core, will respond much faster than their original HWAT implementations.

Abstraction Layer from Core

This allows any application using the HWAT to be sheltered from changes to the core API and offers built-in work arounds for known problems in core. As changes are made in core, the HWAT is updated to reflect this, but the HWAT user need not change any of their application code to enjoy the benefits of the modifications. Modifying hundreds of createmark calls in an application (PMT or macro) can be daunting. By calling through the HWAT, the replacement only happens there, and the HWAT end user does not have to take any special action to benefit.

Custom Algorithms that do not Fit in Core

For some operations, there is not sufficient reason to implement code directly in core. These sort of algorithms may change on a regular basis (vehicle crash testing procedures, for example) and would be difficult or impractical to keep up with based on our software release cycle. Instead, we put such things into the HWAT as a collection of functions and keep them current with the standards.