Wrappers

The Open C API contains thousands of functions built up over many years. The Common API ensures access to this coverage by generating .NET, Java, and Python wrappers for Open C functions.

Notes:

• Some Open C functions have no .NET/Java/Python wrappers — see "Non-NX Open functions" (Non-wrapped NX Open C functions topic).
• Open C callback functions are not fully supported by the .NET UFWrapper.
• UF_free and UF_free_string_array only apply to C/C++ — not needed in wrapped languages (garbage collection handles it).

Open C modules map to classes in the Common API; functions within a module map to methods on the corresponding class (see Naming Conventions topic). Common API represents NX objects as classic OO objects; Open C represents them as tags — the wrapper layer bridges the two models.

Key concepts

Namespace/module structure

• .NET: wrapped classes live in NXOpen.UF assembly (NXOpen.UF.dll), namespace NXOpen.UF.
• Java: NXOpenUF.jar, package nxopen.uf.
• Python: NXOpen_UF.pvd extension module, NXOpen.UF module.

UFSession — entry point to access wrapped classes. Get a UFSession instance first; wrapper classes (one per Open C module) are exposed as methods on UFSession. E.g. .curve() returns a UFCurve instance.

TaggedObjectManager / NXObjectManager — convert a raw Open C tag back into an NX Open tagged object:

• Java: TaggedObjectManager interface, Get method.
• Python: TaggedObjectManager class, GetTaggedObject method.
• .NET: NXObjectManager, Get method.

Teamcenter Integration part name format — when calling a UFWrapper method for an Open C subroutine while in Teamcenter Integration, part names must use the internal TC Integration part-name format, e.g. UFWave.CopyComponentAs (wrapper for UF_WAVE_copy_component) requires both source and new part names in that encoded format or the call fails. Encode/decode via UFUgmgr.EncodePartFilename (wraps UF_UGMGR_encode_part_filename) and UF_UGMGR_decode_part_filename (wraps UF_UGMGR_decode_part_file_name).

Tag property — every NX Open tagged object exposes a Tag property (.NET/Python) or tag method (Java/C++) returning the underlying tag for use with wrapped methods. In C++ there are no wrapped methods, but Tag still retrieves the tag for use in raw UF functions.

Memory management — no need to call UF_free/UF_free_string_array equivalents; the language binding's garbage collector reclaims memory (e.g. char* results are copied into the binding's memory before the C buffer would need freeing).

Allocating UF-wrapped structures in .NET — must explicitly allocate the struct rather than use an NX Open-style constructor (e.g. Point3D). Example (VB.NET):

Dim num_points As Integer = 5
For i As Integer = 0 To num_points - 1
  point_data(i) = New UFCurve.PtSlopeCrvatr
  point_data(i).point = New Double(3) {}
  point_data(i).point(0) = points(3 * i)
  point_data(i).point(1) = points(3 * i + 1)
  point_data(i).point(2) = points(3 * i + 2)
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Language-specific examples — see the InteropNXOpenWithUFWrap sample, installed at %UGII_BASE_DIR%\ugopen\SampleNXOpenApplications.

Related Topics

• Open C functions used in NX Open methods
• Non-wrapped NX Open C functions