OpenStaad

Warning

The class-based API is deprecated. The standalone classes (Root(), Geometry(), Load(), Output(), Properties(), View(), Design(), Command(), Support()) are deprecated in the 0.0.x releases and will be removed in 0.1.0. Instantiating any of them now emits a FutureWarning. Use the new single-import session API instead: from openstaad import ops → ops.connect(). See Migration below, or the full migration guide.

Abstract

openstaad python is a starting project to wrap the official OpenStaad API functionalities into a Python package.

It aims to facilitate the connection between StaadPRO and Python, avoiding boilerplate code and type management, allowing the user to focus on the real automation tasks.

Quick Info

• openstaad is a Python package to call easily functions from the OpenStaad API.
• Require a StaadPRO and a valid file open to connect
• MIT-License
• The intended audience is StaadPro users with knowledge of Python
• Compatibitity:
  • Tested with Python 3.10.9
  • Operating System: Windows 11
• Dependencies:
  • comtypes

Installation

Basic installation by pip.

pip install openstaad

A simple example

For the next example, a valid STAAD.Pro file should be open.

from openstaad import ops

# Connect to the running STAAD.Pro session (a valid .STD file must be open)
s = ops.connect()

# Function that returns a list
beam_list = s.GetBeamList()

# Function that returns a string
file_name = s.GetSTAADFile()

# Function that receives an argument
beam_number = 10
beam_nodes = s.GetMemberIncidence(beam_number)

print(beam_list)
print(file_name)
print(beam_nodes)

Migration

The class-based API is deprecated and will be removed in 0.1.0. Migrating is almost entirely mechanical: method names stay the same — you just consolidate the per-domain instances (Geometry(), Root(), …) into a single session object returned by ops.connect() and route every call through it.

# Legacy (deprecated)
from openstaad import Geometry, Root
geometry = Geometry()
root = Root()
beams = geometry.GetBeamList()

# New
from openstaad import ops
s = ops.connect()
beams = s.GetBeamList()

A few methods need manual attention:

Renamed

• GetElementGlobalOffset → GetElementGlobalOffSet
• GetElementOffsetSpec → GetElementOffSetSpec
• AddResponseSpectrumLoadEx → AddResponseSpectrumLoad (signature also changes: data_pairs moves to the last argument)

Removed

• IsRelease() — no direct replacement; call GetMemberReleaseSpecEx() and evaluate the result yourself.

Same name, different result (behavior changes)

• Coordinates and lengths are no longer rounded to 3 decimals — full precision is returned.
• GetApplicationVersion no longer includes the "Version " prefix.
• GetAnalysisStatus dict key "CPUTime(sec)" is now "CPUTime".
• NewSTAADFile no longer creates subfolders and now requires three arguments.
• SaveModel parameter changed from silent: int to saveSilent: bool.

Full guide: https://www.openstaad.com/docs/migration_guide.

Website

www.openstaad.com

Contribution

The source code of openstaad can be found at GitHub, target your pull requests to the main branch:

https://github.com/OpenStaad/OpenStaadPython/pulls

Feedback

Questions and feedback at GitHub Discussions: https://github.com/OpenStaad/OpenStaadPython/discussions

Issue tracker at GitHub: https://github.com/OpenStaad/OpenStaadPython/issues

Contact

Please always post questions at the forum to make answers available to other users as well.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Konrad