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How to install ifcopenshell.api in python (3.9)

1. L by LaurensJN on 12 May 2021, edited 2 Nov 2021 #

   I saw this article about the IfcOpenShell api on the OSArch social media and thought I want that too!

   Somehow I can't make it work outside of Blender, but probably I'm doing something wrong. I only can't figure out what. I tried:

   • Using the ifcopenshell python module from http://ifcopenshell.org/python (but it does not have the api)

   • Using github: https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/tree/v0.6.0/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell (I copied the folder and put it in the site-packages).

   Second method let me import ifcopenshell.api, but it's not really installed. Example of this code:

   
   import ifcopenshell
   
   import ifcopenshell.api
   
   f = ifcopenshell.api.project.create_file.UseCase().execute()
   

   I get an error AttributeError: module 'ifcopenshell.api' has no attribute 'project'

   Anybody knows what I'd be doing wrong?

2. B by brunopostle on 12 May 2021 # +1 votes

   IfcOpenShell needs to be compiled, so the answer depends on what platform you are using, Windows, Linux?

3. M by Moult on 12 May 2021 # +1 votes

   @LaurensJN you can use a mix of the two methods. Grab the latest IfcOpenShell python module from the IfcOpenShell site, and then simply copy paste all the Python code from here: https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/tree/v0.6.0/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell - the API and utils are pure Python, so the files can just be copied.

   Alternatively, the daily builds from Github of the BlenderBIM Add-on include IfcOpenShell with the API already packaged.

   Also, can I recommend instead doing:

   
   f = ifcopenshell.api.run("project.create_file")
   

   The API is a bit of a moving beast, so the run function helps guard against some future changes that are expected to be made (client-server separation, multi-user support, conflict resolution, potentially running undo, and event listeners for parametric UIs).

4. L by LaurensJN on 13 May 2021 # +1 votes

   Thanks for your answers!

   @brunopostle said:

   IfcOpenShell needs to be compiled, so the answer depends on what platform you are using, Windows, Linux?

   I understood that you didn't need to compile again if you only updated the python part.

   Method of @Moult worked. I think actually the api worked, but maybe it's the function _api.project.createfile.UseCase().execute() that's not working? ifcopenshell.api.run("project.create_file") ran without problems, so I'll use that in the future!

5. C by Coen on 2 Nov 2021 #

   What's the lastest status update of ifcopenshell.api? And how to install it on Windows? :-)

6. L by LaurensJN on 2 Nov 2021 #

   I was wondering the same thing. @aothms will IfcOpenShell-python v0.7.0 be available on ifcopenshell.org/python?

7. A by aothms on 2 Nov 2021 # +2 votes

   For now, you can get latest build (incl. api) here https://github.com/IfcOpenBot/IfcOpenShell/commit/93c5906ad7f363fd1b1d9e49eb28d10212ce9173#comments

   We're kind of holding off on touching the website until we get this https://community.osarch.org/discussion/comment/8299

8. L by LaurensJN on 2 Nov 2021 # +3 votes

   Thanks! That's already a lot more convenient than downloading BlenderBIM & finding the package there :)

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