STAAD.Pro Help

OS. Write an OpenSTAAD Macro in Excel

This example will introduce you to several concepts necessary to writing OpenSTAAD macros in VBA.

Note: If you followed the previous "Hello World!" example, you may simply delete that line and start from that point.
Parent topic: OS. Using OpenSTAAD in Other Applications: VBA

OS. Instantiate OpenSTAAD in VBA

In the this set of steps, you will instantiate OpenSTAAD and have the spreadsheet macro retrieve information from the open STAAD.Pro model.

This is required in order to access OpenSTAAD API from within your code. It’s a two part process in VBA: You first declare something as the object and then direct the that object at OpenSTAAD.
  1. Within your subroutine, type Dim objOpenSTAAD As Object.

    Notice how as you begin typing the word "Object", a small list opens with relevant terms. This is called IntelliSense and it can help you quickly and accurately complete code lines.

    Note: As Visual Basic requires that objects be declared and assigned a type, it is a good practice to prefix the name with what type is used. Here, the prefix "obj" is used to describe an object. Later you’ll use different prefixes to describe variable types.
  2. Press <Return>.
  3. Type Set objOpenSTAAD = GetObject(,”StaadPro.OpenSTAAD”) This assigns the OpenSTAAD application object to the variable you defined in Step 1.
    Note: This approach connects to the first instance of STAAD.Pro that was started where multiple instances exist. You can alternately specify a specific file path and name to connect to the instance of the application with that file open.
  4. Press <Return>.

OS. Use geometry functions in spreadsheet

In order to successfully run an OpenSTAAD macro, you must first open a model within STAAD.Pro.
This example continues by using a function in OpenSTAAD to access model data.
  1. Type Sheet1.[A1].Value = "Nodes:" and then press <Return>.

    Much like the "Hello World" example, this simply populates a cell with a text string. Here, it’s useful to provide a label for your data.

  2. Type Sheet1.[B1].Value = objOpenSTAAD.Geometry.GetNodeCount and then press <Return>.

    Here, you are assigning the value of a cell to the returned value of the GetNodeCount function, which is in the Geometry class within the OpenSTAAD object.

    This approach accesses the GetNodeCount function directly within the objOpenSTAAD object.

  3. Type Dim objGeometry As OSGeometryUI and then press <Return>. If you connected the VBA Editor to STAAD, then you will notice that the editor will begin auto-completion when you start typing OSGeometryUI. You can press <Tab> to accept the highlighted result in the auto-completion pop-up list and move to the end of that entry.
  4. Type Set geometry = objOpensTAAD.geometry and then press <Return>. This will assign the object geometry to the geometry class within the OpenSTAAD object.
  5. Type Sheet1.[A2].Value = "Members:" and then press <Return>.
  6. Type Sheet1.[B2].Value = geometry.GetMemberCount and then press <Return>. Here, you will notice that the auto-completion menu opens again once you type geometry. to show you all of the functions and methods within the geometry class in OpenSTAAD. This is the benefit of first setting the object to that class.
  7. Run your macro. The spreadsheet populates with the number of nodes and members in the currently open STAAD.Pro model.

The spreadsheet will now populate with the number of nodes and members in the currently open STAAD.Pro model.

You complete code should look like this: 
Sub OpenSTAADTutorial()
    Dim objOpenSTAAD As Object
    Dim stdFile As String
    Set objOpenSTAAD = GetObject(, "StaadPro.OpenSTAAD")
    Sheet1.[A1].Value = "Nodes:"
    Sheet1.[B1].Value = objOpenSTAAD.geometry.GetNodeCount
    Dim geometry As OSGeometryUI
    Set geometry = objOpenSTAAD.geometry
    Sheet1.[A2].Value = "Members:"
    Sheet1.[B2].Value = geometry.GetMemberCount
End Sub
Next, you will create a simple UI element in your spreadsheet to access the macro.

OS. Run Your Macro from within the Spreadsheet

To add a button or other interactive tools in your spreadsheet to activate your macro, use the following procedure.

It wouldn’t be convenient to need to open the VBA window every time you want to run the macro. In order to make a more user-friendly spreadsheet, you can add controls in the spreadsheet to access macro functionality.
  1. In your spreadsheet, select the Insert > Button (Form Control) tool in the Controls group on the Developer ribbon tab.
    The mouse pointer changes to a crossahair.
  2. Click-and-drag a rectangle anywhere in your spreadsheet.

    This will form the size and shape of the button, so something slightly less than 2x2 spreadsheet cells is useful.

    The Assign Macro dialog opens.
  3. Select the name of your subroutine from the Macro name list and then click OK. This assigns the button click action to run this subroutine.
  4. Click the new button (labeled Button 1) in your spreadsheet. The macro runs and the spreadsheet is populated with the node and member counts.
    Note: If you had previously run the macro from within the VBA Editor window, then it may appear as though nothing has happened. Select and clear the cell contents and click the button again to see it in action.
  5. Right-click on the button and select Edit Text to change the button label to something descriptive. Click anywhere outside of the button to exit the text editing state.