CAD-NEUTRAL APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE

摘要

Apparatus and method for a computer-aided design (CAD) system (200) of figure 4, for dynamically switching from one CAD platform to another CAD platform. At block (202), the CNAPI performs an abstraction of platform-specific function calls, saving as much as of the arguments and specifications as possible. At block (204), the CNAPI builds a set of generic function calls from the abstractions. At block (206), one or more platform-specific function calls are received by the CNAPI. At block (208), the CNAPI translates the function calls into generic function calls, which are in turn employed to address specific functions within the set of generic functions. The translation involves a mapping of a received call to a corresponding generic call, in an attempt to address a function which yields a graphically equivalent manipulation of data being displayed. At block (210), the addressed generic function is implemented. Thus, instead of having to store many individual sets of functions and logic required to recognize each set of platform-specific function calls, the apparatus and the method provides one set of generic functions and associated calls adaptable to any CAD platform being run.