ReliaSoft API Reference

The Synthesis API can be used to accomplish many of the same tasks as within Synthesis applications, and it also enables seamless integration of the Synthesis Platform with other systems within your organization - all through a programmer's own custom-developed code. This gives you access to more customizable and automated solution to reliability engineering problems.

This reference describes all of the programming elements in the API. The sample code and documentation have been prepared for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (Visual Basic and .NET) development environment, and it is assumed that the reader is familiar with programming in that environment.

Requirements

Before using the Synthesis API, note the following requirements:

• Your code must include a reference to the ReliaSoft Synthesis API Library. The library is located in the folder where ReliaSoft Synthesis is installed. By default, this folder is "C:\Program Files\ReliaSoft\Synthesis 9."
  • .NET developers – use the SynthesisAPI.dll library
  • VB6 / VBA developers – use the SynthesisAPI.tlb library

• The version of the Synthesis Platform that you've installed (32- vs. 64-bit) must match your installed version of Microsoft Office. If they do not match, you may see an error related to ActiveX controls.

API Elements

The Synthesis API includes a rich set of programming elements that allow you to work with any of the following components of the Synthesis Platform:

• Repositories: Template:Repository Class.Cmt
• Weibull++ Standard Folio: Provides the functionality of a Weibull++ standard folio, including entering data in a data set, specifying analysis settings and fitting a distribution to the data set.
• ALTA Standard Folio: Provides the functionality of an ALTA standard folio, including entering data in a data set, specifying analysis settings and fitting a distribution and life-stress relationship to the data set.
• Plots in Weibull++/ALTA: Creates a plot based on a fitted model in a WeibullDataSet or ALTADataSet object.
• Resources: Use these classes to create resources, edit their properties and calculate reliability metrics from fitted models.
• Displayed Language: Sets the language of the entire library.

A complete list of all the classes and enumerations in the Synthesis API is available here.

Application Examples

Microsoft Excel Files

Use the following links to download macro-enabled Excel files (*.xlsm) that utilize the Synthesis API. Note that to run/view the underlying code, the Developer tab must be enabled in Excel so you can enter the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) environment by choosing Developer > View Code. Also, you must have macros enabled to run the example files. If Excel displays a warning regarding macros in these files, select to enable them.

• Use Synthesis analysis engines in Excel
  • Life Data Analysis in Excel (237KB) (Code explanation)
  • Accelerated Life Testing Analysis (ALTA) in Excel (221 KB) (Code explanation)
• Transfer data from Excel to the Synthesis Reliability Data Warehouse (RDW)
  • Excel to Standard Repository (2.64MB)
  • Excel to Enterprise SQL Repository (2.64MB) Requires code modification to reference a SQL repository.