The NX package allows a Maple user to communicate with the Siemens NX application. This package includes commands to get or set the parameter values of a design.

This package requires Windows with the Microsoft .NET Framework installed, and NX 8.5 or 9.0.

In order for Maple to communicate with NX, you must first prepare a running NX process by causing it to run a server thread. This is most easily accomplished by first running the command InstallMapleMenu. Note: You should launch Maple as an administrator to run InstallMapleMenu. It is only necessary to run this command once, unless you change either your Maple or NX installation. On successful completion, the InstallMapleMenu command arranges for NX to display a Maple menu from which you can select the "Start Maple Server" entry to start the server thread.  NX is now ready to accept commands from Maple.

It is also possible to start the server directly using (in NX) the File > Execute > NX Open menu item or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + U. When the file selection dialog appears, navigate to the data\CAD\NX\application directory of your Maple installation and choose the file nx_maple_server.dll. Click OK and the server thread will start. NX is now ready to accept commands from Maple.

The following is a list of available commands.

OpenConnection - open a connection to NX

CloseConnection - close a connection to NX

GetWorkPart - get the work part

SetWorkPart - set the work part

GetOpenParts - get a list of open parts

OpenPart - open a part

ClosePart - close a part

SavePart - save a part

GetComponentList - get the list of components in a part

GetEquationList - get the list of model parameters in a part

RenameParameter - change the name of a parameter

GetParameterDescription - get the description of a parameter in a part

GetParameterNames - get the parameter names in a part

GetParameterType - get the type of a specified parameter in a part

GetParameterUnits - get the units of a parameter

SetParameterUnits - set the units of a parameter

GetParameterValue - get the value of a parameter

GetParameterValues - get the values of all parameters

SetParameterValue - set the value of a parameter

GetParameterEquation - get the equation of a parameter

SetParameterEquation - set the equation of a parameter

GetUniqueIdentifier - get the NX unique identifier for a part

InstallMapleMenu - install a Maple menu in NX

To display the help page for a particular NX command, see Getting Help with a Command in a Package.

It is important to note that NX expects all paths to use Windows-style backslashes ("\") for directory separators, rather than UNIX-style forward slashes ("/") that are accepted elsewhere in Maple.