==
== STEP-NC Toolpath Writer
==

The TOOLPATH sample program demonstrates how to construct STEP-NC
toolpath data (AP-238 conformance class one files).  

This program defines a helper class called ToolpathMaker with a high
level API for creating STEP-NC toolpaths.  It holds state information
and populates a design with the STEP-NC entity instances needed to
describe toolpaths, speeds, and feeds.

The main program uses this class to create a a toolpath that simply
wiggles around a bit using 3-axis and 5-axis moves.  This program
saves it as a STEP Part 21 file called "output_file.stp".  This is a
text file, so you can look at it with a text editor or the STEP Part
21 file browser to see how the information is represented.

The program generates CC1 toolpath files.  Data for the other
conformance classes is more complex (CC2 adds CAD geometry, CC3 adds
features and feature-based programming, CC4 adds GD&T data).  This is
usually integrated from other sources (AP203/AP214 geometry from a CAD
system or AP224 feature data).  Our ST-Machine product provides a high
level API for using these advanced features.


BUILD INSTRUCTIONS

We provide Visual Studio project for the program, as well as separate
makefiles for UNIX and Windows.  On UNIX platforms, make sure that the
ROSE/ROSE_INCLUDE/ROSE_LIB environment variables are set as described
in the installation notes.

With the Visual Studio project, compile and run the program using the
normal build mechanism.  To use the makefiles, just run make/nmake as
shown below.

        % make 		# UNIX Machines
        > nmake		# Windows Machines

When building with nmake on Windows, you must run the vcvars32 batch
file (found in the Visual Studio bin directory) to make sure that the
C++ compiler is in the command line search path.