Boost Your CATIA CAA Development with a Python‑Powered API Manager

Background

Since I started programming, I have worked with Basic, C/C++, Swift, JavaScript, and Python, and Python remains my favorite because of its concise syntax and rich libraries, even though my current internship uses C++.

During the past year I devoted a large amount of time to programming and now want to give back to the open‑source community by creating a Python library that solves a pain point I encountered in DS CAA development.

Requirements

From December of last year I have been intermittently involved in DS CAA development. DS CAA is a C++‑based API for secondary development of Dassault’s CATIA CAD software. Developers extend CATIA by writing programs that call the vendor‑provided API. Because the development is fully based on the SDK and API, a lot of effort is spent reading Dassault’s documentation, locating the right interfaces, modules, and framework calls.

To alleviate this, I decided to store the scattered API definitions in a database and automatically add the required header files, modules, and framework references to my code. I implemented this solution as a Python package named CAAFinder .

Environment Setup

We will use PyCharm together with a VirtualEnv to create the project environment.

After installing PyCharm, open Preferences → Project Interpreter , click the settings icon, and choose Create VirtualEnv to set up an isolated Python environment. This prevents interference with the system Python installation.

PyCharm also allows easy management of packages; click the + button to add libraries to the current environment.

The virtual environment can also be activated from the command line; for example, if it is located at ~/Developer/Python3Env, the VirtualEnv will provide a complete set of Python packages and executables.

Conclusion

Finally, create a new PyCharm project and select the virtual environment you just set up. Clone the CAAFinder repository from GitHub (the project is named “CAAFinder”). Feel free to test the tool or contribute to it, even if you are not a CAA developer.