Overview

AP203 is formally known as STEP Part 203: Application Protocol for Configuration Controlled Design. The standard was originally published in 1994 and was subsequently amended in 2000 as ISO 10303-203:1994/Amd1:2000(E).

In 2005, it was restructured as a modular document and published as the technical specification ISO/TS 10303-203:2005(E). After further rework, the TS was replaced by a international standard published in 2011 as ISO 10303-203:2011(E). The name was changed to "Configuration controlled 3D design of mechanical parts and assemblies" with a matching EXPRESS schema name.

Programming Notes

The original AP203 schema is identified by the StplibSchemaType stplib_schema_ap203 enum, while the stplib_schema_ap203e2 enum identifies the second edition schema.

RoseDesign * d;

// first edition "CONFIG_CONTROL_DESIGN"
stplib_put_schema (d, stplib_schema_ap203);

// second edition "AP203_CONFIGURATION_CONTROLLED_3D_DESIGN_OF_MECHANICAL_PARTS_AND_ASSEMBLIES_MIM_LF"
stplib_put_schema (d, stplib_schema_ap203e2);

switch (stplib_get_schema(d)) {
case stplib_schema_ap203e2:
    // ap203 second edition, or various interim schemas

case stplib_schema_ap203:
    // ap203 first edition
}

The following schema names were used between the first and second edition and are recognized as the stplib_schema_ap203e2 enum, but should not be used for new data.

"CONFIGURATION_CONTROL_3D_DESIGN_MIM_LF"

This name was used for the interim 2005 Technical Specification (not International Standard) version of AP203.

"CCD_CLA_GVP_AST_ASD"
"CCD_CLA_GVP_AST"

These two names were used during CAX-IF construction history (SMCH) testing which apparently made it into some versions of Pro-Engineer and Ideas.

The following recommended practices document covers the original AP203 schema and is still useful for basic topics like assembly relationships. More recommended practices are available on the CAx-IF site for things introduced in AP203e2 and AP242.

• AP203 Recommended Practices v8 [PDF]

Deprecated Definitions

The original AP203 was the first AP, and used naming conventions that later changed. Assignment entities had a "cc_design_" prefix, while newer APs use the "applied_" prefix. The "cc_design" were deprecated in the second edition and replaced with the "applied" versions (See AP203e2 annex H). The original schema also had subtypes for contexts but now APs just use the base types.

The STEP Merged AP Library only contains "applied_" definitions. When working with older files, we read "cc_design" data into instances of the "applied" C++ classes, and write "applied" definitions as the appropriate "cc_design" name.

The table below shows the changes. When reading an AP203 file, an entity in the left column is will appear in memory as an instance of the type on the right. When writing a file as AP203, an instance of a type on the right will be written as the type on the left.