Building an STK Engine Application

STK Engine enables you to build an application that harnesses the analytical power and visual capabilities of STK.

The following will guide you through the process of building an application.

Set Up Your STK Engine Application Environment

Before developing an application, you need to make the following decisions:

• Whether to develop applications with the STK 64-bit engine or 32-bit engine.
• The type of container application that will be used to deliver your application. A container application can be a Web page, an MS Office application, or any application capable of using Active X controls.
• The type of programming language that will be used to build your application. You can use Visual C#, STK Java API, MATLAB, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++, or any other OLE-compatible programming language.
• The interface that will be used to use to connect to your application. You can choose either STK Object Model or Connect. Connect can be used either via TCP/IP or the COM Interface. The COM Interface can be used if Connect and your application are on the same machine and TCP/IP if they are on different machines. We recommend using STK Object Model to interact with STK.
• The type of application that you want to build. You can build an analysis-only application or a visualization and analysis application. If the application you are building will have a visualization capability, will it include both 2D and 3D graphics?

Learn How to Use the STK Engine Development Tools

You will use the following software tools to build an application using the STK Engine:

• STK X . Use STK X to add advanced STK 2D, 3D visualization and analytical capabilities to applications with little effort.
• STK Object Model. A collection of COM libraries that provide developers with capabilities to control and automate STK objects, manage the lifetime of STK objects, access Data Provider tools, perform access and coverage computations, and respond to events generated by STK.
• Connect. Use Connect to communicate with STK.
• STK. Using STK in developing an application is optional. You can use STK to create a base scenario.
• Any OLE-compatible programming language. The STK Engine Development tutorial will show you how to use STK Engine using one of the following programming languages:
• • C#
  • MATLAB with GUIDE
  • Visual Basic.NET
  • STK Java API

Learn How to Develop an STK Engine Application

See The STK Engine Reference Application which shows how ActiveX components, STK Object Model, and Connect are used to build an STK Engine application.

Develop Your Application

To develop an STK Engine application, we recommend the following process:

1. Create your base scenario in STK. You can create your base scenario using STK Engine, but it is easier to create it in STK. A base scenario, for example, can contain objects, defined object properties, and custom report styles.
2. Using STK Engine, Connect, and any OLE-compatible programming language, develop your application from the base scenario:
3. • Design the user interface.
   • Design mouse and keyboard interactions.
   • Select specific functionality.
   • Provide documentation for your application.

Test Your STK Engine Application

To test your application:

1. Load your application scenario in STK.
2. Test it to ensure you are getting the desired results.
3. If you are not getting the desired results, return to your development environment to locate the problem and fix it.
4. Retest your scenario in STK. If you are still not getting the desired results, repeat steps 2 and 3.

Deploy Your STK Engine Application

To deploy your application:

1. Create an install for your application. See Deploying an STK Engine application for the different methods you can use to create an install for your application.
2. Obtain deployment licenses for users of your application.

STK Programming Interface 11.0.1