Software
SimaPro.- SimaPro Connectors.
- e-DEA: Enabling Ecodesign.
- openLCA Framework .
- openLCA Format Converter.
- LCA Evaluator.
SimaPro Connectors
Commissioned by PRé Consultants, GreenDeltaTC developed in spring 2009 two types of "Connectors", and made each available under an open source licence.
Each of these connectors links to SimaPro via the COM interface; one connector is a web application, where interaction with SimaPro is managed via a website, the other is a desktop application. Purpose was to demonstrate "what is possible" by using the COM interface offered by SimaPro.
The web application connector is implemented in Java, the desktop application in C#. As open source, both are available completely free of charge, and also the source code is completely transparent, so that everyone is invited to build upon these connectors and modify them as needed to meet specific requirements.
Each of the connectors uses the complete database and the calculation and analysis features of SimaPro, and manages these by a clean, easy to understand interface that can be adapted to specific user needs. Features of SimaPro that are not required are not shown in the user interface of the connectors. This makes the calculation power of SimaPro available to many new applications outside of the classical LCA field, e.g. product design and product data management, PDM.
The interface of the open source connectors is quite straightforward; we are now working on a modification of the connectors, for a large international company, with some additional features and with a refined interface that also fits to the company's CI. The screenshots below show some examples (without brand name).
More information is available at the sourceforge site of the project; where also the software is explained more in detail: http://sp-connector.sourceforge.net/.
If you have any questions about using or adapting the connectors, we are happy to help.
Background
- PRé Consultants: Programming the COM interface, Juni 2007
"COM interface" is a Microsoft standard that allows external control of application features. Via the COM interface, methods and objects of a closed source software can be made accessible to external applications. In the developer version, SimaPro also comes with a COM interface. This offers many different interesting opportunities, from rather straightforward data export and import to and from Spreadsheet software to linkages to ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to web applications, where a website generates data dynamically based on SimaPro features. For example, data and calculation routines of SimaPro can be used to generate meaningful life cycle assessment results on a website, dynamically.
Access to the COM interface (of, for example, SimaPro) is possible from many different applications, as for example VBA (Excel, Access, Word), Microsoft .NET (C# and related) and Java.
Screenshots
Below you find screenshots of the web- and desktop connectors; with black bar: open source application as available in sourceforge; light blue: modified connector for current industry project, web application.
