This C# NuGet library allows you to easily build up and convert data into BCF files. It gives you a straightforward API to build your BCF objects exactly how you want in your order.

Installation

You can install the BcfToolkit library via NuGet Package Manager or by adding it to your project's .csproj file.

nuget install Smino.Bcf.Toolkit

Usage

Creating BCF objects

To create a BCF Model, BcfBuilder class can be used. Then, various functions provided by the builder can be used to fulfill the BCF model objects.

Here are some examples:

using BcfToolkit.Builder.Bcf30;

var builder = new BcfBuilder();
var bcf = builder
  .AddMarkup(m => m
    .SetTitle("Simple title")
    .SetDescription("This is a description")
    .AddLabel("Architecture")
    .SetPriority("Critical")
    .SetTopicType("Clash")
    .SetTopicStatus("Active")
    .AddComment(c => c
      .SetComment("This is a comment")
      .SetDate(DateTime.Now)
      .SetAuthor("jimmy@page.com"))
    .AddViewPoint(v => v
        .SetPerspectiveCamera(pCam => pCam
          .SetCamera(cam => cam
            .SetViewPoint(10, 10, 10))),
      snapshotData)) // Provide a snapshot data here
  .SetExtensions(e => e
    .AddPriority("Critical")
    .AddPriority("Major")
    .AddPriority("Normal")
    .AddPriority("Minor")
    .AddTopicType("Issue")
    .AddTopicType("Fault")
    .AddTopicType("Clash")
    .AddTopicType("Remark")
    .AddTopicLabel("Architecture")
    .AddTopicLabel("Structure")
    .AddTopicLabel("MEP"))
  .SetProject(p => p
    .SetProjectId("projectId")
    .SetProjectName("My project"))
  .SetDocumentInfo(dI => dI
    .AddDocument(d => d
      .SetFileName("document.pdf")
      .SetDescription("This is a document")))
  .Build();

The BcfBuilder class can also consume BCF files as a stream and build up the model objects.

using BcfToolkit.Builder.Bcf30;

await using var stream = new FileStream(source, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
var builder = new BcfBuilder();
var bcf = await builder
  .BuildFromStream(stream);

The default builders can be used if the user prefers not to deal with filling the required fields. The builder.WithDefaults() function serves this. However in certain cases the user may need to replace the component IDs of IFC objects with the actual GUIDs during the build process.

using BcfToolkit.Builder.Bcf30;

var builder = new BcfBuilder();
var bcf = builder
  .WithDefaults()
  .Build();

Using BCF worker

The BCF worker is designed to facilitate the conversion of BCF files to JSON and vice versa using predefined workflows. The appropriate workflow is selected based on the file extensions of the source and target. For example, if the source file ends with .bcfzip, the BcfZipToJson converter is used.

Basic conversion

using BcfToolkit;

var worker = new Worker();
await worker.Convert(source, target);

Direct converter usage

You can also call specific converters directly for converting between BCF and JSON.

BCF to JSON

using BcfToolkit.Converter.Bcf30;

var converter = new Converter()
converter.BcfZipToJson(source, target);

JSON to BCF

using BcfToolkit.Converter.Bcf30;

var converter = new Converter()
converter.JsonToBcfZip(source, target);

Stream-based conversion

The library supports consuming BCF archives as streams. The code determines the version of the source and delegates the conversion to the appropriate nested converter object, converting it to BCF 3.0 as needed.

BCF from Stream

using BcfToolkit;

await using var stream = new FileStream(source, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);

var worker = new Worker();
var bcf = await worker.BcfFromStream(stream);

BCF to Stream

The worker can generate a file stream from a specified BCF object, converting it to the desired version.

IMPORTANT: The user is responsible for disposing of the stream after use.

using BcfToolkit;

var worker = new Worker();
var stream = await worker.ToBcf(bcf, BcfVersionEnum.Bcf30);
// custom code to use the stream...
await stream.FlushAsync();

Specifying Output Stream

You can define an output stream to which the conversion results will be written.

using BcfToolkit;

var worker = new Worker();
var outputStream = new MemoryStream();
worker.ToBcf(bcf, BcfVersionEnum.Bcf30, outputStream);
// custom code to use the stream...
await outputStream.FlushAsync();

Cancellation Support

The worker supports CancellationToken to allow for the cancellation of asynchronous operations.

using BcfToolkit;

var worker = new Worker();
var outputStream = new MemoryStream();
var source = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = source.Token;
worker.ToBcf(bcf, BcfVersionEnum.Bcf30, outputStream, token);
// custom code to use the stream...
await outputStream.FlushAsync();

File Structure

The structure of the BCF is per the standard. There is, however, no standard for the JSON format other than the BCF API specification.

The naming convention for this converter is taken from the BCF API, but the output is opinionated:

There is one JSON for every Markup and within the structure of the information follows that of the XML. There are no separate files for screenshots, they are base64 encoded in the field snapshot_data of the Viewpoint. The files are named using the uuid of the Topic within.

|- json
  |- 2ea98d1e-77ae-467f-bbc9-1aed1c1785f6.json
  |- 3395f1b1-893f-4ca0-8b7d-c2d17d7a9198.json
  |- c799e527-a413-43f8-8871-80918a52b0f0.json
  |- ...
  |- project.json
  |- extensions.json
  |- documents.json
  |- version.json

Development

The development of the tool is ongoing, the table below shows the currently completed features.

	BCF 2.0	BCF 2.1	BCF 3.0	JSON 2.0	JSON 2.1	JSON 3.0
BCF 2.0
BCF 2.1					X
BCF 3.0						X
JSON 2.0
JSON 2.1		X
JSON 3.0			X

The models for the BCF in-memory representation were auto-created from the latest XSDs using the XmlSchemaClassGenerator.

~ dotnet tool install --global dotnet-xscgen
~ xscgen -n [namespace] version.xsd

To publish, run the script at dist/publish.sh.

Contribution

Code style guide can be found in the bcf-toolkit.sln.DotSettings file.