Python API
Work (RINA) API Development Python Stdcall XML/HTML LaTeX Delphi Visual Studio Code RAD Studio Python4Delphi PyScripter Docker Excel DLL Wrapping API Design Customer Support Documentation Writing ReleasedA Python-based API to the main ERACS software package, empowering users to automate their loadflow & fault studies (among other calculations), and to easily process the results.
Basic Description
We as a team wanted to modernise ERACS - a power systems package dating back as far as Windows DOS - by bringing it to the web. I'd already carried out some work towards this goal, such as writing up an XSLT file which translated our XML data to SVG, meaning the power system network models could be displayed in a browser-compatible format.
Another way of modernising the package was by implementing the Python API, a library of scripts which wrapped the calculation DLLs and provided helpful classes for interacting with them. This empowered users to automate their studies, but it also opened up additional avenues for us as a development team, as it now meant we could automate testing, and we could offer a web-based version of ERACS which harnessed the power of the Python API.
I led development of the Python API, and the development was overseen by my line manager. I'm very proud of how the Python API turned out, and it was my biggest accomplishment to date in my career. Not only did the API itself meet the necessary requirements, but it went beyond that by providing added value to us as a team, not just our clients. It wasn't just the API either, as there was supporting documentation which I was responsible for writing, and even a Python script editor which we built within Delphi (the same language that the main ERACS GUI was built in), which simplified the installation/setup process for our users, and provided native support for ERACS in Python.