Use Cases#
To structure the ongoing work, here is the initial use cases of an IFC database.
[x] Upload IFC file to empty Database
[x] Download entire IFC model from IFC Database
[ ] Download Partial IFC model from IFC Database
[ ] Upload IFC model to existing IFC database
[ ] Use EdgeDB as a backend IFC Database for Blender (PoC)
Upload IFC file to empty Database#
Done. This required primarily getting the database up and running, then start uploading elements.
Download entire IFC model from IFC Database#
Done. A roundtrip of IFC file content has been completed demonstrating that this works for a few initial IFC file examples. This is completed by simply exporting all classes found in the database and then assembled into an IFC file on the client side.
Download Partial IFC model from IFC Database#
This proved to be a bit more challenging. It requires a more complex query building compared to the simpler “get_all()” method in use for downloading the entire model.
The current strategy is to extract IfcOwnerHistory and IfcRepresentation data in separate queries to reduce query complexity and result output redundancy.
Use EdgeDB as a backend IFC DB for Blender#
Why would you need an IFC database?
One motivation is that it (hopefully) enables more effective workflows for models so large it’s unpractical to work with using a single or multiple IFC files. It’s also the promise of more collaborative workflows and enabling access for automated processes pointed to the database that do a lot of automated checks and auto-generated work based on changes in the db.