GeometryGymIFC

GeometryGymIFC provides C# classes designed for generating and parsing OpenBIM IFC (Industry Foundation Class) files. The library is designed to be multi-version compatible, supporting:

• IFC2x3
• IFC4
• Infrastructure extensions (such as IFC4.3 and IFC4.4)

The library provides early support for new IFC versions and extension projects. For detailed technical specifications of the underlying data models, refer to the official BuildingSmart documentation.

When working with IFC classes, follow these conventions to ensure schema compliance:

• Required Attributes: Constructors for IFC classes typically require all non-optional attributes.
• Avoid Nulls: Passing null into a constructor is generally not intended and will likely result in non-schema-compliant IFC files.

GeometryGymIFC is available via the NuGet package manager. You can install it using the NuGet Package Manager GUI or via the Package Manager Console.

To use the library in your C# code, add the following directive:

using GeometryGym.Ifc;

# Install the latest version
Install-Package GeometryGymIFC

# Install a specific version
Install-Package GeometryGymIFC -Version 0.1.6

Use the WriteFile method on a DatabaseIfc instance to save the model to a file in STEP-P21 format.

database.WriteFile("myIfcFile.ifc");

You can initialize a new IFC database using the DatabaseIfc constructor. You must specify a ModelView (e.g., ModelView.Ifc4X3_RC2).

By default, calling the constructor with only a ModelView generates boilerplate data. If you want to explicitly control whether boilerplate data is generated, use the boolean overload.

// Create a new database with default boilerplate
var database = new DatabaseIfc(ModelView.Ifc4X3_RC2);

// Explicitly trigger boilerplate generation
var database = new DatabaseIfc(true, ModelView.Ifc4X3_RC2);

To load an existing IFC file into a DatabaseIfc instance, pass the file path to the constructor.

string path = "<filepath/to/model>";
var database = new DatabaseIfc(path);

To see how the GeometryGymIFC classes are used in practice, you can explore the demonstration projects hosted in the following repository:

https://github.com/jmirtsch/GeometryGymIFCExamples

Once a DatabaseIfc instance is created, you can use its Factory property to configure metadata and generation options for the model.

Common configuration tasks include:

• Setting the Application Developer name.
• Setting the Application Full Name.
• Controlling the auto-generation of IfcOwnerHistory via database.Factory.Options.

To add textual comments directly into the resulting .ifc file, use the AddComment method on specific IFC elements.

// Set application metadata
database.Factory.ApplicationDeveloper = "Developer Name";
database.Factory.ApplicationFullName = "IFC Application";

// Disable auto-generation of IfcOwnerHistory
database.Factory.Options.GenerateOwnerHistory = false;

// Add a comment to a specific element
var element = new IfcBuiltElement(database);
element.AddComment("some comment");