Printer Simulator

##Introduction The Printer Simulator allows app developers to test the Forge 3D Print API without requiring a physical printer. It provides all the same functionality as a "regular" 3D printer, however its 3D printing is virtual. The Printer Simulator also acts as a reference implementation for printer firmware designers.

To see the Forge API documentation and make meaningful use of the Printer Simulator, sign up to the developers portal at https://developer.autodesk.com.

##Contents

1. Getting Started
2. The Printer Simulator Interface
3. Calling the Printer Simulator from an App

###1. Getting Started The Printer Simulator is a simple HTML/Javascript page. It requires no client side setup except for the HTML and associated JS and CSS files.

1. Download this entire repository.
2. Open the HTML file in Chrome or Firefox. Since the simulator runs as a straight HTML file, no server setup is required.

The simulator has 3 sections:

a. The LCD screen, which mimics a printer display.
b. The log, which reports printer activity, debug messages sent to Forge cloud services, and the storage state of the printer (token, registration state, etc.).
c. The buttons, which allow you to register a printer, perform health checks (report the printer's online/offline status), and control print jobs (resume, pause, cancel).

###2. The Printer Simulator Interface

a. Registration buttons

New Token - Completely resets the printer state and issues a new printer ID. Members who had registered to use the printer need to re-register as if it were a different printer.

Get Token - Returns the locally stored token. Re-registration is not required; the printer ID remains unchanged.

b. Health Check buttons

Online - The Printer Simulator sends regular messages (health checks) to the Forge server notifying it of its status. Print jobs and commands can be sent to the Printer Simulator.

Offline - The Printer Simulator does not communicate with the Forge server. No print jobs or commands can be sent to the Printer Simulator.

c. Print buttons

Resume - Resume printing a paused print job: Only active if the Printer Simulator is "printing" a print job and the pause button was pressed. The Printer Simulator will send a status check message to the Forge server, saying it has resumed printing.

Pause - Pause printing an active print job: Only active if the Printer Simulator is "printing" a print job. The Printer Simulator will send a status check message to the Forge server saying that it has paused.

Cancel - Cancel printing an active print job: Only active if the Printer Simulator is "printing" a print job. The Printer Simulator will send a status check message to the Forge server saying that it has paused.

d. Local Print Job buttons

Local - Start printing a virtual print job on the Printer Simulator. This print job is "locally initiated" and not sent by an app. If the printer is online it will notify the Forge server of the local print job, and apps can send commands to the Printer Simulator that affect the print job.

###3. Calling the Printer Simulator from an App All the endpoint calls shown below are documented in the Forge developer portal.

a. Authentication

All endpoint calls originating from the application require an Authorization header with an access token. For a guide about obtaining an access token, see our tutorial on Generating an Access Token.

b. Testing REST endpoint calls

Endpoint calls can be tested using a REST client such as Postman, so you can update the token in a single location without needing to update each endpoint.

c. Registering to use the Printer Simulator

Unless you register to use the Printer Simulator you will not be able to send any jobs or commands to it from an app.

1. Click New Token to connect the printer to the Forge server and retrieve a registration code. The registration code will be displayed on the Printer Simulator's log. This registers you as the "printer owner" of the Printer Simulator.
2. Call the POST printers/register endpoint.
   The following example uses the Postman REST client.

POST /api/v1/print/printers/register HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Authorization: Bearer jDG4YLSTAUlI33k79KYJ2f4Q5nAZ
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
printer_name=my+makerbot&registration_code=YKNRKT
 
Response:
{
    "registered": true,
    "printer_id": 58
}

The Printer Simulator actively listens for registration events. Calling the POST printers/register endpoint will cause the Forge server to notify the Printer Simulator that a registration has taken place and a message will appear in the log:

Received message from server:{"registration":"success","type":"primary","printer_id":58,"member_id":20711941}

d. Making a health check

Once the printer is registered, it will start sending health check messages to the server - the Printer Simulator is configured to send a message every 60 seconds. The following message appears in the log:

sending health check ping with auth code:WfsVvaD84sN3wQoygfNK-JqmB4pvJko5Mrl2xgUFBzM
POST data:{"printer_status":"ready"}
Sending POST request to: http://developer.api.autodesk.com/api/v1/print/printers/status
Server response status 200

If the printer is sending health checks regularly, it will appear as online. The application can check the Printer Simulator's online/offline status by calling the GET printers/status/:printer_id endpoint:

GET /api/v1/print/printers/status/58 HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer jDG4YLSTAUlI33k79KYJ2f4Q5nAZ
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
Response:
            {
                "last_check_in": 21000,
                "printer_availability": "offline",
                "last_reported_state":
                { 
                    "printer_status":"paused",
                    "error_code":0,
                    "error_message":"",
                    "job_id":"121333sdsd",
                    "job_status":"paused",
                    "job_progress":0.5,
                    "data":
                    {
                          "job_name":"Part1.stl",
                          "job_id":"121333sdsd",
                          "layer":6,                   
                          "total_layers":12,
                          "seconds_left":37,
                          "temperature":28.6875
                    }
                }
            }
            

You can stop the printer from sending health checks by clicking the Offline button. Once the last_check_in value exceeds 60 seconds, the health check status automatically switches to Offline.

{
    "status": "Offline",
    "last_check_in": 61000
}

e. Sending print jobs to the Printer Simulator

Once the printer is registered, it actively listens for incoming commands. To send a print job to the Printer Simulator, use the POST printers/:printer_id/jobs endpoint. This returns a ``job_id``, which you can use to check the print job's ``status`` or pause/cancel the job.

POST /api/v1/print/printers/58/jobs HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Authorization: Bearer jDG4YLSTAUlI33k79KYJ2f4Q5nAZ
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache
 
{ "printable_url": "http://cdn.static.com/print/abcefg", "settings": { "FirstApproachRPM": 6, "FirstZLiftMicrons": 2000, "FirstSeparationMicronsPerSec": 5000, "FirstApproachMicronsPerSec": 5000, "FirstRotationMilliDegrees": 60000 } }
 
Response:
{
    "printer_id": "58",
    "job_id": "44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028",
    "status": "sent"
}

The printer will start "printing" the job and display appropriate messages in the log:

POST data:{"printer_status":"printing","progress":0.88,"job_id":"44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028","job_progress":0.88,"job_status":"printing","data":{"job_status":"printing","total_layers":50,"layer":44,"seconds_left":120,"temprature":71,"job_id":"44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028"}}

Your app can view the job's status with the GET jobs/:job_id endpoint. This will return the current status of the job.

GET /api/v1/print/jobs/44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028 HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Authorization: Bearer S787KIuuBJAH43QU2FgaROqUCC8S
Cache-Control: no-cache
 
Response:
{
    "job_id": "44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028",
    "job_status": {
        "printer_status": "printing",
        "job_id": "44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028",
        "job_progress": "0.62",
        "job_status": "printing",
        "data": {
            "job_status": "printing",
            "total_layers": "50",
            "layer": "31",
            "seconds_left": "380",
            "temperature": "71",
            "job_id": "6e0880a9-ce65-44c2-bfa6-e6ba44d947d1"
        }
    },
    "job_date_time": "April 02, 2015 07:33:37",
    "job_status_time": "April 02, 2015 07:34:30",
    "local_job": false
}

f. Sending commands to the Printer Simulator

Commands can be sent to the Printer Simulator using the POST printers/:printer_id/command endpoint. While general printer commands such as ``calibrate``, ``firmware_upgrade``, and ``log``, return dummy data, ``pause``, ``cancel``, and, ``resume`` commands actually impact the (virtual) running print job.

Note that commands with a job scope (pause/resume/cancel) require a job_id parameter:

POST /api/v1/print/printers/58/command HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Authorization: Bearer S787KIuuBJAH43QU2FgaROqUCC8S
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
command=pause&job_id=44964c43-176e-43a5-b36c-7694054fe028
 
Response:
{
    "task_id": "bf16cf49-86d9-4c7a-8aa4-90e18eb1b689"
}

This endpoint is asynchronous and initiates a command task that runs in the background, rather than halting execution of your program. The response returns a task_id that you need to use to call the GET printers/command/:task_id endpoint, which returns the status of the issued command:

GET /api/v1/print/printers/command/bf16cf49-86d9-4c7a-8aa4-90e18eb1b689 HTTP/1.1
Host: developer.api.autodesk.com
Authorization: Bearer S787KIuuBJAH43QU2FgaROqUCC8S
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
Response:
{
    "progress": "0.72",
    "data": {
        "job_status": "printing",
        "total_layers": "50",
        "layer": "36",
        "seconds_left": "280",
        "temprature": "71",
        "job_id": "6e0880a9-ce65-44c2-bfa6-e6ba44d947d1"
    },
    "printer_status": "printing",
    "job_id": "6e0880a9-ce65-44c2-bfa6-e6ba44d947d1",
    "job_progress": "0.72",
    "job_status": "printing",
    "status_update_time": "April 02, 2015 07:37:59",
    "command": "resume"
}

The layers will stop or resume processing on the Printer Simulator depending on the command sent.

Note that you can also trigger pause, resume, and cancel from the Print Simulator UI. They have the same impact on updating the print job status and the running job in the simulator.