ErikssonBeamFinder

Discover and connect to running Eriksson Beam instances automatically.

When to Use

Eriksson Beam is already running
You don't know the specific process ID
You want to find an instance with a specific file open
You want to discover all available instances

Basic Usage

Find Any Running Instance

var args = new ErikssonBeamConnectionAttemptArgs
{
    LicenseKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ERIKSSON_LICENSE_KEY"),
    MaxAttempts = 10,
    WaitTimeBetweenAttemptsMs = 1000
};

var client = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetFirstSupportedBeamClient(args);

try
{
    var design = await client.PullBeamDesignerAsync();
    // Work with design...
}
finally
{
    client.Dispose();
}

Find Instance with Specific File

// By file name
var client = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetFirstClientWithFile("MyProject", args);

// By full path
var client = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetFirstClientWithFile(@"C:\Projects\MyProject.ebf", args);

List All Available Instances

// Get process IDs of all supported Eriksson Beam instances
var processIds = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetSupportedErikssonBeamInstances();

foreach (var pid in processIds)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Found Eriksson Beam instance: PID {pid}");
}

Configuration Options

ErikssonBeamConnectionAttemptArgs

Property	Type	Default	Description
`LicenseKey`	string	`""`	Required. API authorization key
`ProcessID`	int	`-1`	Ignored by Finder methods
`IdleTimeoutMs`	int	`30000`	Client connection timeout (ms)
`MaxAttempts`	int	`10`	Connection retry attempts
`WaitTimeBetweenAttemptsMs`	int	`1000`	Delay between retries (ms)

Version Compatibility

The Finder only returns instances with compatible API versions:

Connects to instances with matching major version
Automatically filters out older incompatible versions
No configuration needed - handled automatically

Important: 10-Minute Idle Timeout

Eriksson Beam only listens for API connections for 10 minutes after launch.

This timer starts when Eriksson Beam opens
Not reset by manual UI interactions
After timeout, API connections will fail

If connections fail:

Close Eriksson Beam
Reopen Eriksson Beam
Retry connection within 10 minutes

Error Handling

try
{
    var client = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetFirstSupportedBeamClient(args);
    // ...
}
catch (ErikssonBeamNotRunningException)
{
    Console.WriteLine("No running Eriksson Beam instances found.");
    Console.WriteLine("Please start Eriksson Beam and try again.");
}
catch (TimeoutException)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Connection timed out. Eriksson Beam may have exceeded its 10-minute idle limit.");
    Console.WriteLine("Restart Eriksson Beam and try again.");
}

Complete Example

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using ErikssonBeam.API.BeamClient;

class ConnectToRunning
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        var args = new ErikssonBeamConnectionAttemptArgs
        {
            LicenseKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ERIKSSON_LICENSE_KEY"),
            MaxAttempts = 5,
            WaitTimeBetweenAttemptsMs = 2000
        };

        Console.WriteLine("Searching for running Eriksson Beam instances...");

        try
        {
            // List all available instances
            var instances = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetSupportedErikssonBeamInstances();
            Console.WriteLine($"Found {instances.Length} instance(s)");

            if (instances.Length == 0)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Please start Eriksson Beam first.");
                return;
            }

            // Connect to first available
            var client = await ErikssonBeamFinder.GetFirstSupportedBeamClient(args);

            try
            {
                // Get list of open files
                var openFiles = await client.GetOpenBeamProjects();
                Console.WriteLine($"Open files: {string.Join(", ", openFiles)}");

                if (openFiles.Length > 0)
                {
                    var design = await client.PullBeamDesignerAsync(openFiles[0]);
                    Console.WriteLine($"Project: {design.DesignCriteria.ProjectInformation.ProjectName}");
                }
            }
            finally
            {
                client.Dispose();
            }
        }
        catch (ErikssonBeamNotRunningException)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("No compatible Eriksson Beam instances found.");
        }
    }
}

Methods Reference

GetFirstSupportedBeamClient

public static async Task<ErikssonBeamClient> GetFirstSupportedBeamClient(
    ErikssonBeamConnectionAttemptArgs args,
    ILogger logger = null)

Returns a connected client to the first compatible Eriksson Beam instance found.

Throws:

ErikssonBeamNotRunningException - No instances found
TimeoutException - Connection attempts exhausted

GetFirstClientWithFile

public static async Task<ErikssonBeamClient> GetFirstClientWithFile(
    string fileNameOrPath,
    ErikssonBeamConnectionAttemptArgs args,
    ILogger logger = null)

Returns a connected client to an instance that has the specified file open.

Parameters:

fileNameOrPath - File name (without extension) or full file path