OpenSTAAD is a library of exposed functions allowing engineers access to STAAD.Pro’s internal functions and routines as well as its graphical commands. With OpenSTAAD, you can use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros to perform such tasks as automating repetitive modeling or post-processing tasks or embedding customized design routines. Following an open architecture paradigm, OpenSTAAD was built using ATLActive Template Library COMComponent Object Model and COM+ standards as specified by Microsoft. This allows OpenSTAAD to be used in a macro application like Microsoft Excel or Autodesk AutoCAD. OpenSTAAD can also be used to link STAAD data to Web-based applications using ActiveX, HTMLHyper Text Markup Language and ASPActive Server Pages.

OpenSTAAD allows engineers and other users to link in-house or third-party applications with STAAD.Pro. For example, a user might create a spreadsheet in Excel to analyze and design a circular base plate using  support reactions from STAAD.  With OpenSTAAD, a simple macro can be written in Excel or within the STAAD environment to retrieve the appropriate STAAD data and automatically link the results. If the STAAD file changes, so will the Excel sheet!  With a built-in VBA editor, macros can be written inside STAAD using VBA to create new dialog boxes or menu items which run design codes or specific structural components (like certain connections) that automatically link to STAAD’s familiar reporting tables. A cumbersome export/import link between two or three software is not required.