Thanks Robert!
In the future I'll make sure to stick to one question per post! I have put the non API question on punching shear in this new post:
RFEM6 Punching Shear Nodes Error - Product Support - Dlubal Community
I can't edit my original post (I'm guessing once someone has replied to a post you can't edit it? A Dlubal moderator can feel free to delete everything from "And then I have a non-coding question on punching design." to clean up this thread given that info is now in a new approriate post 