Interfacing with external files

You can interface a custom method with an external file. For example, you can use this capability to access load data that is contained in an external file.

When you interface to an external file, you can specify whether the external file is managed or unmanaged. If you specify that the external file is managed, when you save the Simulation file, the contents of the external file are placed inside a .msz file. Thus, if you move the Simulation file and the .msz files to another folder, the links between the Simulation file and the .msz files are retained.

You use the following file parameter attributes to interface with an external file:

Attribute	Mandatory	Type	Purpose
managed	No	Boolean	To specify that the external file is managed, include the following attribute:managed="true"
filefilters	No	Text	Specifies the file extension options that you can use to filter the file types in the browse window.To filter the files so that only a single extension type appears, specify the following:filefilters=".extension"To filter the files so that multiple extension types appear in the type list, specify the following:filefilters=".extension1,*.extension2,...."
default	No	Text	Specifies the path to the folder whose files initially appear in the browse window. If filefilters is specified, only the files in the folder that have the selected extension initially appear in the browse window.

Example

The following code from the XML file for a custom method retrieves data from external files for two parameters:

<input>        <parameter id="FlightDataFile"                   uiname="Flight Data (managed)"                   uilongname="Flight Data (managed)"                   type="file"                   managed="true"                   filefilters="*.fdt,*.*"                   default="D:\UserMethods\Fl*.fdt"                   optional="true"                   />        <parameter id="GroundFile"                   uiname="Ground File (unmanaged)"                   uilongname="Ground File (unmanaged)"                   type="file"                   default="D:\UserMethods"                   filefilters="*.cgf,*.txt"                   optional="true"                   /></input><output>        <parameter id="ManagedOutput"                   type="file"                   managed="true"                   />        <parameter id="UnmanagedOutput"                   type="file"                   /></output>

The resulting Calculation Creation dialog box is shown in the following figure.

Learn more

Custom methods

Custom method example

Creating tables and groups

Diagrams for custom methods

Specifying default values for parameters

Bulk processing of calculations

Interfacing with external post-processors

Look up more details

Elements and attributes of XML files

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

Bulk Entry Descriptions

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Interfacing with external files, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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