Adding a Write Data Source

You use the Data Exchanger Component Editor to add a Write data source with a General Text, Name/Value, Table, or Vector format. The Data Exchanger component writes parameter values to a file that will be used as input to an external program. This is sometimes referred to as an input parse because an input file is being written.

Related Topics
About Delimiters
About Editing Parameters

  1. Double-click the Data Exchanger component icon .

    The Data Exchanger Component Editor appears.

  2. From the Data Exchanger Component Editor, click the large button in the center of the editor to begin defining a data source.

    Tip: You can also click the <New> tab or click the New Data Source button.

    The Exchanger Wizard appears with the Select File screen displayed.

  3. Click Write a File.

    1. In the Template file to update text box, enter the template file that you want to use. You can click Browse to locate the file. If you do not enter a template file, the Data Exchanger component creates the file by writing parameter values.

      Note: An input file parameter is created for the template file. This file parameter has the same name as the file being written, with “Tmpl” appended. While the template file is usually fixed, it is possible to map another file parameter to the template file parameter, allowing the template to vary at run time.

    2. In the File to write at runtime text box, enter the file to write at run time or select an existing file parameter. If you browsed to the template file, this text box is filled automatically with the name of the specified file.

      If you entered a file name, the Data Exchanger component creates an output file parameter. The parameter name is the same as the name of the file being written, but with periods converted to underscores. The output file parameter can be mapped to subsequent components in the simulation process flow. It appears on the Output Files subtab of the Design Gateway Files tab.

      Two file parameters are created: one for the template file and one for the file being written. The file parameter for the template file is mode input, has “Tmpl” added to the parameter name, and appears on the Input Files subtab of the Design Gateway Files tab. The template file is usually left as is, but it can be mapped if the template changes from run to run.

      Note: For the input Data Exchanger of a Simcode component, only one file parameter is created because the OS Command part of the Simcode component reads the file directly from the working directory. The file parameter has the same name as the sample file and is an input file parameter.

  4. In the Encoding list, select the type of encoding that you want to use.

    You can use this option to explicitly specify the encoding the file parameter is to use when converting between bytes and characters. In a Locale (a system setting that includes the language, number formats, and character set in use) that uses multibyte characters (Japanese, Chinese, Korean), there is a default encoding used to convert bytes into characters. Most text files are written using this encoding, but sometimes it is necessary to specify this encoding. For additional information on encoding, see File Type and Encoding in the Isight Development Guide.

    Note: This setting is visible only if the Show File Type Encoding option on the Files tab is selected on the Preferences dialog box. For more information about Preferences, see Setting Files and Directories Preferences in the Isight User’s Guide.

  5. In the Line Ending list, select how you want the lines to end:

    Option Description
    Default Leave the line endings as they were found in the input file. Isight does not attempt to change the line endings. If the file has to be copied for some reason, local line endings are used.
    Local Write the file with the local line endings for the computer on which the model is running. This is the location of the Isight Gateway and the SIMULIA Execution Engine station. This means CR-LF on Windows and LF on Linux. The file will always be copied in text mode and the line endings updated, even if the line endings already appear to be correct.
    Linux Always separate lines with LF, even if the model is running on Windows.
    Windows Always separate lines with CR-LF, even if the model is running on Linux.

  6. Click Next.

    The File Format screen appears.

  7. Select one of the following:

    Option Description
    General Text Text with no particular structure. Fields are located by searching for words or phrases.
    Name/Value Data organized as a list of name/value pairs, where the name is the first word on the line and there is a delimiter (space or some punctuation) between the name and the value. Fields are located by matching names. This format is used only with specially formatted data; however, it does allow the variable names to be automatically selected based on the field names.
    Table Tables and lists of numbers. Fields are identified by row number (line) and column number. This format can be used with files in any format as long as the line numbers never change; the number of entries on each line do not have to be the same. The cells in the table can be separated by delimiters (e.g., space, comma, etc.), or the table columns can be defined by absolute character position (sometimes useful for reading packed Fortran formatted data). The Table format allows whole columns, rows, and arrays to be read into array parameters in one action.
    Vector Data organized as a list of values separated by spaces or punctuation. Fields are numbered sequentially through the whole section. The Vector format allows one-dimensional arrays to be read in one operation. The values can span multiple lines. This option is often used for Fortran list-directed input.

  8. If you selected the Name/Value format, do one of the following:

    1. Click the delimiter that you want to use.

      Delimiters are characters that delimit multiple name/value pairs on a line; if Allow comments after Value is selected, delimiters indicate the start of a comment. For more information, see About Delimiters.

      Once you make a selection, the highlighted information in the Sample Text area is updated: the name fields are highlighted in orange, and the value fields are highlighted in green.

    2. Click More to select additional formatting options, as desired.

      • Name prefix. Enter an optional string that you want removed from the beginning of the name field. This can be useful for a file similar to the following:

        set a = 5

        set b = 10

        to remove the string set leaving just the names a and b.

      • Name suffix. Enter an optional string that you want removed from the end of each name.
      • Separator. Select a separator. You can use a space as the separator:

        a = b c = d12

      • Click Allow comments after Value if you want to exclude everything after the first delimiter character. Because sections of text that do not contain the separator string are already ignored, this option is needed only if the separator could occur in a comment.

    3. Click Next, and determine how you want entries to be read from parameters.

      • Click Write All if you want all the entries in the Name/Value file to be written automatically from parameters with the same name as the Name field of the item.
      • Click Clear All to remove your selections.

    4. Edit the parameter information, as desired.

    For more information, see About Editing Parameters.

  9. Click Finish.

    The file is displayed in the Data Source area as a new tab.

  10. Click OK to save your changes and to close the Data Exchanger Component Editor.