Saving Models to a Packed Archive in the Design Gateway

In the Design Gateway, you can save models into a packed archive on the local disk. A packed archive includes input data files used by the model.

A packed model archive is useful for saving a copy of a model along with any disk file data that it uses with input file parameters. You can use this type of archive to send a model to another user or to customer support, for example. If you simply save a model and send it to someone, it is easy to forget to send the accompanying input files.

  1. From the Design Gateway’s File menu, select Pack.

    A file browser dialog box appears.

  2. Select a directory in which to create the packed model. You must have write permission in this directory.

    Isight packs the model into this directory. Depending on the Pack and Go format preference setting (see Setting Gateway Preferences), the result will be in one of two forms:

    Option Description
    Store all file data within the model Isight creates a version of the model in which file parameters that refer to files on disk are changed to store the file contents in the model. The archive is saved in a zipped model file named packed_model.zmf. This is the default.
    Store all file data in the model directory Isight creates a version of the model in which file parameters that refer to files on disk are adjusted to refer to their files relative to the model directory instead of by absolute path. The archive is saved in a zipped model file named packed_model.zmf, and Isight places this file plus copies of the referenced disk files into a zip file named packed_model.zip. All of the files are placed in the selected directory.

    Note: If the model being packed has no file parameters that refer to files on disk, the default format (Store all file data within the model) will be generated regardless of the Pack and Go format preference setting.

    Some aspects of the model configuration may affect packing: the model may contain input file parameters of FTP or URL type, for example, or there may be absolute paths stored in component property strings or embedded in script text. Isight checks for these type of issues; if any are found, they are written into a special log file named pack_log.txt in the selected directory.

  3. If desired, continue working with the model. You may wish to address issues noted in the log file.