Input File and Options Tab

The Input File and Options tab is used to specify the file with the existing results. The results can either be in the native binary format, or in a text file. (The text file may be from a previous translation in which you made some changes, or perhaps from a different program whose results are to be displayed in the Results environment.)

• Existing Results File Type section: Select the format of the existing results file. The binary format is produced by the processors. Each time one sets the format to text, a pop-up window will appear with a reminder of the requirements for reading a text file. The requirements for a text file are as follows:
  • The header for the file must correctly indicate the number of nodes and number of load cases. (The other 10 values that appear in the header are not used by the Nodal Results Translator, but must be provided because they are used by other features of the software.)
  • The Nodal Results Translator requires that each load case in the file has the same number of nodes. This would be true for official binary files and text files created with the load case list, but is not strictly true for a file created with the load case spreadsheet (see Load Case and Node Output Tab). Also, text files can be altered in ways in which the Nodal Results Translator cannot compensate.
  • Results for all load cases and all nodes must be present. The number of lines of results equals (LC load cases) x (N nodes). Furthermore, each of the six degree of freedom values (displacement, velocity, and so on) must be present on the same line, regardless of whether the value is real or not used (N/A). If the text file were created with the Nodal Results Translator, the Group results on single row must not be used.
  • The values in the header and for each degree of freedom line must be separated by a comma or other recognizable character. The values cannot be run together without any unique character separating them.
  • Blank rows and optional column headers are acceptable and ignored by the Nodal Results Translator provided the row does not begin with a number. A row is considered to begin with a number if the first character (after removing spaces, the + sign, the - sign, and decimal point) is a digit 0 through 9.
  • Optionally include the load case number and node number on each line of the degrees of freedom (displacement, velocity, and so on). Since both the load case and node numbers are ignored, the value for the number of load cases and number of nodes given in the header must be accurate. The Nodal Results Translator treats the load cases in the text file as 1 through LC (or 0 through LC-1 depending on the analysis type) regardless of the actual load case number on the line.
    Note: The Nodal Results Translator does check the number of entries are on each line, providing some level of confidence that the file format is proper. If the text file was manipulated with a spreadsheet program and saved, check whether extra characters were added to the end of the line or not. Some spreadsheets will add commas (,,,) to each line in the file so that each line has the same number of entries. These extra characters can cause a problem when reading an existing text file. To be able to read altered files, you can activate the Ignore Quantity switch described below. Since this disables the check of the number of entries on each line, activate the switch ONLY if required AND if confident that the overall file structure is correct. Otherwise, edit the header lines (with a text editor) and degree of freedom lines (with a spreadsheet) separately, and then merge the two documents together to create the text file read by the Nodal Results Translator.

  After indicating that a text file is to be used, the character used to separate the columns must be specified with the Text Input Options: Column Separator list before the Existing Results File button will become active (not grayed out).

• Text Input Options section: This frame will appear when the Existing Results File Type is set to text. Use each of the four options to indicate what is included in the existing text file, as follows:
  • Column Separator drop-down: Use the drop-down list, or type the character(s), to indicate what character or characters are used to separate each value in the input. The predefined column separators are a comma (,), semicolon (;), tab, and space. Any character that you can type could be used to separate the columns, provided the character is unique on the line of input. Exception: Quotation marks ("") will not work.

    Once this item is selected and the existing results file is opened, this control is grayed out. To activate it again, first set the Existing Results File Type to binary, then switch back to text.

  • Load case numbers on each line check box: When checked, this indicates that each line with the six degree of freedom values (displacement, velocity, and so on) also includes the load case number. Since the load case number is not used in the translation process, checking the box merely indicates that one extra value needs to be read and skipped at the beginning of each input line. For example, if load cases 1, 2, 5, and 7 are in the text file, the Nodal Results Translator treats these as load cases 1, 2, 3, and 4 when it reads the text file.
  • Node numbers on each line check box: When checked, this indicates that each line with the six degree of freedom values (displacement, velocity, and so on) also includes the node number. Since the node number is not used in the translation process, checking the box merely indicates that one extra value needs to be read and skipped at the beginning of each input line.
  • Ignore Quantity on each line check box: As described in the above note regarding the manipulation of the text file with spreadsheets programs, the Nodal Results Translator checks that it is reading the input file properly by confirming that each line of input has the expected number of values. If the text file has been altered so that each line contains more than the proper number of values, then activate this check box. When checked, the Nodal Results Translator searches for the next line of numbers during the translation process and assumes it is the correct line. If it somehow gets out of synchronization, it will not be able to detect this by checking whether the expected number of entries were found or not. In such cases, the output results could be incorrect.
• Existing Results File button: Click this button to display a standard Windows Open dialog window. Select or type the name of the file to be translated. The name of the currently selected existing file is displayed. If the name is too long to be displayed, hold the mouse over the label, and the tooltip will display the complete name. If the existing file is a text file, the name will be grayed out after creating the new results file. To read the same existing file again, click the Existing Results File button and select the file.