ANSYS Workbench External Connection Add-In

Guide

ANSYS, Inc. Release 14.5

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Table of Contents
External Connection Add-in ....................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1
General Functionality ............................................................................................................................. 1
Custom GUI Operation and Properties .............................................................................................. 2
Custom Toolbar and Menu Entries .......................................................................................................... 2
External Process Responsibilities ............................................................................................................ 3
Process Configuration XML File Details ................................................................................................... 3
Configuration Node ......................................................................................................................... 3
Instructions Node ............................................................................................................................ 3
Format ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Attributes .................................................................................................................................. 4
GuiOperations Node ........................................................................................................................ 6
Format ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Attributes .................................................................................................................................. 7
Properties Node ............................................................................................................................... 8
Format ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Attributes .................................................................................................................................. 9
DataEntity ............................................................................................................................ 9
DataObject ........................................................................................................................... 9
Properties ............................................................................................................................ 9

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External Connection Add-in
Introduction
The purpose of the External Connection add-in is to allow external applications (that are not data integ-
rated with Workbench) to participate in the workflow defined through the project schematic. The
workflow participation is achieved by allowing external applications to define input and output para-
meters that are to be exposed in Workbench. The parameters defined through the External Connection
add-in can be manipulated in the same way as any other parameters—for example, in terms of design
point creation, update, and state. Specifically, the External Connection add-in allows the design explor-
ation capabilities provided by the Design Exploration application to be used with any external application.

The External Connection add-in also provides customization functionality outside of the interaction
with the project schematic. It is possible to define custom entries for buttons to be shown in the toolbar
or as entries in custom menus. The definition of the custom entries includes the definition of scripts to
be executed for the additional entries.

General Functionality
The add-in provides an External Connection system template in the Component Systems toolbox.
The system contains a single External Connection cell/component that acts as a proxy for the external
application.

A GUI operation called Read Configuration is exposed on the context menu of the cell. The command
associated with this GUI operation reads a process configuration XML file, which contains all the inform-
ation that the external application wants to provide to Workbench (see the section “Process Configuration
XML File Details,” below, for more information on the file). At minimum, the configuration file should
contain the following elements:

• The definition of input and output parameters, including the parsing rules for reading the values from a
file.

• An OS executable or a Python script to be executed during the update command. Python scripts are ex-
ecuted within the Workbench Python interpreter and give full access to the scriptable Workbench func-
tionality.

The add-in reads the configuration file and stores all the information provided in the file. The information
provided through the configuration file can be accessed through the GUI operation Edit Configuration.
The Configuration settings should be modified only in response to a corresponding change in the ex-
ternal application.

When the update command provided by the cell is executed, the add-in:

1. Writes the current values of the input parameters in the file specified in the configuration

2. Launches the external application

Upon the completion of the external application, the add-in:

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External Connection Add-in

1. Verifies the successful execution (and sends an error message if the execution was not successful)

2. Reads the current values of the output parameters provided by the external application in the file location
specified in the configuration

Once a Configuration file has been read, the GUI operation Read Configuration is no longer available.
The Reset operation, also available on the context menu of the cell, can be used to discard the imported
data. A new configuration file can be read after Reset.

Custom GUI Operation and Properties

The functionality of the External Connection is enriched by the ability to define the following in the
configuration file:

1. GUI operations for the context menu of the cell, which can execute custom code or scripts.

2. Properties that can be accessed through the custom functionality executed the by addin. The properties
can be visualized and changed through the Edit Configuration Operation.

Custom Toolbar and Menu Entries

The creation of custom toolbar and menu entries is achieved by providing a configuration file which is
read-in during the add-in load process in a directory located in the installation area or in a location
specific to a given user. Providing the custom files in the installation areas results in additional entries
to be shown for every user who has access to the installation. On the other side, files located in the
user specific area will result into additional entries that appear only for the specific user. The content
of the user specific custom files takes precedence over the custom installation files. The area for user
specific files is examined first. If custom files are also present in the installation area, they are read after-
wards. Entries that are found in the installation file that are also present in the user file are ignored.

Custom files for the installation area should be placed in the ExternalConnection directory under
v145/Addins (for example C:\Program Files\Ansys Inc\V145\Addins\ExternalCon-
nection). The location for user-specific custom files depends upon the operating system:

• for Windows machines, a directory named ExternalConnection should be created under %APP-
DATA%\Ansys\v145

• for Linux machines, a directory named ExternalConnection should be created under

$HOME/.config/Ansys/v145

For both the custom installation and user-specific case, a directory named Customization should be
created under ExternalConnection. The configuration file (which contains the information about the
custom entries) should be placed under this directory and named CustomToolBarConfiguration.xml.
Additional folders named Images and Scripts should be created under the Customization directory in
order to provide images or scripts defined in the configuration file.

The format of the configuration file for the creation of custom toolbar and menu entries is the same as
the configuration file defined for custom functionality of the ExternalConnection cell. However, only
the GUI operation section is relevant. The content of other sections, if present, is ignored. Some of the
attributes of the GUI operations sections are specific to creation of menu toolbar entries. The usage
details are provided in the section that described the XML file.

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 Process Configuration XML File Details

External Process Responsibilities

The minimum responsibilities of the external process are as follows:

• Provide a configuration file that contains two elements:

– The definitions of the input/output parameters to be processed

– The name of the update script to be executed

• Read the input parameters from the input file

• Execute a solve/update of the external process

• Write the computed values of the output parameters in the output file

Process Configuration XML File Details

The process configuration XML file contains an <Instructions> XML node, where the information needed
for parameter initialization and for the update of the cell is provided. In addition to the instructions, it
is possible to define the following elements in the configuration file:

• GUI operations that can be executed from the context menu of the cell or from a custom toolbar or menu
entry. Each GUI operation can either define inline C# code or specify a Python script.

• One or more set of data entities with properties. These properties can be accessed from the Python scripts
invoked for update or custom GUI operations.

Detailed documentation of the configuration file is provided in the following section.

Configuration Node
The <Configuration> node contains the <Instructions> , <GUIOperations> and <Properties> nodes.

<Configuration>

</Configuration>

The configuration node allows to specify the following optional attributes:

• SystemName - This is the user-visible string that is assigned to the system

• CellName - This is the user-visible string that is assigned to the cell

• Version - Specifies a version associated with the configuration file

• ShowEditConfiguration - Specifies whether it should be possible to view and modify the entries provided
in the configuration file

Instructions Node
The information related to initialization (including parameters definition) and update is provided inside
the global <Instructions> XML node. A WorkingDirectory is defined inside the Instructions node as de-
scribed below:

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External Connection Add-in

<Instructions WorkingDirectory="[ Directory Name ]">

</Instructions>

• [ Directory Name ] — The path of the working directory, with or without the trailing slash. This attribute
is optional. If the working directory is not specified, the default working directory determined by Workbench
will be used. The working directory is also used to search for files defined in other sections of the config-
uration file if a full path to the file is not provided.

Format
<Instruction Type="[ Instruction Type ]">

<Name>[ Plug-In Name ]</Name>

<ExePath>[ Executable Path ]</ExePath>

<ErrorFile>[ Error File ] </ErrorFile>

<CheckOnError>[ Error String ] </CheckOnError>

<Args>[ Args ] </Args>

<Script>[ Script ] </Script>

<InterruptScript>[ Interrupt Script ] </InterruptScript>

<StopScript>[ Stop Script ] </StopScript>

<ParameterParsingRules>

<[ Node Name ] Name="[ Parameter Name ]" Type="[Type]">

<[ Rule Name ] Type="[ Rule Type ]">[Value]</[ Rule Name ]>-->

</[ Node Name ]>-->

</ParameterParsingRules>

</Instruction>

Attributes
• [ Instruction Type ] - The type determines where the instruction will be executed.

• Init - The parameter will be executed when the configuration is read

• Update - The parameter will be executed when the project is updated

• [ Plug-In Name ] - The user-defined name of the generic plug-in. This name must be unique throughout
the instruction file. It defines a way for the Workbench environment to identify this instance of the Gen-
eric Plug-In, because it is possible to have several instances (several third party applications or codes) of
the third party Plug-In in the process sequence.

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 Process Configuration XML File Details

• [ Executable Path ] - The location of the executable file with which the third-party Plug-In will interact.
This can be either the full path or the relative path of the executable with respect to the Working Directory
for the instruction file.

• [ Error File ] - A file used to communicate that the execution of the external application was not successful.
The error file needs to be removed by the external application upon completion. If still present, Workbench
will send an error message and stop the update. The content of the error message can specified through
the attribute CheckOnError (see below). A generic message is displayed if CheckOnError is not specified.

• [ Error String ] - If an error file is specified, its content will be scanned for lines that contain the specified
error string. All lines that contain the string will be displayed as error messages (with the error string
stripped from the message). An error string named file will cause the whole content of the file to be
displayed.

• [ Args ] - The command line arguments passed to the executable when run.

• [ Script ] - The Python script to be interpreted within the Workbench framework on execution of this in-
struction if the ExePath is not defined. The Python script has access to the following variables:

– container - A string that can be passed to any command or query that requires a data container reference
as argument

– configurationObject - The configuration object can be used in order to access some of the information
specified in the configuration file (for example, working directory or error file). The query GetEntityProp-
erties(Entity=configurationObject) returns a dictionary which contains all the available information.

• [ Interrupt Script ] - An optional Python script that is invoked when the computation in interrupted. In
the WorkBench terminology, the Interrupt operation closes the external application cleanly, allowing access
to data. The Interrupt operation is visible only if the Interrupt script is provided.

• [ Stop Script ] - An optional Python script that is invoked when the computation in stopped. In the
WorkBench terminology, the Stop operation abruptly closes the external application, possibly resulting
in the loss of data. The Stop operation is visible only if the Stop script is provided. The same script can
be used for Stop and Interrupt . Both scripts have access to a variable to the same information (strings
container and configurationObject strings ) that is passed to update script

• [ Node Name ] - A name given to the XML node that defines the parsing information for a single para-
meter. This name does not have to be unique but must only adhere to the naming rules for XML nodes
(for example, no spaces or special characters).

• [ Parameter Name ] - A unique name that represents a single parameter in the Workbench environment.
This is the name that will be used to identify the parameter throughout the UI.

• [ Type ] - The general type of the parameter. It must be one of two possible values:

– Input - The parameter will be treated as an input parameter, exactly as input parameters are handled
in the Workbench environment.

– Output - The parameter will be treated as an output or response parameter in the Workbench environ-
ment. When chaining generic Plug-Ins together, each instance of the generic Plug-In can contain input
and output parameters.

• [ Rule Name ] - A name given to the XML node that represents a single parsing rule for the parameter
defined by the rule's parent node. This name does not have to be unique, but only adhere to the naming
rules for XML nodes (for example, no spaces or special characters). Multiple rules can (and in most cases

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External Connection Add-in

must) be defined for each parameter. The only restriction is that only one rule of each type (detailed below)
can exist for each parameter.

• [ Rule Type ] - The type of the rule defined. This can be one of the following values.

– File - The file rule defines the text file that contains the parameter value. This file can be the full path
to the file, or the relative path to the file with respect to the Working Directory. Files containing "Input"
type parameters must exist when reading the configuration file.

– StartLine - The line number in the text file that the code will begin parsing. For example, if the first 500
lines of a file contain only comments, begin parsing the file at line 501 to avoid wasting system resources.
The start line is 1 based. Therefore a value of 0 or 1 will be treated in the same way.

– PreString - The text that immediately precedes the actual parameter value in the file. For example, if
the file defines a parameter as "Cf = 12.555" the "PreString" for the parameter would be "Cf =". This text
does not need to include any white space immediately preceding the parameter value.

– DataType - Describes the type of data that represents the parameter. Must be one of the following
values.

1. float: The value of the parameter is a floating point (decimal) number. This is used for continuous
variables.

2. double: The value of the parameter is a double.

3. quantity: The value of the unit is a quantity containing a numeric value with units in the form “value
[unit]” (for example, “20 [m s^-1]”)

– SkipOccurrences - The number of occurrences of "PreString" to skip before parsing begins.

• [ Value ] - The value of the rule. No quotes are needed to delimit this value, as per the XML parsing rules.
For example, a "SkipOccurrences" node would look like

<Rule Type="SkipOccurrences">3</Rule> where "3" is the [Value] for the rule, signifying that 3 lines
should be skipped in the file before searching for the parameter.

GuiOperations Node
Custom GUI operations can be added to the context menu of the External Connection system. They
can also be added as custom toolbar buttons or entries in a custom menu. The custom operations allow
the definition of a script or C# code that is executed upon invoking the operation.

<GuiOperations> </GuiOperations>

Format
<GuiOperation Name="[ Operation Name ]" Priority="[ Priority ]" SourceType="[ SourceType ]" Type="[
Type ]" Entry="[ Entry ]" ScriptFile="[ Script ]" Image="[ Image ]"> Tooltip="[ Tooltip ]">

<Code>[ Code ]</Code>

</GuiOperation>

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 Process Configuration XML File Details

Attributes
• [ Operation Name ] - The name shown in the context menu.

• [ Priority ] - The weighted value determining the location within the context menu, the toolbar or the
menu where the GUI operation is defined.

• [ SourceType ] - The type of code being used to define what is being executed when the operation is
executed.

– Csharp - The code will be written in C#

– Python - The code will be written in Python.

• [ Type ] - The type specifies where the GUI operation should be placed in the User interface. The allowed
types are:

– ContextMenuEntry - This is the default type and should be specified in order to define GUI operations
that are shown upon selection of the cell of the ExternalConnection system. ContextMenu should NOT
be specified for operations defined in configuration files located in the installation area or in the user
specific area since it is not possible to associate them with a specific cell.

– ToolbarButton - The type ToolbarButton should be used for creating custom entries in the toolbar. This
type should NOT be specified for GUI operations defined on the configuration file for a cell. It is reserved
for configuration files that are processed at add-in load from the installation or user specific areas.

– MenuEntry - The type MenuEntry should be used for creating custom entries in Menu. The newly created
Menu Entry is specified via the attribute Entry defined below. This type should NOT be specified for
GUI operations defined on the configuration file for a cell. It is reserved for configuration files that are
processed at add-in load from the installation or user specific areas.

• [ Entry ] - The Entry attribute is relevant only in conjunction with a specified Type=MenuEntry. It defines
the name of a new Menu Entry where the GUI operation is shown. It is also possible to defined sub-menus
of a given menu as comma separated values. For example, specifying Entry as "NewMenu, SubMenu1"
will result in the GUI operation appearing from a sub-menu "SubMenu1" of a Menu Entry "NewMenu"

• [ Code ] - This allows code to be executed to be defined inside the configuration file, rather than a sep-
arate file:

<GuiOperations>

<! - Code can either be loaded from a file with the "ScriptFile" attribute, or be included in a "Code" tag
->

<GuiOperation Name="Enter Something" Priority="2" SourceType="CSharp">

<Code>

<![CDATA[

Ansys.UI.Toolkit.MessageBox.Show("This is a test");

]]>

</Code>

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External Connection Add-in

• [ Script ] - This specifies the path to a Python script to be run on execution of the operation. Specification
of the script cannot be combined with execution of custom code. Therefore a script should not be included
if code is defined inside the tags of the GuiOperation. Scripts invoked from a GUI operation defined on
the ContextMenu of the cell have access to the following variables:

– container - A string that can be passed to any command or query that requires as argument the reference
to the data container associated with the cell

– configurationObject - The configuration object can be used in order to access some of the information
specified in the configuration file (for example, a working directory or error file). The query GetEntityProp-
erties(Entity=configurationObject) returns a dictionary which contains all the available information.

When the GUI operation invokes a script, the invocation of the script is wrapped in a command. It is
possible to specify scripts to be executed in order to interrupt or cancel the execution of the command.
It is also possible to specify an error file to provide messages when the command execution fails, with
the same control on the error display that is provided for the update. A detailed description of the at-
tributes is given below:

1. InterruptScript=[string] An optional Python script that is invoked when the computation in interrupted.
In the WorkBench terminology, the Interrupt operation closes the external application cleanly, allowing
access to data. The Interrupt operation is visible only if the Interrupt script is provided.

2. StopScript=[string] An optional Python script that is invoked when the computation in stopped. In the
WorkBench terminology, the Stop operation abrubtly closes the external application, possibly resulting
in the loss of data. The Stop operation is visible only if the Stop script is provided. The same script can
be used for Stop and Interrupt . The script has access to the same information (strings container and
configuarionObject ) that is passed to executing script.

3. ErrorFile=[string] A file used to communicate that the execution of the external application was not
successful. The error file needs to be removed by the external application upon completion. If it is still
present, Workbench will send an error message. The content of the error message can specified through
the attribute CheckOnError (see below). A generic message is displayed if CheckOnError is not specified.

4. CheckOnError=[string] If an error file is specified, its content will be scanned for lines that contain the
specified error string. All lines that contain the string will be displayed as error messages (with the error
string stripped from the message). An error string named file will cause the whole content of the file
to be displayed.

5. UseUpdateConfiguration=[boolean] This variable can be specified as a shortcut, in order to use for the
custom GUI operation the same files specified in the Update instructions for stop/interrupt and for con-
trolling the error message display. If the attribute is True and the attributes above are not specified, the
code will use the ones provided for the first update instruction, if specified.

• [ Image ] - The image is the name (without extension) of a file containing an image to be used for the
GUI operation. Files with common extension for images are searched under the Images directory under
ExternalConnection add-in. If a Customization directory is provided under the installation or user specific
area, the corresponding Images directories are also searched for the specified file.

• • [ Tooltip ] – A string to be displayed as Tooltip for operation of type ToolbarButton. The string has no
effect for other operation types.

Properties Node
Custom properties can be defined in the <Properties> XML node.

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 Process Configuration XML File Details

Properties are used to create dynamic data objects in Workbench; therefore, their definitions reflect the
internal organization of the WorkBench data model. Properties should be assigned a DataEntity and an
ObjectName . The DataEntity is a string that defines high level grouping for the properties. One or more
objects can be created for a given DataEntity .

A DataObject “ObjectName” (as defined by its DataEntity and properties) is added to the container as-
sociated with the cell from which the configuration is read. If different ExternalConnection systems are
present, each has a separate container.

Format
<Properties>

<DataEntity Name= “[Data Entity Name ]” Label = “[Data Entity Label ]” >

<Object Name= “[Data Object Name ]” >

<Property Name= “[ Property Name ]” Label= “[ Property Label ]” DataType= “[ Data Type ]” Value=
“[Value]”

Label= “[ Property Label ]” Group = “[ Group ]” IsReadOnly = “[ IsReadOnly ]” IsExtrinsic = “[ IsExtrinsic ]”

IsVisible = “[ IsVisible ]” Min = “[ Min ]” Max = “[ Max ]” OptionLabels = “[ Option Labels ]”/>

</Object>

</DataEntity>

</Properties>

Attributes
DataEntity
• [ Data Entity Name ] -The internal (immutable) name assigned to the Data Entity. If this attribute is
not specified, a default name is assigned internally. However, specification of a name allows for the
retrieval of the properties associated with objects of the Data Entity (see below). A special name
“CellProperties” is reserved for the DataEntity whose properties should be displayed in the User Inter-
face from the context menu of the associated cell.

• [ Data Entity Label ] -The display name (user changeable) assigned to the Data Entity in the User In-
terface.

DataObject
[ Data Entity Name ] - The internal (immutable) name assigned to the Data Object. If this attribute is
not specified, a default name is assigned internally. However, specification of a name allows for the re-
trieval of the properties associated with the given object (see below).

Properties
Mandatory attributes for the definition of a property are:

• [Property Name] - The name to be assigned to the property, unique for that DataEntity

• [Type] - The type of data which the properties defined. Currently supported types include:

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External Connection Add-in

– int

– double

– string

– quantity

– bool

– option

– DataReference

• [Value] - A string representing the value to be assigned to the property, which is parsed by the code
according to the type.

– The bool type can assume the values of “True” or “False”

– A quantity type should be specified by providing a string of type “double [ unit ]” (for example, “23
[ms^-1]” )

– The options type is used for mutually exclusive choices, that should be specified by comma separated
strings without blanks (for example, “[Option1,Option2]”)

– The DataReference type should be specified by a string of type DataEntityType:ObjectName

Optional attributes are:

• [Property Label] - This is the user visible string that can be assigned to the property (default is the
property name)

• [Group] - This can be used for further grouping (for UI purpose only)

• [IsReadOnly] (“True”/”False”) - Specifies that the property cannot be edited. Default is "False"

• [IsExtrinsic] - (“True”/”False”) Specifies that the property is not relevant for the computation of the
state of the cell. Default is "False"

• [IsVisible] (“True”/”False”) - Specifies whether the property should be shown in the UI. Default is "True"

• [Min] - Specifies the lowest range for the property Value

• [Max] - Specifies the highest range for the property Value

• [OptionLabels] (for option type only) - Specifies the visible names for the options, to be used in the
User Interface, specified by comma separated strings without blanks (for example “[Background,Fore-
ground]”)

The value for each property can be accessed from any Python script used with Workbench via the
Workbench query GetEntityProperty, as described below

dataReference = “/” + container + “/” + DataEntityName = “:” + ObjectName

propertyVal = GetEntityProperty(Entity=dataReference, Name=PropertyName)

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 Process Configuration XML File Details

where

• container is the name of the container associated with the cell. This information is typically available
in the function where the Python script is called from (for example, the update script for a cell or the
script invoked from a GUI operation selected on a given cell)

• DataEntityName is the name specified in the configuration file. For example: <DataEntity
Name="MyDataEntity">

• ObjectName is the name specified in the configuration file. For example: <Object Name= "MyObject-
Name">

• PropertyName is the name of the property specified in the configuration file.

It is also possible to change the value of the properties that are not marked as read-only using the
Workbench SetEntityProperty command:

SetEntityProperty(Entity=dataReference,Name=PropertyName, Value=value)

Where value is the appropriate type for the property being modified. For example, a property of type
quantity named “InletVelocity” defined for an object AnsSettingsObject and DataEntity type Settings-
DataEntity can be queried and set as follows:

dataReference = “/” + container + “/” + “SettingsDataEntity”+ “:” + “AnsSettingsObject” value = GetEntityProp-

erty(Entity=dataReference, Name = “InletVelocity”) SetEntityProperty(Entity= dataReference, Name = “InletVe-
locity”, Value=”10 [m s^-1]”)

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