User Procedures

These scripts can perform a wide range of tasks, such as:

Exporting a mesh in solver format.
Generating the midsurface of a thin solid geometry.
Performing a surface offset to move a sheet geometry to a midsurface location.
Naming and numbering parts to user-specific requirements.

BatchMesher has the ability to specify user-specified procedures at the following steps for each job:

Pre-geometry load: Executed immediately after the job begins, before the input model is imported.
Pre-batch mesh: Executed immediately after the input model is imported, before the batch mesh begins. Examples include extracting a midsurface or performing a surface offset.
Post-batch mesh: Executed immediately after the batch mesh process is complete. Examples include creating solver specific cards, or exporting the mesh in a specific format.

Access to model-specific variables is possible within user-registered procedures. The array ::hmbm::gVarArray contains variables accessible by you.

CADImportOpt: String of CAD import options.
cadtype: Type of model file.
critername: Criteria file name, excluding the path.
criterpath: Criteria file name, including the path.
CurrentEventName
modelname: Input model file name, excluding the path.
modelpath: Input model file name, including the path.
outmodelname: Output model file name, excluding the path.
outpath: Output file path.
paramname: Parameter file name, excluding the path.
parampath: Parameter file name, including the path.
POST_BATCHMESH,tclparameters: Parameters passed to the post-batch mesh procedure. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
POST_BATCHMESH,tclprocedure: Post-batch mesh procedure name. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
POST_BATCHMESH,tclscriptpath: Post-batch mesh script name, including the path. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_BATCHMESH,tclparameters: Parameters passed to the pre-batch mesh procedure. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_BATCHMESH,tclprocedure: Pre-batch mesh procedure name. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_BATCHMESH,tclscriptpath: Pre-batch mesh script name, including the path. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_GEOMETRY_LOAD,tclparameters: Parameters passed to the pre-geometry load procedure. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_GEOMETRY_LOAD,tclprocedure: Pre-geometry load procedure name. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
PRE_GEOMETRY_LOAD,tclscriptpath: Pre-geometry load script name, including the path. Only available when such a procedure is defined.
resfilename: Output result file name, excluding the path.

By default, BatchMesher additionally passes in the name of the model file as the last argument to the Tcl procedures.

Note:

Tcl scripts must not automatically run any procedures, as this is handled by BatchMesher. Doing so will generate an error or unexpected results.

Save the model after running user procedures, as this is not done automatically. For example:

hm_answernext "yes"
*writefile "$::hmbm::gVarArray(outmodelname)" 0

proc nastran_export { modelName args }  {
set outputDir $::hwbm::gVarArray(modelpath)
set template_dir [ hm_info -appinfo SPECIFIEDPATH TEMPLATES_DIR]
set template [file join $template_dir "feoutput" "nastran" "general"]
*feoutput "$template" ${outputDir}/${modelName}.dat 1 1 1
}

Figure 1. Example: Post-Mesh User Procedure. This example exports the generated mesh to a NASTRAN file named <modelname>.dat in the same directory as the original input model.

Procedures can also be specified at the run level to enables you to perform operations such as reading all the batch-meshed parts into a single model, creating properties or materials, or creating connections such as welds between the parts. Customization options at the run level can be set to execute at two points in the batch mesh process:

Pre-run: Executed before the first model/job starts.
Post-run: Executed after the last model/job completes.

In the pre-run and post-run scripts, the model-specific variables are not available.