Estimated completion time = 60 minutes.

In this second practical session, you will create the new EASAP, set its properties, and create some data entry objects. At the end of this session, your EASAP will look like the sample shown below.

Please follow the instructions below to complete this practical session. Detailed information on the objects created in this session can be found at the Author's Pages.

The first task is to create a new EASAP within EASA.

• Log in to EASA and create a new EASAP

• Download the tutorial files. The files are contained in a compressed zip file called tutorial_files2.zip

In the New Application wizard, set some properties in PROPERTIES→APPLICATION for our EASAP:

• Title: can be anything you like, for example ‘Rectangular Plate’

You can control which Categories (rather like folders) in which your EASAP be will accessible for Users.

• Let’s set the Category to ‘Development’.

Note: Optionally, you can select an Image such as plate.gif, included with this tutorial, and a brief description such as: ‘This application performs a loading analysis on a rectangular plate having a variable thickness, length and width. The displacement of the plate is predicted for a user defined load’.

Both the image and the description will be visible to Users once you publish your EASAP.

In this tutorial we will build a fully functioning application using iterations of the two-step EASA design process:

1. Create an EASA object.
2. Populate the objects parameters.

There will be no coding involved.

Next we’ll upload the files required by the EASAP. When uploaded, these files are copied from your computer to the EASA Server and stored in the development folder for the EASAP. This folder contains the single, centralized definition of the EASAP, which once published will be used by all users of the EASAP.

• Select the Files tab just above the Tree in EASAP Builder.

• Click on the Browse button and select the folder on your computer in which you downloaded and unzipped the tutorial files.

• Select the files logo.jpg, material.txt and load2.gif by selecting them with the 'Control' key held down. Then click Open and then Upload.

The files will be added to the list of current files shown below the Browse and Upload buttons.

• Now let's save our work. Click on the Save button ()

Note: The Save button is enabled only when you have unsaved changes. Upon saving the EASAP settings, the button will be disabled or grayed out until you make another change.

You are now ready to proceed with adding data entry objects to the user interface of your EASAP.

• Return to the Tree tab. Then expand the EASAP→USER INTERFACE branch by clicking on its ().

• Expand the TABBED PANE LIST sub-branch. The first TABBED PANE, tabbed_pane1, will already be present. Rename it props and then set one parameter (no quotes): Tab:'1. Plate Properties'

Now you will start to add data entry objects to the user interface of your EASAP. On this TABBED PANE you will allow users to choose a plate material and specify its dimensions.

• Right-click props and select Child→Add SUB PANE (). Rename it dim and set one parameter

• Right-click dim and select Child→Add INPUTBOX (). Name it input_W and set:

• Right-click input_W and select Child→Add DATA VALIDATION (). Set:

Create two more INPUTBOX's:

• Right-click input_W, Copy then Paste (Sibling). A new INPUTBOX should appear on the Tree.

• Copy then Paste (Sibling) again and rename the first new object input_L and set:

• For its DATA VALIDATION Child edit parameters below:

• Rename the second new object input_t and set:

• For its DATA VALIDATION Child set parameters:

Note: Object names are case sensitive; note the lower case ‘t’ above. Generally EASAP Authors use lowercase names for objects, while capitalized or ALL CAPS are used for built-in objects in the tree as well as object types (ie. class names).

• Save your work,File→Save.

At this point you will need to perform some data processing before adding any more data entry objects.

• Right-click dim and select Sibling→Add DATA PROCESSING. Name it material_data. Expand it and then select SCALAR.

Now add unit conversion to our INPUTBOX values:

• Right-click the SCALAR branch and select Child→Add COMPUTE. Rename it W and set:

• Right-click W and select Sibling→Add COMPUTE. Rename it L and set:

• Right-click L and select Sibling→Add COMPUTE. Rename it t and set:

Now we extract material property data out of the material.txt file to be used when users select the plate material. First create an EXTRACT within the material_data branch:

• Right-click LIST and select Child→Add EXTRACT (). Rename it extract_props and edit one parameter:File:material.txt

In order to help in the creation of the Extract, Find, and Repeat objects there is a Extract Tool available on the right click menu.

• Right-click extract_props and select Extract Tool at the bottom.

The following window appears:

From here you will set up a repeating find to pull out the desired data.

• Highlight ‘Aluminum’, right-click and select Add Variable Find.

• After the Add Variable Find window opens, enter matname in the DOR Name input box and select ‘Text’ for the DOR type

• Next, highlight ‘10600.0’, right click and select Add Variable Find, enter Ein in the DOR Name input box and select ‘Real’ for the DOR type

• Finally, highlight ‘0.33’, right click and select Add Variable Find, enter muin in the DOR Name input box and select ‘Real’ for the DOR type

Now we set up a repeating find to pull out the desired data.

• Highlight the line (matname | Ein | muin ) in the Matched Lines column. After the line becomes yellow, select the Repeat () button

The Set Repeat Parameters window opens.

• Select OK to close out of the Set Repeat Parameters window.

• Click OK button to close out of the Extract Tool

Now we add functionality for the User to select the plate material.

• Right-click dim and select Sibling→Add SUB PANE. Rename it material and then set:

• Right-click material and select Child→Add INPUTBOX. Rename it mat and set:

• Right-click mat and select Child→Add DATA VALIDATION. Set:

At this point you will need to perform some additional data processing to complete this TABBED PANE. We will use a MAP to store and retrieve the modulus of elasticity for each choice of material.

• Right-click SCALAR under material_data and select Child→Add MAP (). Rename it modulus and set:

Create a similar MAP for the material’s Poisson ratio.

• Right-click modulus, Copy and Paste (Sibling). Rename it poisson and set:

Now we are ready to display the physical property values of the selected material.

• Right-click mat and select Sibling→Add INPUTBOX. Rename it showE and set:

• Right-click showE, Copy then Paste (Sibling) and rename it showMu. Set:

Now we will add an EVENT PROCESSING to ensure that showE and showMu cannot be altered.

• Right-click showMu and select Sibling→Add EVENT PROCESSING. Rename it event_mat_changed.

• Expand event_mat_changed and right-click event1 and select Child→Add VALUE CHANGED. Rename it value_changed_mat and set:

• Rename the ACTION GROUP object to action_display_mat_properties and select Child→Add SET VALUE ACTION. Rename it set_value_E and set:

• Right-click set_value_E, Copy then Paste (Sibling). Rename it set_value_Mu and set:

Check your work. At this point, the EASAP tree should look like this:

After clicking on the Test Web Browser button (), the EASAP should look like this:

You can also check on the material selection functionality by selecting different materials and observing the property values change

• Return to the Builder to continue.

• Right-click props and select Sibling→Add TABBED PANE (). Rename it edges and set:

On this second TABBED PANE you will create data entry objects to allow users to specify the support conditions for each of the plate’s four edges.

• Right-click edges and select Child→Add TEXTAREA (). Set:

Note: A TEXTAREA is used here in order to show the message. A LABEL could be used instead.

• Select textarea1 and click on the Check Spelling button in the toolbar () to check the spelling of the Label: and Text: parameters. If any words not in the dictionary are found they will be highlighted.

Note: The Spell checker does not check all parameters. It checks a predefined subset of all the parameters whose values might be visible to a user.

• After correcting any spelling mistakes click OK on the Spelling Check pop-up form.

• Right-click textarea1 and select Sibling→Add SUB PANE. Rename it set_edges.

• Right-click set_edges and select Child→Add CHOICE LIST. Rename it bottom and set:

• Click on the sub pane object and type Ctrl-C (Copy). Then type Ctrl-B (Paste (Sibling)) three times.

Three new SUB PANES will appear.

• Re-name the CHOICE LIST objects within them as top, left and right, and set their Label: parameters respectively (no quotes): 'Top edge', 'Left edge' and 'Right edge'

• For left and right set the parameter Default: to ‘Fixed’

Now create an error check to make sure a user does not submit a case in which the plate is not properly supported.

• Right-click set_edges and select Sibling→Add EVENT PROCESSING (). Rename it check_for_errors.

• Expand check_for_errors. Right-click its EVENT and select Child→Add SUBMIT CHECK ()

• Right-click on the ACTION object and select Child→Add CHECK VALUES (). Expand it and rename its Child ERROR CHECK to edge_error_check. Set:

Note: The expression in the Show if: parameter checks whether one of the four edges has been set equal to 2, or Fixed, or whether any two edges have been set equal to 1, or Pinned. The above text must be typed, cut and paste from the tutorial will fail.

At this point the EASAP Tree should look like this:

After clicking on the Test Web Browser button (), the second TABBED PANE should look like this:

• Exit EASAP Builder by selecting Exit under the File menu or just by clicking on the x in the top-right corner of the window. If a pop-up window asks whether to save or not, select ‘Yes’

• To see the current name and status of your EASAP, select the EASA→Applications→My EASAPs menu. Now, locate your EASAP. It may have a title of ‘Rectangular Plate (*)’, where the asterisk will be a number.

Note: The reason you may get a number within parentheses after your EASAP title is that EASA automatically adds this number in order to keep the title unique. Therefore, if another EASAP already exists with the name ‘Rectangular Plate’ then the number will be added to your EASAP’s title

• When you find your EASAP, click on its title link or the thumbnail image in the far left column of its row, and you will be taken to a new page, which will look like this:

Congratulations. You have finished Practical Session 1.

Practical Session 2