Estimated completion time = 20 minutes.

In this practical session, you will create a process to run the software application, manipulate user inputs into a form suitable for the batch file, and edit a batch input file into a template with Delimited Object References (DORs).

• Start EASA, log in, and Set Mode→Author.

• Find your EASAP under EASA→Author→Applications→My EASAPs.

• Click on it and in the new page click on the EASAP Builder.

The first task is to upload a few files required by 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.

• Double-click the file, input.txt and click on the Upload button.

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

• Upload the following files as well: plate.txt, femrctpl.exe, report.html, input.txt.

femrctpl.exe is the executable, plate.txt contains input data, and input.txt contains responses to queries from the executable that would otherwise be typed at the command prompt.

Now we create the PROCESS for running the plate analysis software.

• Click on the Tree.

• Right-click the PROCESSES branch and select Child→Add PROCESS. Rename it runplate and set:

Now we set up the objects needed to manipulate the user input data into a form appropriate for replacement within the batch input file, in this case plate.txt.

• Right-click runplate and select Sibling→Add DATA PROCESSING.

Now we create a MAP to map a particular plate material into the modulus of elasticity which is required by the plate analysis software.

• Right-click SCALAR under the new DATA PROCESSING and select Child→Add MAP. Rename it modulus and set parameters below:

Tip: Copy the contents of the Choices: parameter of the TABBED PANE LIST→input→mat and Paste it as the modulus→Inputs: parameter value.

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

• Right-click modulus. Copy and Paste (Sibling). Rename the new MAP poisson and set:

• Time to save your work, click Save.

Now we will move on to translate the plate’s dimensions into the uniform element size that is expected in the input file. The plate is divided into 20 elements along its length. Create a COMPUTE:

• Right-click poisson and select Sibling→Add COMPUTE. Rename it dx and set:

The next step for the runplate process is to add a REPLACEMENT object for its input file, plate.txt.

• Right-click runplate and select Child→Add REPLACEMENT. Then set its File: parameter by selecting plate.txt from the choice list.

The PROCESSES branch of the EASAP Tree should look like this:

• Note: The order of execution within a PROCESS object is always:
  1. DATA PROCESSING objects,
  2. REPLACEMENT objects,
  3. Commands specified in the Run Using: parameter of the PROCESS object,
  4. The CLEAR FILESPACE object.

Therefore the order of objects on the tree within a PROCESS is not important. However, the order of execution of multiple PROCESS objects is based on their order on the Tree, occurring from top to bottom.

• Save the EASAP.

• Select replacement1 and click on the Open Template Editor button () in the toolbar.

The Template Editor will start in a new window. We will now go through the process of replacing fixed input values, such as text strings and numbers, with DORs.

• On the third line of the file, highlight 0.5 and insert the DOR dx by double-clicking on dx in the DOR List. Then set its Units: setting to ‘ft’ in the toolbar.

Tip: If you encounter problems setting the units of the DOR, ensure that the Unit Group: parameter has been set properly for the dx COMPUTE. If you need to go back and make a change in EASAP Builder, you should keep Template Editor open and just select File→Reload after saving your changes in the Builder.

• Still on the third line, highlight 1.5, double-click on t and set its Units to ‘in’.

• Next highlight 3500 and insert the DOR modulus.

• Finally on the third line, highlight 0.2 and insert the DOR poisson.

• Moving to the sixth line below the word ‘LOADS’, you should replace 2.5 with the DOR Lu and then set its Units to ‘kip/ft’.

• Save the file by clicking on the Save button ().

At this point the file will appear in the Template Editor as follows:

• Once your file looks correct, exit the Template Editor by selecting File→Exit.

At this point, your EASAP will be ready for its first test run. Even though the OUTPUT branch is empty and nothing will be displayed on the results pages, you can still submit a test run and take a look at what is produced at this point.

• In the Builder click on the Test Web Browser button () at the far left of the 2nd toolbar.

• After the EASAP window appears, click on the Submit EASAP button ().

After a second or two, a pop-up window will appear when the EASAP has been submitted successfully.

• Click OK on this pop-up window.

• Close the EASAP window and focus back on the EASA→Authoring→Testing page.

The page should look like:

• You should now locate the application that you just submitted in the testing table.

It will probably be the only entry in the table. If you do not see any rows in the table, try clicking the refresh button on your browser. Now, look at the Status column for the run you just submitted. It may show a variety of messages. If you see ‘Queued’ then the job is waiting for some other jobs to finish before starting to run. If you see a percentage number, then your job is currently running. Finally, if you see ‘Completed’ then your job is done.

Once your job has completed, you can take a look at some of the files produced by the test run.

• In the Files column for your EASAP run, click on the Browse Files button (}}).

A pop-up window will appear that will look like the following:

Let’s look at the input file, plate.txt, and see the result of the DOR replacements.

• Click on the link and the window’s display should look like the following:

If you do not see the file content shown above, then you may have an error in your EASAP settings or in your template input file. You can attempt to fix these problems at this time or wait until Practical Session 5, in which you will be testing and debugging your completed EASAP.

• After reviewing the file, click on the Back button.

Now let’s look at the output file, PLATE.OUT, produced by the underlying software application.

• Click on the link and the window’s display should look like the following:

If you do not see the PLATE.OUT link or the file content shown above, then you have an error in your EASAP settings or in your template input file. After reviewing the file, close the window.

Now, review the values of data produced in the EASAP.

• In the DORs column for your EASAP run, click on the View DOR Information button () and a new table will appear in your browser window that will look like the following:

You are now finished with Practical Session 3.

Practical Session 2 | Practical Session 4