Keyword Deactivation

Feature Requests
1

The ability to modify the .inp file with the keyword editor is very useful. Not being able to edit PrePoMax generated keywords seems to be the biggest limitation. Is it possible to add the ability to deactivate (comment out) PrePoMax generated keywords. After deactivating a keyword, a replacement keyword with revised parameters could then be added. This feature could greatly reduce the need to use an outside text editor and run the analysis outside of PrePoMax.

I am not familiar with all the syntax rules for the .inp file. If there is a way to comment out a block of text, the relevant characters could be inserted on the lines before and after the deactivated keyword.

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2

Then there should be an option to modify existing keywords too. I discussed this with Matej a long time ago and the problem is that this could cause conflicts with GUI setup and thus would have to be implemented carefully. For example, Abaqus adds *Conflict keywords and prevents the analysis from running if you edit a keyword in the editor and then use GUI to make a change related to the same keyword. We (support guys) usually warn users about the dangers of this tool (fortunately, it has the option to discard all manual edits) but it can also be very helpful when used with caution.

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3

I do not know how to implement this so as not to cause problems.

You can copy the keyword prepared by PrePoMax, then deactivate it in the GUI, and then add a user keyword by pasting the copied text.

4

Maybe the approach used in Abaqus would make sense - allowing all changes but throwing an error when a user tries to submit an analysis where a feature was edited in GUI after modifying its keyword.

5

Maybe when the user wants to create non-supported and/or conflicting keywords, PrePoMax could create the input file twice: the first one without modifications so the GUI will not bug and the second one with a different name such as job_name_MODIFIED.inp. This one won’t be read by PrePoMax by any means but will have all modifications made by the user.

If the user wants to submit the modified file to analysis, it will create a job_name_MODIFIED.frd which can be opened in a second instance of PrePoMax in such a way the original model is not affected.

6

Thank you for all the feedback. Matej’s comment, quoted above, helped me realize that this method can be expanded beyond a single keyword. I did a simple trial with the following steps and it seemed to work.

To modify a step (or other section of the .inp file):

  • Create the step in the GUI without the modification.
  • Go to the keyword editor and copy the entire step.
  • Return to the GUI and deactivate the step.
  • Paste the copied step into an editor and make modifications.
  • Copy the modified step.
  • In the PrePoMax keyword editor, create a new keyword just above the deactivated step.
  • For the new keyword, paste in the entire modified step.

The step could also be pasted in as a keyword before modifying it. Then it could be edited in the keyword editor.

The user will need to remember not to reactivate the original step and will need to keep track of what changes have been made. If the ability to add a simple text note to the GUI tree could be added, a note could be created as a reminder of the changes.

PrePoMax has become an extremely capable tool, and I especially appreciate @Matej for maintaining and improving the code and @FEAnalyst (Jakub) for helping us users maximize PrePoMax’s usefulness.

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