A Word on Files and Evil Missing Files in ANSYS Workbench Projects

A while back I did a webinar on POST26 in ANSYS Mechanical APDL and using it with ANSYS Mechanical.  You know it was a while ago because… well… it was a webinar and I have not had time to do one of those for a long chunk of time now. Anyway, as usual the files used were placed on the blog in a posting.

Last night I got an email from a student in Australia who tried to use the file and found a problem with it.  Now this was cool for a couple of reasons: 1) anytime someone from the opposite side of the earth reaches out to communicate, that is just makes my day, and 2) someone not only read the posting, but they tried to use it. Sometimes the only way we know people are using the content we create is when the find a problem.  I’ll take it.

In figuring out what was wrong I figured it might be a good time to point out some things about the file manager in ANSYS Workbench, and how using it, you can fix the problem that this project had.

Projects – A Big Directory Tree of Folders and Files

If you ever looked at the directory your project is stored in you will see a big old tree of folders and files.  All of the info needed or created for your project are stored in this directory tree. Why? Because the briliant thing about the project page is that it is designed to take all these different programs like ANSYS Mechanical, ICEM CFD, FLUENT, CFX, etc… and allow you to interact between them in a single tool set.  In that each program was written by a different group of developers, and most of them when those developers worked at different companies, each one has its own unique file structure, files that it needs, and way of organization them.   By giving each tool its own directory in the project, you can have the legacy data structure you need, but still keep all your files in one place where the project page actually knows where to find the information it needs.

Looking at your Files

This is done with the Files View in the Workbench Project page. By default it is hidden. Just go to View on the menu and click Files so it has a check next to it:

We did a post in the past explaining all the things this view does for you.  Read it here.

Fixing a Missing File

If you should get the type of error message that our Australian friend got, you can easily remedy it with the files view.   If it is missing it will show up with a big red X next to it instead of its normal icon. The whole line will in fact be red.

If you Right Mouse Button on it you will see a couple of options:

1. Repair “filename”:  This allows you to hunt and find the missing file. It should say “Identify Missing File” or some such, but repair works too.  Click on that, find your missing file, and you are good.
2. Remove “filename” is what you use if you don’t need the file, it is gone, and you want to get on with your life.
3. Open Containing Folder is nice because it will take you to the folder that the file is supposed to be in. You might poke around in there and figure out what is going on.

That is it.  Hopefully I made a mistake somewhere and someone from Argentina will email letting us know. I don’t believe we have been contacted by a user in Argentina.