What is a GDA file?
SimLab contains two database formats *slb & *.gda. The *slb file contains a database with all the information like mesh data, groups, mesh controls, LBC, etc. The *gda file contains only the mesh information such as nodes and elements.
Following are some of the advantages of the *gda file format.
- The *.slb file does not have backward compatibility, whereas *.gda file has backward compatibility. So, if the user wants to import the mesh data into a previous version of SimLab, they can export it in a *.gda format.
- A full assembly model contains various subassemblies. Users can mesh each of the subassemblies and export them as a *gda file. Then, they can import all the *gda files into a single SimLab session.
How to Import GDA Files from Different Subfolders into a Single SimLab Database
This article shows how to import all the GDA files from different subfolders into a single SimLab database in a single shot. This is accomplished by using a customized dialog linked to a Python script. For more information about how to create a customized dialog, see the article: Create a Customized Dialog Using a Python Script.
Folder Structure: A parent folder will have many subfolders; each subfolder will have GDA files in it.
File Browser Folder Structure:
To create the custom dialog:
- Download the GDA_Import.zip file attached to this article to your local machine and extract the contents.
- From the SimLab menu bar, navigate to Advanced > UI customization > Repository.
- Enter the location where you extracted the zip file contents.
To use the custom dialog:
- From the SimLab menu bar, navigate to Advanced > UI Customization > Custom Dialog List.
The following dialog is displayed in the SimLab UI.
- For Parent Folder, specify the parent folder where all the GDA files are located (top level folder).
- For Output Location, specify the location where the SimLab database is to be written as a single session after importing all the gda files.
- Click OK.
From the specified parent folder, the Python script will automatically identify the subfolders and import the GDA files from each subfolder.