Importing GDA Files from Different Subfolders into a Single SimLab Database

Naveen Jagadeesan
Naveen Jagadeesan New Altair Community Member
edited April 15 in Altair HyperWorks

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:

image

To create the custom dialog:

  1. Download the GDA_Import.zip file attached to this article to your local machine and extract the contents.
  2. From the SimLab menu bar, navigate to Advanced > UI customization > Repository.
  3. Enter the location where you extracted the zip file contents.


To use the custom dialog:

  1. From the SimLab menu bar, navigate to Advanced > UI Customization > Custom Dialog List.

    The following dialog is displayed in the SimLab UI.

    image

  2. For Parent Folder, specify the parent folder where all the GDA files are located (top level folder).
  3. For Output Location, specify the location where the SimLab database is to be written as a single session after importing all the gda files.
  4. Click OK.

    From the specified parent folder, the Python script will automatically identify the subfolders and import the GDA files from each subfolder. 

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