Manage input and output files

When defining your workflow using PyACP and other tools, you may need control over where the input and output files are stored. There are two main ways to manage files: auto-transfer mode and manual file management.

Note

When using a local ACP instance ("direct" launch mode), the auto-transfer and manual modes are identical, as long as the current working directory is not changed after launching the ACP instance.

Auto-transfer mode

When passing the auto_transfer_files=True parameter to launch_acp() (the default behavior), PyACP automatically uploads files to the ACP instance and downloads output files to the local machine.

Paths passed to the PyACP functions are all paths on the local machine. They can be either absolute paths, or relative to the current working directory of the Python instance.

The only exception is the external_path attribute of the CADGeometry and ImportedSolidModel classes. This attribute refers to a path on the server side. It can again be an absolute path, or relative to the ACP instance’s working directory. You can instead use the CADGeometry.refresh() and ImportedSolidModel.refresh() methods to define the input file, which also handles the upload automatically.

Note

On local ACP instances, the up- and download methods simply convert the paths to be relative to the ACP instance’s working directory if needed.

Loading input files

To load an input file, pass its path on your local machine to the import_model() method:

>>> import ansys.acp.core as pyacp
>>> acp = pyacp.launch_acp()
>>> # DATA_DIRECTORY is a directory containing the input file
>>> model = acp.import_model(
...     DATA_DIRECTORY / "input_file.cdb",
...     format="ansys:cdb",
...     unit_system=pyacp.UnitSystemType.MPA,
... )
>>> model
<Model with name 'ACP Lay-up Model'>

Getting output files

When getting output files, pass the desired path on your local machine to the export / save method.

>>> import os
>>> model.save("output_file.acph5")
>>> "output_file.acph5" in os.listdir()
True

Manual file management

When passing auto_transfer_files=False to launch_acp(), PyACP does not automatically upload or download files.

In this case, you need to manually manage the up- and download of files, as described in the following sections.

Loading input files

You can manually load the input_file.cdb file to the ACP instance by using the upload_file() method:

>>> acp = pyacp.launch_acp(auto_transfer_files=False)
>>> uploaded_path = acp.upload_file(DATA_DIRECTORY / "input_file.cdb")
>>> uploaded_path
PurePosixPath('input_file.cdb')

This method returns the path of the uploaded file on the server. You can use the path to create a model:

>>> model = acp.import_model(
...     path=uploaded_path,
...     format="ansys:cdb",
...     unit_system=pyacp.UnitSystemType.MPA,
... )
>>> model
<Model with name 'ACP Lay-up Model'>

Getting output files

To get the ACPH5 file, it must be stored on the server. You can manually do that using the model’s save() method:

>>> model.save("output_file.acph5")
>>> "output_file.acph5" in os.listdir()
False

Then, you can download the file using the download_file() method of the ACP instance:

>>> acp.download_file(
...     remote_path="output_file.acph5",
...     local_path="output_file_downloaded.acph5",
... )
>>> "output_file_downloaded.acph5" in os.listdir()
True