Save project files as relative paths

As an alternative to the option to Export projects, Flood Modeller provides a function to save your project with all file references saved as relative paths. These are relative paths to the specified location for the associated project file (fmpx file).

This function behaves similarly to the 'Save As' function, i.e. you will be prompted to provide a new project filename to save the relative path data to and then this new project will become active in the Flood Modeller interface.

The function is located on the 'Project Info' tab of the 'Start' page as shown below:

The relative path function expects your project data to sit in the same folder or sub-folders below your Flood Modeller project file. Therefore, if you are likely to need to distribute your Flood Modeller project, it is recommended that you set your project up with this folder structure, i.e. you may need to first copy any existing GIS datasets you wish to utilise to a location beneath the associated project file prior to adding them to your project. One option for a suitable folder structure for a relative path compatible project would be to set up to mimic the folder structure defined within the project, i.e. with sub-folders for networks, event data, simulations, etc.

When you reload a project file that contains relative paths then the specified file references will be automatically updated by Flood Modeller. The path to the selected project file will be appended to the front of each relative path and the interface will then attempt to load this revised file reference. If a file location created this way is not valid then it will be added to the Project panel but will be displayed “greyed out” to signify the file cannot be found at the specified location. Invalid GIS datasets in the Layers panel will be displayed greyed out in the 'Spatial Data' section of the Project panel.

Invalid file references in a project can be corrected using the menu accessed by right-clicking on the reference in the Project panel. This gives you the option to either remove the file from your project or to browse to the valid location for the file, to update it in the project.