Start Tab

The Start page lists a series of options down the left hand. Selecting some of these changes the Start page display, whereas some options call a specific function.

Info

The Info option displays summary information for both your currently active project and your Flood Modeller licence.

For your currently active project the properties displayed are:

• Project name – by default this will set to the same name as your project filename (without the ‘fmpx’ file extension). You can type into this box to change the project name, e.g. something more descriptive than the saved filename. If you make a change and save the project then the revised name will be displayed in the header of the Project panel in the main interface.
• Project file path – the folder location of your project is displayed for information only, i.e. it is not editable. An ‘Open’ button is provided next to the project path, which provides access to your project folder. Click the button to open a new browse window showing your project folder.
• Description – you can use this box to type in a more detailed description of your project, e.g. site details, client details, company project name, etc.
• Location – this is an additional text box to provide further project description text, this time focussed on details about the location of the models defined in your project.
• Geo-projection – this box displays the map projection assigned to the GIS data within your project. For new projects the box will be initially blank and your project will by default be assigned the projection “OSGB 1936 / British National Grid”.
• The project info includes information on the users who created the current project and who last modified it. These data are taken from login details of the host machine for Flood Modeller.
• Save Project button – Click this button to save the current project to the filename that is currently assigned to it
• Save as relative paths – Click this button to create a version of your current project that contains relative paths (relative to the project (‘.fmpx’) file). This is useful when packaging a project to distribute to other users, although care should be taken when setting up your project file structure to ensure you can effectively create a relative path version of all project datasets.

For your current version of the Flood Modeller interface the Info page also provides the following information (on the right half of the page):

• Flood Modeller interface version number
• Access to the release notes for the current version of Flood Modeller. Click on the adjacent arrow icon and the release notes will open in pdf format.
• Access to current licence information. This includes the size limits for all modelling options associated to your current licence, i.e. 1D river, 1D urban, 2D, water quality and sediment transport. In addition all add-on packages linked to your licence are displayed, i.e. TUFLOW, MAST, OpenMI, damage calculator and selected hydrological processes.
  Click on the adjacent arrow icon to access your licence information. Note that for some network licences this may take a few seconds to access. The information is then displayed in the right half of the interface (as shown in the example at the top of this page).
• Access to the Terms and Conditions associated to using Flood Modeller. Click on the adjacent arrow icon and your end user licence agreement will be displayed in pdf format.

New project

This option does not display anything on the right half of the Start page. It is the same as the New Project button on the Home tab of the main toolbar, i.e. when clicked it will unload your current project and start a new project. It returns you to the Home tab of the main toolbar ready to start work on your new project. If you have unsaved changes in the previous project then you will be prompted to save these changes before Flood Modeller unloads the project.

Open

The Open option displays options on the Start page for accessing and opening an existing project. Similarly to recent versions of MS Office applications, the interface presents a list of recently accessed projects. Clicking on a listed project will open it in the main interface and return you to the Home tab of the main toolbar.

Alternatively if you click on the Computer option, you will be presented with a list recent places (i.e. folders) you have browsed to within Flood Modeller. Clicking on one of these will open a browse window displaying the selected location and filtering to only show available Flood Modeller project files (‘.fmpx’). Below the list of recent folders is a generic browse button. This opens a browse window to enable you to go to a new location.

Save

This option does not display anything on the right half of the Start page. Clicking this option will save your project using the current filename and location that has been specified. If you are working on a new project (which has not been previously saved), then clicking on this button will open a browser window prompting you to specify a location and name for your project. Note that Flood Modeller projects are always saved as *.fmpx filetypes.

Save as

This option does not display anything on the right half of the Start page. Clicking on this button allows you to save your project under a new name, or to specify a different location for saving. Clicking the button will open a browser window prompting you to specify a location and name. Note that Flood Modeller projects are always saved as *.fmpx file types. After saving in this way your original project name will no longer be active in the Flood Modeller interface and any further changes will be made to the newly created project.

Export

Click this option to select a location to save a zipped folder of your entire project.

Extract example data

This option allows you to select a location to unpack the example data included with your installation of Flood Modeller.

Close

This option does not display anything on the right half of the Start page. Clicking this option clears the currently loaded project from the Flood Modeller interface and returns you to the Home tab of the main toolbar, ready for you to start a new project. If you have unsaved changes in the current project then you will be prompted to save these changes before Flood Modeller clears it from the interface.

Help

Clicking this option displays all options for accessing guidance on using Flood Modeller, as shown below:

Each option listed on this page can be accessed by clicking on the adjacent icon. You will then be taken to the appropriate part of either the Flood Modeller user guide or the Flood Modeller website.

Exit

This option does not display anything on the right half of the Start page. Clicking this option will shut down the Flood Modeller interface. If you have unsaved changes in the current project then you will be prompted to save these changes before Flood Modeller shuts down.