How to add simulations to a catalogue

This section details how to setup placeholders in your catalogue to store new or existing model simulations. It also explains how to populate these entries with all required simulation metadata.

1. Before you can associate specific simulations to a model entry, you must first set the model type. After loading the catalogue you wish to work on, access the appropriate Models section within your catalogue (a catalogue can have multiple Models sections defined):

   

   Expand the selected Models section and fill in values for the 1D and 2D solver types (even if one type is not applicable for the section – in this case set to “N/A”). Values are filled in by selecting from the provided dropdown lists in the Values column, as shown below:

   

   Depending on the model type you’re adding to the catalogue, settings should be:

   • For 1D only models – select a 1D solver type from dropdown list, set 2D solver type to “N/A”

   • For 2D only models – select a 2D solver type from dropdown list, set 1D solver type to “N/A”

   • For 1D-2D linked models – select appropriate types for 1D and 2D solver entries.

2. Setup an entry for the new simulation. Options are:

   • The basic catalogue template will setup a default model, “Model 1”. Within this will be a default scenario, “Scenario 1” and within this will be a default simulation, “Simulation 1”. You can choose to use these, in which case maybe edit the names to something pertinent to your project. Simulation names can be edited by typing a revised entry in the Simulation Details tab (right-hand panel). Note; the appropriate simulation must first be highlighted in the main catalogue panel.

     

     Note:

     If you leave the defaults in the catalogue without any editing then these entries will fail the validation process. Thus, if you are not using these, right-click on them and select to remove them from the catalogue.

   • In the main catalogue display, right-click on the simulations header within the appropriate model/scenario combination. Select one of the add simulation options. These are detailed below.

3. To add new simulations to your catalogue you have multiple options, all accessed by right-clicking on the appropriate simulations section header (i.e. within the appropriate model / scenario combination):

   • Add simulation by scanning folder – prompts you to select a folder to scan in. The folder connections window is displayed. Select an existing folder from the displayed list (or define a new one). Click the Select folder button. A standard folder selection window is displayed with the highlighted folder connection pre-selected. This gives you the option to drill down to a specific folder, before clicking OK to scan.

     

     The scan identifies all simulations matching the defined type, e.g. ief files if simulations are defined as Flood Modeller 1D only type. These can exist in any sub-folder below the selected search folder:

     

     Select which simulations to add to the catalogue into the current model / scenario / simulation combination and click the Add button to proceed.

     

     The simulations will appear listed in the appropriate section of the catalogue.

   • Add simulation from file – enables a browse window which automatically opens in the same folder as your previous simulation search and with the file type set for the appropriate solver, e.g. ief for Flood Modeller 1D simulations. One or multiple simulation files can then be selected and added to the catalogue.

     If you close the browse window without selecting a simulation, you will initially be returned to the folder connections window. From here you have the option to select a different location to search for a simulation to add.

   • Add simulation – adds a new placeholder in the catalogue to which you can then assign a simulation. You will be prompted to provide a (display) name for this new simulation, but you will need to use one of the previous methods to then associate an actual simulation to this.

   Tip:

   The first two options detailed above are the recommended options for adding simulation(s). They will add the multiple simulation nodes and link to the key simulation file simultaneously, thus minimising manual data entry.

4. Each simulation will have associated metadata to be added to the catalogue. The data sections are defined in the selected catalogue template. They are displayed in the Simulations tab of the right-hand panel. This is a tree view that can be expanded to show metadata from all loaded simulations, though the data from the selected simulation in the main catalogue view will be visible by default.

   Initially the majority of values for these metadata will not be populated. Some data can only be filled in from the automated tools, others always require manual entry. Some fields have either option – they will have a padlock icon against them. Click the padlock to release fields for manual entry.

   The data scan function is used to fill in metadata automatically. These data may be model input files, results data or simulation diagnostics (all located from references in simulation files). This function has two different operating modes:

   • Click the data scan icon in main toolbar to scan entire catalogue
   • Scan a subset of the catalogue by selecting data scan from the right-click menus of a catalogue section (scans all files in section) or referenced file (scans just the selected file)