How to use a new catalogue

This section provides a general introduction to using the catalogue tool, i.e. it covers the basics and provides links to other sections for more details (e.g. data scanning and validation). The Flood Modeller interface contains Catalogue related functions in the following panels:

At the start of a session the catalogue panels will be blank. To utilise the catalogue functionality:

1. Before starting a new catalogue, you should prepare some or all of the simulations required for your project. Note that these do not need to all be loaded into the Flood Modeller interface (project panel or layers panel) when you set up the associated catalogue. However, it is recommended that you set these up under a common folder structure, e.g. “…\MyProject\MyModels\MySimulations...”. This will reduce the complexity of the associated catalogue setup.

2. Start a new catalogue by clicking New in the Catalogue tab of the main toolbar

   

   Note:

   Flood Modeller won’t prompt for a name or save location for the new catalogue at this time. You will be prompted for this information when you first save the new catalogue.

3. You will be prompted to select a template to define the structure of the catalogue. Only templates packaged with the Flood Modeller will be available to select from (see The Catalogue Template section for more details).

   

4. The new catalogue will initially be setup with a default structure (as defined by the chosen template). On the catalogue tabs (of the map panel) you will see default names assigned to the different data types contained within the chosen template. An example is shown below. As you add data to the catalogue, you will replace the default names with data from your project.

   

5. To start associating data to your catalogue, you will need to first set up at least one folder connection (you are not prompted to do this). Folder connections are used to relate relative path definitions in model files to actual file locations on the host system. Click Folder Connections on the Catalogue toolbar tab.

   

6. A new window is displayed listing all folder connections defined in the current catalogue.

   

7. Click Add Folder. A standard folder selection window is displayed enabling you to browse to an existing folder on your system or to create a new one.

8. Specified folders will be listed in the table in the Folder Connections window. Entries can be further edited by typing directly into the table or by re-accessing the folder selection window using the button provided on each row. It is recommended that you add notes against each folder connection, so the 3rd parties can re-map the data when they receive the catalogue and model data.

   

9. Click Save to store the specified folders in your new catalogue and then click the Red “X” to close the Folder Connections window. If you try to close the window without saving, the tool will prompt you to ensure unsaved changes are not lost. If there are unsaved changes then the window header should be displayed with a “*” symbol

   

10. Click save button in the Catalogue tab to save changes made to the new catalogue.

11. 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, or you can right-click at the appropriate level of the catalogue content “tree” to add new items.

    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.

12. Before associating specific simulations to a model entry, first set the model type:

    • 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.

    

13. 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.

14. 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)
    Note:

    The first version of the Catalogue Tool has a couple of limitations that users should be aware of. It cannot check all full paths specified with model files as it only expects relative paths to be used. Furthermore, it cannot check the validity of "files within files". This is an issue within TUFLOW models where the control file (tcf) contains references to other TUFLOW files (these will be checked providing paths are defined with a relative format) and the referenced files then also reference further files (i.e. GIS datasets references in the tgc/tbc file types). The validity of these latter GIS data will not be checked and so the modeller should review these files themselves.

15. At any time, you can check what data are missing in a catalogue by running the validate function. This function generates a report summarising the missing data in your catalogue. In addition, fields marked as required in the template are highlighted in orange if missing and fields marked as recommended are shown in yellow. Note, you have the option in the catalogue toolbar to turn off this highlighting.

16. When ending a Flood Modeller session ensure you click the save button in the Catalogue toolbar to save any changes made to the new catalogue (Flood Modeller will prompt you to save the current catalogue if you try to end a session and changes have been made).