Double-click the “Run Metafor” icon on your desktop. The GUI is displayed:
meta()
button (blue PLAY button) which initiates a Metafor calculation.A test case of Metafor corresponds to usually one python module.
Therefore, the first step usually consists in loading this module into memory. This operation tells the program that you wish to work with this file, whether for running an integration or viewing results.
To load a module with the GUI, just find it in the “Python PATH” tree. then right-click on it and choose “Load”.
Alternatively, use the command
load('apps.ale.angleReZoner')
in the python command line. This command loads the module angleReZoner.py
, located in c:\Program Files\Metafor\apps\ale
.
Metafor “imports” the module and keeps a pointer to it for subsequent commands. The interface on the right switches from “Python PATH” view to “Workspace” view. In this view, a working directory (in which the results of the simulation will be stored) can be chosen. By default, its name is workspace/module_name
. If it already exists, this directory is selected by the interface. If not, it will be created before the beginning of the time integration.
If the module to be loaded is not in the “Python PATH”, a rebase
must be performed. To do so, the directory which contains the test case is chosen using the button on the “Base” line of the “Python Path” tab. Doing so, this directory is added to the “Python path”. It is equivalent to starting Metafor from this directory.
Click on the blue “PLAY” button in the toolbar. You can also type the command:
meta()
This command calls the function getMetafor()
defined in the module previously loaded, and starts the time integration. If no working directory was explicitly selected, the default name (workspace/test_name
) is used. If this directory already contains older results, those files will be first deleted (after user's approval).
Then, the time integration procedure opens a 3D graphics window, which will be continuously refreshed during computation displaying the current results. The display options can be modified using the “Config” button of this window.
It is possible to close the display windows, and reopen them using the “Windows” menu.
When the time integration finishes, you MUST restart Metafor to run another test !
To load previously-computed results, the corresponding module must be loaded first, as was done before starting the time integration. Then, if the workspace used is the default one, Metafor automatically sets its working directory to it. Otherwise, it must be changed manually, using the workspace window.
Once the right folder is selected, simply locate the “FAC” files (extension .bfac.gz
), choose one and load it with the context menu (“Load Fac”). The results are displayed in a graphical window.
To load other results, repeat the operation with other FAC files. The display window is updated automatically.
For various reasons (power cut, abrupt closure of Metafor…), a simulation may have ended earlier than expected. However, it can be restarted from an intermediate FAC, usually the last one that was written before the breakdown (therefore, several saving points should be planned before running long computations).
This is rather straightforward :
The integration starts again from the selected FAC file.
<html> <center> <embed width=“320” height=“240” src=“http://metafor.ltas.ulg.ac.be/oldsite/flv/flvplayer.swf?file=http://metafor.ltas.ulg.ac.be/oldsite/flv/tuto.flv” quality=“high” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” /> </center> </html>
To show results in a pleasant way, an “.avi” file, showing the integration over time, can be created.
setNextTime
of TimeStepManager
, see Managing Time Steps)makeAnimation()
in the toolbar. The first time step is displayed, and other display options (such as zoom, camera…) can be adjusted.bmp
.
Should you need to run Metafor in command line, open a command line (cmd.exe
, or a Unix shell). Then :
metafor -help
: display helpmetafor -nogui
: start Metafor without the GUImetafor -nogui -run apps.qs.cont2
: run load
/meta
on apps/qs/cont2.py
metafor -nogui myscript.py
: execute commands written in myscript.py
.
In interactive mode, after metafor -nogui
, we find ourselves in a python interpreter where some specific Metafor modules were loaded. To exit Metafor in “text” mode, on Windows, use CTRL-BREAK
(a little rough, but that works), or CTRL-Z
then Enter
on Windows, or finally CTRL-D
on Unix.
To run a test :
load('apps.qs.cont2') meta()
To execute a script (such as postprocessing) :
execfile('myscript.py')
To exit the command line, use CTRL-Z on Windows, CTRL-D on Linux/Unix.
Now, you know how to use the GUI, run a test and display results. We will then learn how to build your own data set :