4.1.21. AMESim Node

The AMESim Node is used to wrap an AMESim project, transferring data from and to it.

Node Configuration

Figure 4.46. The AMESim Node Properties Dialog

Configuring an AMESim node requires setting several parameters:

Name: the name that will be used throughout modeFRONTIER to identify the node. The name must be unique within the set of node names, and must follow the guidelines for node names.
Description: the node description will appear as tooltip when the mouse stops over the node in the Work Flow canvas.
Project: the AMESim project to be used.

In order to use the node during the analysis, to open the project in a new AMESim session and to use the introspection, you need to have installed AMESim version 4.2 or later on your computer and the PATH environmental variable must be properly setted. Usually the PATH variable must contain the path to the amesim.exe and amepilot.exe executable on Windows platforms and the path to the AMESim and AMEPilot script on Unix platforms.

Once you have specified a valid AMESim project, you have also to set at least the Input Parameters and the Simple Output or Compound Output Parameters needed by the project. These Export Parameters are setted in the Export Parameters Setup dialog box in the AMESim program: don't forget to save the changes of your setup using the Save button (please refer to the Chapter 18 of the AMESim User Manual Version 4.2). Then you could take advantage of the following features:

Opening the indicated project by clicking on Edit Project. A new AMESim session will start and load the selected project. Keep in mind that AMESim may take some seconds to start.
Using the selection by introspection, this facility lets you to specify AMESim parameters by selecting the parameter names directly in the introspection dialog.
You can start the introspection process by clicking on the small folder near the parameter name. A dialog will immediately report you about the introspection progress.
At the end of the introspection process, just click the Close button and the introspection dialog will appear.
The introspection dialog lets you specify the desidered parameter, selecting it on the table. Alternatively you can type the parameter name on the Selected Parameter textfield. The table contains all the parameters available in the project. Clicking on the table header you can sort the table rows according with the clicked column.
At any time you can refresh the introspection contents clicking the refresh button. In any case, every time you open the introspection dialog modeFRONTIER will determine if it needs to refresh the instrospection data.

At run-time, several different operations are carried out behind the scenes.

The appropriate input file is created.
The project file is copied in the working directory.
The executable AMEPilot is called, the environment in which it is called contains the following variables:
- AMESIM_PROJECT_PATH: the full path name for the project being used
- AMESIM_PROJECT_NAME: the name of the model: the filename of the project not including the extension .ame
- APPL_PWD: the absolute path of the working directory for the AMEPilot process
- DESIGN_ID: the ID for the design being evaluated
- PROJECT_NAME: The name of the modeFRONTIER project within which the script is being run
- APPL_STDOUT: The name for the file where the standard output will be redirected
- APPL_STDERR: The name for the file where the standard error will be redirected
- APPL_PRIORITY: The priority with which the script will be executed
- ESTECO_USER: The username of the user that requested the execution. This is not necessarily the user that owns the script, because, for example, the script could be run by the Launcher on behalf of a remote user.
AMEPilot process ends its execution.
Output (or buffer) variables values are extracted from the parameters indicated in the Data Output Connector panel.

If everything works correctly, the exit value for the node is zero. Otherwise, one of the following values is returned:

910	A failure occurred while retrieving the output data
912	The job has been killed before it could terminate
920	The job was set-up incorrectly, and it was not possible to start it
921	The data extracted from the workspace could not be retrieved
6016	It was not possible to extract the value of a design variable

Compatibility Notes

The node has been fully tested with AMESim 4.2 on linux CentOS and on Windows XP.

Input Connections

The AMESim node input can be connected to one or more nodes. The connectable nodes are different for each connector. The process input connector can only be connected to the process output connector of nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each node belonging to one of the first seven node types (i.e., for each application node) that you connect, you must also indicate for which values of the application exit value you want the Process Flow to be routed through this node (see Section 4.2.7, "Conditional Expression Legal Syntax"). Only when the application exit value matches the condition this node will be processed.

The data input connector can be connected only to nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each node belonging to one of the last four node types (i.e., for each node representing a design variable) that you connect, you must also indicate which parameter you want to set with the value. This requires specifying the parameter name.

Output Connections

The AMESim node output can be connected to one or more nodes, different for each connector. The process output connector can only be connected to the process input connector of nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each connected node, you also need to specify for which values of the exit value you want the Process Flow to be routed through the connected node (see Section 4.2.7, "Conditional Expression Legal Syntax"). Only those output branches for which the exit value matches the corresponding condition will be transversed. If no condition matches the exit value, it is assumed that the design is failed, and the Work Flow execution is interrupted. Note: all conditions must be mutually exclusive (i.e., there can be no exit value for which two or more conditions hold true).

The data output connector can be connected only to nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each output and buffer variable connected, you must also indicate from which parameter (usually a measure) you want to read the value. This requires specifying the parameter name.

Logic Log Messages

The following error messages can be associated with a Catia node:

249	MISSING AMESIM PROJECT	No AMESim project has been selected, or the AMESim project indicated does not exist
241	AMESIM NODE NOT REACHEABLE	The Process Flow cannot be routed through the AMESim node because an appropriate input connection is missing
242	NO EXIT PATH FOR AMESIM NODE	The Process Flow cannot be routed past the AMESim node because an appropriate output connection is missing
240	MISSING ADDRESS FOR AMESIM PARAMETER	A legal parameter name has not been associated with one or more design variables connected to the AMESim node
243	NO INPUT FILE OR VARIABLE FOR AMESIM NODE	No design variable or file is supplied to the AMESim node
202	INVALID EXIT CONDITION(S)	The conditions for the output nodes that support the Process Flow routing are not mutually exclusive