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Running OrcaFlex |
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Running OrcaFlex |
A shortcut to run OrcaFlex is set up on the Start menu when you install OrcaFlex (see Start\Programs\Orcina\ or the All Apps screen, Orcina group, depending on your version of Windows).
This shortcut passes no parameters to OrcaFlex so it gives the default start-up behaviour; see below. If this is not suitable you can configure the start-up behaviour using command-line parameters, for example by setting up your own shortcuts with particular parameter settings.
OrcaFlex has two basic modules: full OrcaFlex and statics-only OrcaFlex. A full OrcaFlex licence is needed for dynamic analysis.
When you start OrcaFlex, the first thing it does is look for a licence (either a full licence or a statics-only licence); if it fails to find one it will not run. By default, when searching for a licence, OrcaFlex searches for licences provided by both FlexNet and dongles, both locally and on a networked server. This default behaviour, and the order of the searches, can be changed by the switches described below.
If OrcaFlex finds licences for both statics-only and full OrcaFlex, a licence for full OrcaFlex will be claimed, unless you use the /DisableDynamics switch described below.
OrcaFlex can accept various parameters on the command line to modify the way it starts up. The syntax is:
OrcaFlex.exe Filename Option1 Option2 … etc.
Filename is optional. If present it should be the name of an OrcaFlex data file (.dat or .yml) or simulation file (.sim). After starting up OrcaFlex will automatically open that file.
Option1, Option2 etc. are optional parameters that allow you configure the start-up behaviour. They can be any of the following switches. For the first character of an option switch, the hyphen character '-' can be used as an alternative to the '/' character.
By default, OrcaFlex will first search for whichever type, FlexNet or dongle, it most recently used. The following switches allow you to modify this default behaviour.
By default, when searching for a licence on a dongle, OrcaFlex searches first for a licence on a local dongle and then for a licence on a network dongle. The following switches allow you to modify this default behaviour.
Note that FlexNet licence searches follow the same default pattern, local first then server; in this case the default cannot be changed.
These switches are only relevant where both statics-only and full OrcaFlex licences are available:
These switches allow you to instruct OrcaFlex to start a batch calculation as soon as the program has loaded. The following switches are available:
Note that the batch calculation switches are provided for backwards compatibility. We recommend that automation of analysis be carried out using Distributed OrcaFlex or one of the programming interfaces.
These switches determine the processing priority of OrcaFlex. The available switches are /RealtimePriority, /HighPriority, /AboveNormalPriority, /NormalPriority, /BelowNormalPriority, /LowPriority.
By default, when performing calculations with multiple threads, OrcaFlex attempts to assign threads evenly between all processor groups. This behaviour can be suppressed by this command line switch. If group mapping support is suppressed then all threads will run on the same processor group, and will respect the affinity mask of the OrcaFlex process.
The /ThreadCount switch allows you to set the number of execution threads used by OrcaFlex for parallel processing. For example /ThreadCount=1 forces OrcaFlex to use a single execution thread which has the effect of disabling parallel processing.
The /ThickLines switch allows you to specify a minimum thickness for lines drawn on OrcaFlex 3D view windows. For example using the switch /ThickLines=5 forces OrcaFlex to draw all lines at a thickness of at least 5. If no value is specified (i.e. the switch is /ThickLines) then the minimum thickness is taken to be 2.
This switch has been added to make OrcaFlex 3D views clearer when projected onto a large screen.
Installation is only supported on 64 bit systems. The installation package copies both 32 and 64 bit versions of the executables. The shortcuts and file associations are configured to execute the 64 bit version. If you wish to create a shortcut to the 32 bit version, you will need to set it up yourself – the installation program does not do so. The 32 bit executable is named OrcaFlex.exe and the 64 bit executable is named OrcaFlex64.exe.
The 64 bit version runs quicker and can access more memory than the 32 bit version. This is especially significant for machines with a very large number of processors.
OrcaFlex automation capabilities are implemented in the OrcaFlex DLL, OrcFxAPI, which is available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. The different versions of the DLL are both named OrcFxAPI.dll. The installation program installs binary files (.dll, .lib) to <InstallationDir>\OrcFxAPI\Win32 and <InstallationDir>\OrcFxAPI\Win64 respectively. Please refer to the OrcFxAPI help for details of how to link to OrcFxAPI.dll.