Workspaces

It is common to have many windows (3D views, graphs, spreadsheets) open within OrcaFlex. The workspace facility is designed to help manage these windows.

Workspace files

A collection of view, graph or spreadsheet windows can be saved using the Workspace | Save workspace menu item. This creates a text file with the .wrk file extension containing a specification of the current window layout. The workspace can be restored at any time with the Workspace | Open workspace menu item. This can give significant time savings if you wish to look at a number of different results windows for a large number of OrcaFlex models.

Note that the contents of the windows are not saved to the workspace file, just a logical description of the window. For example, suppose you save a workspace containing a graph of effective tension of a line called riser. If you then load a different simulation file and open that workspace then you would see the effective tension of the line called riser in the new simulation file and not results from the simulation which was open when the workspace was saved. This means that you can look at the same collection of results for any number of simulation files.

Default workspaces

As an alternative to loading a workspace by using the workspace menu, you can associate default workspaces with either individual simulation files or with entire directories.

• If you define a default workspace for a simulation file then the workspace is restored whenever you open that same simulation file.
• If you define a default workspace for a directory then the workspace is restored whenever you open any simulation file in that directory.

Getting the most out of workspaces

We recommend that you save your workspace files in the same directory as the OrcaFlex files. If you do so then the workspace file will appear in the most recent files list on the workspace menu.

Workspace files can be very useful if you are sending simulation files to another person. By including a workspace file with the results of interest you can be sure that they will view the correct information. This can be particularly valuable when sending files to someone who is not an experienced OrcaFlex user. This can even be useful when sending files to Orcina for software support because they contain a precise specification of the results you are interested in.