Parameters nodes (
) are available under
Global Definitions for creating and defining global parameters. One
Parameter node is always available, and it cannot be moved or deleted. Additional
Parameter nodes can be added as desired, if you would like to group parameters in several
Parameter nodes, perhaps with descriptive labels. This is also useful if you want to use some parameters for preprocessing only and then not include them in parametric sweeps for example (see the
Visibility section below). You can move and delete
Parameter nodes that you have added. If you group nodes by type, the
Parameters nodes appear under
Global Definitions>Parameters. Right-click a
Parameters Node and choose
Parameter Case to add
Case subnodes for parameter cases, which can be useful for parameter switching in a
Parametric Sweep node (see
Parameter Cases).
You can also add a Parameters node (
) under
Results (
) for parameters that you want to use for results analysis and postprocessing without the need to update the solution.
The Settings window for
Parameters includes the following sections.
Enter values in the Parameters table to define parameters used throughout the entire model (or in nodes under
Results only). In the
Parameters section you can enter parameters manually or import them from a text file.
You can select one or more parameters and right-click to move them inside this table or to another existing or new Parameters node (by choosing
Move>Move to Parameters 2, for example, or
Move>Move to New Parameters), delete the parameters, or cut, copy, and paste the expressions. If there are
Case subnodes (see
Parameter Cases) added as parameter cases, you can also choose from which
Case node the parameter values are taken (using the
Set From submenu).
You can also use the buttons underneath the table to move and remove rows and to clear the table. Also, use the Move To button (
) to move selected parameters to any other available
Parameters node or to a new
Parameters node. If there are
Case subnodes, use the
Set From button (
) to pick the parameter values from one of the parameter cases.
Additionally, you can save the parameters to a text file to reuse in other models. Click the Save to File button (
) and enter a
File name in the
Save to File dialog box, including the extension .txt. Click
Save to store the parameters in a text file or in a Microsoft Excel Workbook spreadsheet if the license includes LiveLink™
for Excel®. The information is saved in space-separated columns in the same order as displayed on screen. When saving to Excel, an
Excel Save dialog box appears where you can specify the sheet and range and whether to overwrite existing data, include a header, use a separate column for units, or include the calculated values for the parameters.
You can import or load data in files from a spreadsheet program, for example, with the Load from File button (
) and the
Load from File dialog box that appears. Data must be separated by spaces or tabs. If there is already data in the table, imported parameters are added after the last row. Move or edit rows as needed. If the license includes LiveLink™
for Excel® you can also load parameters from a Microsoft Excel
® Workbook spreadsheet. Then an
Excel Load dialog box appears where you can specify the sheet and range and whether to overwrite existing data. It is also possible to import from a spreadsheet containing a separate column for units.
The Show in parameter selections check box is selected by default. Clear it if the parameters in this
Parameters node should not be available for selections in, for example, a
Parametric Sweep node’s
Settings window.