Test Application is used for testing an application during development. It opens a separate window with the application user interface while keeping the Application Builder desktop environment running. The figure below shows the Test section as it appears in the Form tab of the ribbon.

While testing an application, you can apply changes to forms, methods, and the embedded model at run time by clicking the Apply Changes button. Not all changes can be applied at run time, and in such a case, you are prompted to close the application and click Test Application again.

To preview the layout of a form without running the application, click Preview Form in the ribbon.

When Test Application is used, all methods are automatically compiled with the built-in Java® compiler. Any syntax errors will generate error messages and the process of testing the application will be stopped. To check for syntax errors before testing an application, click the Check Syntax button in the Method tab.

Check Syntax finds syntax errors by compiling the methods using the built-in Java® compiler. Any syntax errors will, in this case, be displayed in the Method Errors and Warnings window in the Method Editor. For more information, see The Method Editor.

Run Application starts the application in the COMSOL Desktop environment. Select Run Application to use an application for production purposes. For example, you can run an application that was created by someone else that is password protected from editing, but not from running.

When you double-click an MPH-file icon on the Windows® Desktop, the application opens in COMSOL Multiphysics, provided the MPH-file extension is associated with COMSOL Multiphysics. The application may either be opened for editing or for running. You control this behavior from the root node of the application tree. The Settings window for this node has a section titled Application in which you can select either Edit application or Run application. A change in this setting will be applied when you save the MPH-file.

If the MPH-file was saved with the Edit application option, the application will open in either the Application Builder or the Model Builder, depending on which workspace was active at the time of saving.

If the MPH-file was saved with the Run application option, the application will open in runtime mode for production use. This option is similar to selecting Run Application in the File menu with the difference that double-clicking an MPH-file will start a new COMSOL Multiphysics session.

If you have installed the COMSOL Client for Windows®, the MPH-file extension may instead be associated with the COMSOL Client, and double-clicking an MPH-file will prompt you to log in to a COMSOL Server.

In the Settings window for the application tree root node, the Ignore license errors during launch checkbox is used to control the behavior with respect to licensed products when running applications.

When this option is selected, an application can still be launched even if some required licenses are unavailable. Although you cannot use the functionality associated with missing licenses, you can write methods that dynamically adapt the application’s features to the licenses that are available. For an example of how to implement this, open the Installation Verification application from the Application Libraries under COMSOL Multiphysics > Applications.

Test in Web Browser is used for testing the application in a web browser. This functionality makes it easy to test the look and feel of the application when it is accessed from a web browser connected to a COMSOL Server installation.

You can choose which of the installed web browsers you would like the application to launch in. Test in Web Browser opens a separate browser window with the application user interface while keeping the Application Builder desktop environment running.

Test Application launches the application with a user interface based on Microsoft®. NET Framework components, whereas Test in Web Browser launches the application with a user interface based on HTML5 components. Test Application will display the user interface as it would appear as a standalone app, compiled using COMSOL Compiler, or when the application is run with COMSOL Multiphysics or COMSOL Server, provided the COMSOL Client for Windows® is used to connect with the COMSOL Server installation. Test in Web Browser will display the user interface as it would appear when the application is run with COMSOL Server, provided a web browser is used to connect with the COMSOL Server installation.

For testing the appearance and function of an application user interface in web browsers for macOS, iOS, Linux®, and Android™, a COMSOL Server installation is required.

The Server column represents the software components that perform the CPU-heavy computations. The Client column represents the software tool or component used to present the application user interface. In the case of executable files, all computations are done locally in the COMSOL Runtime™ environment. For more information on compiled applications, see Compiling and Running Standalone Applications.

When you test an application, it is assigned the name Untitled.mph and is a copy of the original MPH-file. This is not the case when using the Run application option.

By default, when using the Run application option, the user of an application will not be prompted to save changes when exiting the application. You control this behavior from the root node of the application tree. The Settings window for this node has a section titled Application in which you can select the Ask to save application when closing checkbox, as shown in the figure below.

As an alternative, you can add a button or menu item with a command to save the application. For more information, see the section Menu, Item, and Separator.

From the File menu, select Application Libraries to run and explore the example applications that are included in the COMSOL installation. Many of the screenshots in this book are taken from these examples.

Applications that contain a model, but no additional forms or methods, cannot be run and only opened for editing. Applications that contain forms and methods are collected in folders named Applications.

To set the thumbnail image, click the root node of the application tree. The Settings window has two options for choosing the image: Set from Graphics Window and Load from File. You can also Clear the image.

The Load from File option allows you to load images in the PNG or JPG file formats. Choose an image size from 280-by-210 to 1024-by-768 pixels to ensure that the image displays properly as a thumbnail in COMSOL Multiphysics and COMSOL Server.

The Set from Graphics Window option automatically creates two thumbnail images:

An application can be password protected to manage permissions. You assign separate passwords for editing and running in the Settings window, accessible by clicking the root node of the application tree in the Application Builder window. You must have permission to edit an application in order to create passwords for running it.

The password protection is used to encrypt all model and application settings, including methods. However, binary data, such as the finalized geometry including embedded CAD files, mesh data, and solution data, is not encrypted. Note that for add-ins the password is set in the Add-in Definition window. For more information, see Creating Add-ins.

The security settings in COMSOL Multiphysics can be found in the Security page in the Preferences window accessed from the File menu. In COMSOL Server, they are available in the Preferences page in the COMSOL Server web interface if you are logged in as an administrator. If you are not sure what security settings to use, contact your systems administrator.