SDNF File Header Information

Structural Design User Guide

SDNF Export/Import : Technical Information : SDNF File Header Information

As has been described in the Customisation Guide, all the internal maps are exported in the SDNF file as comments for information purposes only. Appendix B gives an example file.

Note:

All these tables represented in the form:

# STARTTABLE nnnn

# data

# ENDTABLE

with STARTTABLE and ENDTABLE as the keywords.

However, a special PACKET table is to be included in the header which indicates how many objects of each Packet are contained in the following SDNF file. In this way, any system importing the file will be able to give some progress feedback as it will know how many items are expected without having to read the whole file at the beginning. An example is…

This example is indicating that there are 39 Linear Members in Packet 10, 1 Plate in Packet 20 and no Connection Details in Packet 40.

This interface uses this table to modify the behaviour of the Import forms.

If the input SDNF file has the STARTTABLE header that lists the contents of the subsequent packets, the Import window Packet buttons will be (de)activated accordingly. If there is not this STARTTABLE block that defines the packets contained therein, all buttons will become active and it will be for the user to select which packets to import.

The user will not be able to import Packet 22 without Packet 20, but the user will be able to import Packet 20 without holes, even if there some. Similarly, the user will not be able to import Packet 40 (Connections) without either Packet 10 or Packet 60.