File Manager supports the management of large structural models. Engineering labor is easily divided through a wide variety of tools that organize, manage and track various structural designs. File Manager provides a concurrent working environment for users who must share and exchange engineering information, without imposing the need for users to know operating systems (e.g., UNIX) commands.

File Manager functionality represents a departure from the conventional ways that MSC Patran users have to manage database, journal, neutral, and result files. This overview conveys the new philosophy. Additional details are provided in subsequent sections of each of the File Manager components.

The following table displays a brief description of each of the major sections presented in this chapter.

Technical details have been spared as much as possible from this documentation. This is intended to help the user become familiar with and fully utilize the features of the File Manager. For additional information, including: installation, customization, and trouble shooting, refer to the File Manager Administrator’s Guide (p. A‑337).

File Manager offers several features that are intended to relieve the user of many burdens associated with handling the quantity and size of files associated with engineering data.

The File Manager is designed to work with collections of files that might be required to perform an operation. For example, the MSC Patran database is generally accompanied by a journal file. File Manager groups these individual files into a single logical file. File Manager eliminates the burden of dealing with each of the physical files and instead presents information only about the logical file. In general, only the system administrators need to worry about this relationship and therefore throughout this document we refer to files (always implying a logical collection of physical files) except when a distinction must be made for clarity.

Conventional file names have been superseded with file descriptors in File Manager by more flexible file descriptions. Unlike file names, these may contain embedded blanks, special characters, and can be up to 80 characters in length. Due to the graphical interface for browsing the file system as well as the powerful file filtering capability, cryptic names and file extensions can be eliminated.

Each of the files in the File Manager has an associated type which helps to identify its contents and intended use. By default, File Manager is set up to work with the MSC SuperModel application and supports four file types, namely submodels, SuperModels, general elements, and job definitions. In general, each file type can imply a different set of physical files, but all logical files of a given type are guaranteed to have the same set of physical files. Additional information can be found under File Types.

In addition to the four standard file types, a template file is also supported. This file can be added by the system administrator and is used as the starting point when new file types, as the four described above, are created. Additional information can be found under File Types.

The physical state of a file refers to how a file is stored and on which permanent media it is stored. File Manager can recognize different storage methods (e.g., compressed versus uncompressed) and different locations (e.g., disk versus tape) and provide access to all files regardless of the physical state. Additional information can be found under File States.

The security state of a file refers to the access privileges that are given to the user community for viewing or modifying a file. File security is maintained by the File Manager based on a clearly defined set of rules intended to assure data integrity for all files. Additional information can be found in Security States.