User-defined name

The first step is to create the ASCII input files required by the various MEPAS components. A user-defined name is used as a file name to identify the particular run. The configuration of a data set for a run can be changed as desired, but will include a facility, ranking unit, one or more release units, and up to 10 scenarios per release unit. 

In some cases where entities may be used for transferring information between different applications (e.g. CAD and FEM), any application specific data (e.g. user-defined names) should not be embedded in those entities but should be associated via references. Data of this kind are defined as a "property . 

In order to allow references to entities not only by interactively picking them at the workstation, but also by "user-defined names" in a textual form, provision is made for a special property called index entry. Each index entry will carry a unique user-defined name (unique in its environment) and a reference to the respective entity. 

Most references in a world (neutral file) will be internal, that is to entities that are transferred on the same file. However, a complete product description often includes a number of individual database files as well as components taken from part libraries. In order to cater for this, "external" references are allowed to entities not transferred on the same file, but which are assumed to reside already in the receiving environment. User-defined names provide the basic means for passing external references. In addition, a special mechanism is provided for referencing entities in part libraries. These references will not be resolved until receiving system starts working with the world it has received. 

INTEGER REAL LOGICAL STRING I USER DEFINED NAME ARITHMETIC EXPRESSION NIL D2 I D3... 

Structure attributes (parameters) of type USER DEFINED NAME have... 

He may address an entity in his environment by issuing its user-defined name. Within each scope, a user-defined name may exist only once. But in different scopes the same user defined name may appear. Uniqueness of the identification is achieved by searching the scope of the most recently opened entity... 

INTEGER, LOGICAL, P0INT(D2), P0INT(D3), REAL, SOLID..MODEL, STRING, SURFACE, SURFACE MODEL, USER DEFINED NAME, WIREFRAME M0DEL(D2), WIREFRAME M0DEL(D3) ) ... 

The TYPE ID is an enumeration data type that indicates to application programs the type of certain entities or attributes. TYPE ID values LOGICAL, STRING, and USER DEFINED NAME are permitted only as descriptors for RECORD TYPE. All TYPE IDs for geometric data types are not permitted as RECORD TYPE descriptors. 

These references are also to be bound by the post-processor. However, the referred-to entities are not transferred on the same neutral file but are assumed to exist already in the receiving system. They may have been transferred previous on a CAD I neutral file or with some other data format, or they may have been created in the receiving system independently. Such references are expressed by user-defined names, INDEX ENTRY properties, and REF EXTERNAL attributes. 

Entities of the classes specified in the schema may have a user-defined name associated. This user-defined name may be used to identify the entities whenever an interactive identification (by picking on the workstation monitor) is not possible. In particular, when sequences of commands to the CAD system are input on the keyboard or read from a text file, user-defined names serve for identifying entities. 

User-defined names must be unique in each scope. 

This is a reference to an entity in the receiving environment. It is characterized by the user-defined name of the entity which is to searched for in the receiving environment, and a type identification for this entity to ensure that the binding will be performed only to entities of this type. 

REFERENCE(PART LIBRARY) USER DEFINED NAME TYPE ID ... 

REFERENCE(GEOMETRIC) REFERENCE(DATA BASE BRIDGE) LIST OF USER DEFINED.NAME [REF ANY(ASPECT)] ... 

DATA BASE LINK ( name name, name , [name])... 

A data base link establishes a relation between a geometric object in the CAD data base and some information in the referenced data base. The information in the data base is identified by a list of user-defined names, but the type of information is not specified. Special programs or a human user may imply the type of information from the aspect. 

USER DEFINED NAME (with arbitrary length), and LOGICAL. 

The USER DEFINED NAME is similar to a string except that it does not allow blank, delimiters, or escape sequences (only upper case and lower case letters and digits are allowed. 

All macros need a user-defined name to be associated with them. The result must refer to an entity in the macro scope. References in macros and only in macros may be to FORMAL PARAMETER entities. 

See ROUTINE LIBRARY. A routine is characterized by its formal parameters which will be substituted by entities of the proper type when the routine is invoked during an application. Furthermore, the routine has as attribute a reference to the routine library in which it is to be searched for, and it carries the type identification of the result in order to guarantee that the result type is correct. The name of the routine inside the library is stored as a user defined name in an indexL entry referring to this entity. Results of the routines may be of type real or geometric. 

See MACRO and ROUTINE. Formal parameters are characterized by a user-defined name and a type to facilitate proper binding of actual entities to these formal parameters when the MACRO or ROUTINE is invoked in an application. 

It is anticipated that future specification may require more powerful referencing mechanisms in the sense that user-defined names may have to be qualified. This could be achieved by replacing the above definition of the user-defined name token by... 

OPEN I CLOSE number string name user defined name <named attribute> <structured attribute> ... 

USER DEFINED NAME, STRING or LOGICAL, then ATTRIBUTE TYPE is translated into the corresponding tokens. If ATTRIBUTE TYPE denotes the predefined type ARITHMETIC EXPRESSION, then ATTRIBUTE TYPE is translated into <arithmetic expression> (see "Arithmetic expressions" on page 162). 

---