Running the Interface

The name of the interface executable will typically be 'postdyna', but this may vary from machine to machine. On multi-user machines the interface may be activated via a global symbol or script file which has been set up by the system administrator.

The program begins with a question and answer session in which the user is prompted to open a family of DYNA3D result files, a FEMVIEW database or Neutral File, and select various translation options. The program then processes data from the result file to the desired destination and terminates.

The program can be run interactively or in batch mode. When run interactively the program reads data from the keyboard, when run in batch mode the program reads data from a file called 'postdyna.str'. The program will look for this file at the start of every run and will automatically attempt a batch run if it finds such a file.

The program may be run in terse or verbose mode; this controls the amount of dialogue that is produced by the program. The default is terse mode, however verbose mode may be selected by choosing the appropriate option in the dialogue session (see below).

In either mode of operation the program will produce two additional files called 'POSTDY.MES' and 'POSTDY.COM'. These files will be overwritten each time the program is executed. File 'POSTDY.MES' is a logging file which records all information relevant to a particular execution of the program. File 'POSTDY.COM' records the answers from the question and answer session and may be renamed 'postdyna.str' to create a startup file for batch mode. Appendix A gives more detailed information on these files.

At any point in the question and answer session the user may type '/' to abort the program. It is also possible to type '@filename' in response to any of the questions in order to draw input from a named file.