Materials Gateway settings

Configuration settings that apply to the MI Materials Gateway plug-in for CAD, CAE, and PLM applications can be configured on the Materials Gateway page in MI Settings.

You might need to edit or create these settings when configuring defaults or optional features.

Material models and exporters

Default Exporters
Can be used to specify default exporters that will be used when assigning or importing materials. You can modify this setting to specify a default for each database, table, host application, and solver (where applicable).
Note: Default exporters are required for some optional features.

Default exporters are defined in JSON using the following syntax:

{   
            "databaseKey": "", 
            "tableName": "", 
            "host": "", 
            "solver": "", 
            "exporter": "" 
        },
Where:
databaseKey (Required)

Identifies the database.
tableName (Required)

Name of the Material table that the default exporter applies to. (Required)

Tip: You can use * to specify a default exporter for all Material tables in the database you specified in databaseKey.
host (Required)

The host application that the default exporter will be used with.

The supported values are:
  • Abaqus
  • AEDT
  • ANSA
  • ANSYS_Workbench
  • Creo
  • Hypermesh
  • NX
  • TCNX
  • Windchill
Tip: If you are specifying the same default exporter for a solver that is used in both ANSA and HyperMesh, you can use * for host, and specify the package name in solver.
solver
The solver that the default exporter is compatible with, as specified in the <Package> element in the exporter configuration file.
Note: Required for ANSA and HyperMesh.
exporter (Required)

The GUID that uniquely identifies the exporter, as specified in the Name attribute of the <ExporterConfig> element in the exporter configuration file.

For more information, see the installation documentation for MI Materials Gateway.

Navigation menu options

Custom URL Links

(Optional) Defines hyperlinks (display name and URL) that appear as additional items in the MI Materials Gateway navigation menu. You can specify different custom links for each host application and supported localization.

At the top level, the JSON should contain the following elements:
Key Value Optional?
"enabled"

true / false

If this element is omitted or set to 'false', the collection of links defined in the "links" element will not be displayed.

 y
"links" Collection of custom menu items (as defined in the table below) y
Within the links element, define the collection of custom menu items (URL link with text label) that will appear for each supported locale, using the following elements.
  • "en-US"
  • "de-DE"
  • "fr-FR"
  • "ja-JP"
  • "ko-KR"
  • "ru-RU"
  • "zh-CN"
Note: At least one language locale must be included. Any supported locale without a definition will default to the custom links definitions for en-US.
Each custom menu item in the array consists of the following elements:
Key Value Optional?
"text"

The text that will appear on the menu item in the Gateway toolbar.

Note: Unicode characters may be included in the text by specifying the unicode as a string. For example: "text": "\ud83d\udc4d" will display a thumbs-up emoji.
 n
"url" The value of the URL that the menu item will link to. n
"hosts"

A comma-separated list of host applications that the menu item will appear in.

The supported values are:
  • Abaqus
  • AEDT
  • ANSA
  • ANSYS_Workbench
  • Creo
  • Hypermesh
  • NX
  • TCNX
  • Windchill

If the hosts element is omitted, the menu item will appear in all host applications.

 y

For more information, see the installation documentation for MI Materials Gateway.

Browse Tree configuration

Browse tree filters

Specifies subsets that filter the records displayed in the Browse tree in MI Materials Gateway. You can modify this setting to add your own filters.

Important: Granta MI includes pre-defined filters for Processes and Surface Treatments, that are required when assigning data for Restricted Substances and Sustainability analysis. When defining your own filters, do not remove this information. When you upgrade Granta MI, your customized setting will be overwritten, so ensure that you keep a copy of your changes to restore them.

You can define additional filters using the following JSON syntax:


    {
        "nodeType": "",
        "databaseKey": "",
        "tableNames": [""],
        "searchType": "subset",
        "subsetName": ""
        }
Where:
nodeType

Specifies the Browse Tree.

(Required), must be one of: material, process, surfaceTreatment, color
databaseKey

Identifies the database.

(Optional), if not specified, the filter will be applied to all databases that contain a table with a name specified in tableNames.
tableNames

A list containing the names of tables that the filter applies to. (This allows you to apply the same filter to multiple tables, provided they all contain a subset with the same name.)

(Optional), if not specified, the filter is applied to all tables within the database you specified in databaseKey (or to all tables in all databases, if databaseKey is blank).
searchType (Required), "subset" is the only supported value.
subsetName

The name of the subset that you want to use as a filter.

(Required), the subset should exist in all tables that the filter will be applied to. If the subset doesn't exist, the table will not be filtered.
Note: Within each Browse Tree, only one filter can be applied to each table. If more than one filter applies to the table, the first one (as specified in the JSON) is used, and the subsequent ones are ignored.

For more information, see the installation documentation for MI Materials Gateway.

Expand Browse tree folders on row click
Expand Browse tree folders when clicking anywhere on the row.

Search configuration

Default mode for Quick Search
Sets whether the search includes all text in material records (including material names, discrete attribute values, short text values, and folder names), or just searches the material names.
Add Record Name filter to Quick Search results
Display a filtering control at the top of the Record Name column in the results of a Quick Search.
Tip: This filter can be useful when running Quick Search in 'All text' mode.

Hiding columns, filters, and toolbars

Hide Favorites columns

Hide the specified columns by default in Favorites. You can hide the Database, Table, and Type columns. The columns must be specified as a JSON fragment with the following syntax:

{ "database": true, "table": true, "type": true }
Hide Favorites column filters
Remove the filtering controls displayed at the top of columns in Favorites lists.
Hide Favorites toolbars
Do not show the primary or secondary toolbars in Favorites.
Hide Favorites record count
Remove the count of records from the footer of the Favorites list.
Hide Search columns

Hide the specified columns by default in Search Results lists. You can hide the Database and Table columns. The columns must be specified as a JSON fragment with the following syntax:

{ "database": true, "table": true }
Hide Search column filters
Remove the filtering controls displayed at the top of columns in search results lists.
Hide Search toolbars
Do not show the primary or secondary toolbars in Search.
Hide Related Records columns

Hide the specified columns by default in lists of Related Records. You can hide the Database and Table columns. The columns must be specified as a JSON fragment with the following syntax:

{ "database": true, "table": true }

Display themes

Default theme

Sets the theme that is selected by default when you first open MI Materials Gateway.

  • Classic - Match the styling that was used in Granta MI 2025 R2
  • Dark - Present light text and elements on a dark background
  • Light - Present dark text and elements on a light background
  • Auto - Use the default theme for your environment