Accessing State-Handling APIs

To control state handling, you can access state values from the Ansys.ACT.Interfaces.Common.State enumeration.

The following table lists state-handling APIs.

Class	Member	Description
`Ansys.ACT.Interfaces.Common.State`	`UpToDate`	The task is in an up-to-date state.
	`RefreshRequired`	The task requires a refresh to continue upstream changes.
	`OutOfDate`	The task is in an out-of-date state. This state is valid only in Mechanical.
	`UpdateRequired`	The task must be updated.
	`Modified`	The task has been modified. This state is valid only in Mechanical.
	`Unfulfilled`	Task requirements are unfulfilled.
	`Disabled`	The task is disabled.
	`Error`	The task is in error.
	`EditRequired`	Data entered for the task is invalid or incomplete and must be modified.
	`Interrupted`	Processing of the task is halted.
	`UpstreamChangesPending`	Updating of the task cannot be completed until previous tasks are updated.
	`Unknown`	The state of the task could not be determined.

When defining the state callback on tasks, you can return the framework-defined ComponentState instance. However, returning this instance is not recommended unless you must maintain backwards compatibility. Instead, return a two-entry list, where the first entry is an Ansys.ACT.Interfaces.Common.State enumeration value and the second entry is a quick-help string.

import clr
clr.AddReference('Ansys.ACT.Interfaces')
import Ansys.ACT.Interfaces

def status(task):
    if task.Properties['Inputs'].Properties['Input'].Value == 1:
        return [ Ansys.ACT.Interfaces.Common.State.Unfulfilled , 
                 'cannot enter the value of 1' ]
    else:
        return None #rely on the default framework-calculated state

When executed, this code sample yields the following result:

In addition, ACT provides a default state handler whenever the task does not provide a callback <onstatus>. When any task property is invalid, ACT instructs the framework to use an unfulfilled state, as shown in the following examples of an XML file and IronPython script.

XML File:

<extension version="1" name="StateValidity">
    <guid shortid="StateValidity">
     69d0155b-e138-4841-a13a-de12238c83f2
    </guid>
    <script src="main.py" />
    <interface context="Project">
        <images>images</images>
    </interface>
    <workflow name="MyWorkflow" context="Project" version="1">
        <tasks>        
            <task name="StateValidity" caption="State Validity" icon="Generic_cell" version="1">
                <callbacks>
                    <onupdate>update</onupdate>
                    <onreset>reset</onreset>
                </callbacks>
                <property name="Valid" caption="Property Check" control="integer" default="0" readonly="false" needupdate="true" visible="true" persistent="true"   isparameter="true">
                    <callbacks>
                        <isvalid>valid</isvalid>
                    </callbacks>
                </property>
                <property name="Input" caption="Input" control="float" default="0.0" readonly="false" needupdate="true" visible="true" persistent="true" isparameter="true" />
                <property name="Output" caption="Output" control="float" default="0.0" readonly="true" visible="true" persistent="true" isparameter="true" />
                <inputs>
                    <input/>
                </inputs>
                <outputs/>
            </task>
        </tasks>
        <taskgroups>
            <taskgroup name="StateValidity" caption="State Validity" icon="Generic" category="" abbreviation="State" version="1">
                <includeTask name="StateValidity" caption="State Validity"/>
            </taskgroup>
        </taskgroups>
    </workflow>
</extension>

IronPython Script:

import clr
clr.AddReference('Ansys.ACT.Interfaces')
import Ansys.ACT.Interfaces

def update(task):
    activeDir = task.ActiveDirectory
    extensionDir = task.Extension.InstallDir
    exeName = "ExampleAddinExternalSolver.exe"
    solverPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(extensionDir, exeName)
    
    inputValue = task.Properties["Inputs"].Properties["Input"].Value
    
    inputFileName = "input.txt"
    outputFileName = "output.txt"
    dpInputFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(activeDir, inputFileName)
    dpOutputFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(activeDir, outputFileName)
    
    #write input file
    f = open(dpInputFile, "w")
    f.write('input='+inputValue.ToString(System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo))
    f.close()
    
    exitCode = ExtAPI.ProcessUtils.Start(solverPath, dpInputFile, dpOutputFile)
    if exitCode != 0:
        raise Exception ('External solver failed!')
    #read output file
    
    outputValue = None
    f = open(dpOutputFile, "r")
    currLine = f.readline()
    while currLine != "":
        valuePair = currLine.split('=')
        outputValue = System.Double.Parse(valuePair[1],System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo)
        currLine = f.readline()
    f.close()
    
    if outputValue == None:
        raise Exception("Error in update - no output value detected!")
    else:
        task.Properties["Output"].Value = outputValue
def reset(task):
    task.Properties["Input"].Value = 0
    task.Properties["Output"].Value = 0
def valid(entity, property):
    if property.Value == 1:
        return False
    else:
        return True

Result: