3.1 Text Menu System

The text menu system provides a hierarchical interface to the program's underlying procedural interface. Because it is text based, you can easily manipulate its operation with standard text-based tools: input can be saved in files, modified with text editors, and read back in to be executed. Because the text menu system is tightly integrated with the Scheme extension language, it can easily be programmed to provide sophisticated control and customized functionality.

The menu system structure is similar to the directory tree structure of UNIX operating systems. When you first start ANSYS FLUENT, you are in the "root'' menu and the menu prompt is simply a caret.

 >

To generate a listing of the submenus and commands in the current menu, simply press <Enter>.

 > <Enter>

adapt/                  file/                   report/
define/                 mesh/                   solve/
display/                parallel/               surface/
exit                    plot/                   view/

By convention, submenu names end with a / to differentiate them from menu commands. To execute a command, just type its name (or an abbreviation). Similarly, to move down into a submenu, enter its name or an abbreviation. When you move into the submenu, the prompt will change to reflect the current menu name.

 > display


 /display> set


 /display/set>

To move back to the previously occupied menu, type q or quit at the prompt.

 /display/set> q


 /display>

You can move directly to a menu by giving its full pathname.

 /display> /file


 /display//file>

In the above example, control was passed from /display to /file without stopping in the root menu. Therefore, when you quit from the /file menu, control will be passed directly back to /display.

 /display//file> q


 /display>

Furthermore, if you execute a command without stopping in any of the menus along the way, control will again be returned to the menu from which you invoked the command.

 /display> /file start-journal jrnl

  Opening input journal to file "jrnl".

 /display>

The text menu system provides on-line help for menu commands. The text menu on-line help system is described in Section  3.6.

To edit the current command, you can position the cursor with the left and right arrow keys, delete with the <Backspace> key, and insert text simply by typing.