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Files

The XSF file

All of the facilities under Files on the main menu work with one kind of file; referred to as XSF file.

The “Save” and “Save as” items on the menu write a file that contains all the information the application has. The application works on only one cross-section at a time. Thus there is only one cross-section per file:

The “Open” item on the menu reads all the information and returns the application to the state that existed when the file was written.

The “New” item will cause the main dialog to be replaced by the introductory dialog with the current unit system highlighted. Then the “Cancel” button will cause a return to the main dialog with the same cross-section description unaffected. The “Choose” button will overwrite the current description with a description of an example cross-section that illustrates the chosen measurement unit system. That example can be modified to suite the user’s purpose and then the file saved using the “Save as” menu item with a file name determined by the user.

The application has other facilities that open these files but only read specific information. Under Materials on the main menu and Components on the main menu there is an item “Import from another XSF file”.

XSF file structure

A XSF file is a text file limited to ASCII characters 10, 13 and 32 to 126 (decimal representation). The file name extension is “xsf”.

These files are intended to be read only by this application, although being text files they can be inspected, and possibly changed in any text editor application. There is one item of information on each line and lines are separated by characters 10 and 13.

Menu availability

With the “Choose a unit system” dialog the “Open” item under “Files” on the main menu is enabled. The unit system in use will change to be compatible with the read file regardless of any selection on the “Choose a unit system” dialog.