Introduction

The user interface frequently makes use of a Class > Action > Object > Method (C/A/O/M) paradigm (Figure 1) for command interpretation in Model Input and Results. This can be roughly compared with declarative sentence construction:

• The Class tells the program what type of data you wish to work with: Geometry, Mesh, Material, Plot, Min/Max, etc. The tab labels identify that particular class.
• The Action is the verb of the command telling the program what action you wish to perform: Create, Select, Edit, etc.
• The Object will be acted upon when the command is performed, as when we create a point, select a circle, edit a boundary, move a node, or plot on all elements.
• The Method is how the Action will be performed on the Object, such as extracting a maximum stress for a selected element by using the grid, line, or block methods, or assigning a load to a selected surface using the Force/Moment method.

Once the C/A/O/M configuration is set, the associated input/results fields and options specific to the configuration will appear in the space below the A/O/M combo-boxes, and the Status bar will echo the expected arguments/steps to complete the command.

Status Bar Message

Note that a message with relevant information is shown at the bottom left of the display area (Status bar) based on the current class, action, object and method. For example, if the C/A/O/M configuration is set to Geometry class > Create > Body > Bool-Subtract, the following message will be displayed in the Status bar:

The Status bar messages will typically have instructions such as the expected/acceptable selection objects from the Model View, as well as the required selection sequence, optional inputs and execution command (if applicable, some methods are executed on a left-mouse click event instead of explicitly clicking a command button).

C/A/O/M Examples

An example of object creation could be blending an edge on an imported CAD geometry (i.e., Geometry class > Create > Blend Edge > Rolling Ball, as shown in Figure 2), creating a node as an intersection of two boundaries (i.e., Mesh class > Create > Node > Intersection) or generating an automesh on a solid (i.e. Mesh class > Create > Mesh > Auto):

For assigning boundary conditions, we might set Load (Class) Select (Action) a Surface (Object) to apply a load by Traction (Method). To achieve this, change the C/A/O/M to Load class > Select > Any Surface > Traction (Figure 3):

When performing post-processing operations, we might extract a Minimum or Maximum (Min/Max Class) stress on a group of element Faces (Object) using a uniform Grid (Method) (i.e. Min/Max class > Select > Face > Grid) as shown in Figure 4: