Nastran or Samcef with Python, Ruby, VBA, C#, excel...

FeResPost A Library distributed under LGPL license that allows you to automate the post-processing of Nastran and Samcef finite element results or FE model manipulations with the programming language of your choice (Python, Ruby, C++, C, C#, VBA in excel...)
FeResPost library	System requirements	Documentation	Downloads	Install	Mailing list	Examples	Videos	License

FeResPost requirements and other programs

System requirements and other programs

Solvers

So far, Results of Nastran and Samcef solvers can be post-processed:

Nastran

Finite element models can be read either from a BDF (bulk data file), or an op2 file. Groups can be build by reading Patran sessions files obtained with the utilities of Patran.
Results can be read from OP2, XDB or HDF5 files. The most commonly used types of elements are supported. For XDB and HDF5 files, it is also possible to extract results by random access (XDB or HDF5 attachment).
For the reading of results corresponding to modal or dynamic response analyses, the use of HDF files is recommended because it is generally more efficient.

Samcef

Finite element models can be read from a dat file obtained by a ".sauve banque" Bacon command.
Results can be read or accessed randomly from DES/FAC files.

Operating systems and programming languages

The library is distributed as a ruby extension (LINUX and Windows), as a COM component (Windows only) and as a .NET assembly (Windows only). In order to use FeResPost you need to install first one of the corresponding programming languages :

Ruby if you wish to use the ruby extension. (Binaries are distributed for Linux and Windows operating systems, but a recompilation of the sources allow the installation of FeResPost on other OSs.)
Python compiled libraries are also distributed. For some language versions/OS combinations, you might need to compile it yourself.
The COM component can be used with many languages, but on Windows OS only. Tests have been done with Ruby, Python, C++, VBA (in excel). Other languages like C, Java should also be capable of using the COM component.
All the .NET languages should be able to use the .NET assembly. This includes VB.NET, IronRuby, Java.NET, C#. Tests have been done with C# language only. (See the examples.)

The programming language in which all those operations are programmed is object oriented and allows the development of very sophisticated and large post-processing programs, or very small tools, according to the wishes of the programmer.

Other resources

Besides the installation of the programming language you wish to use, a few other programs may help you to develop scripts using FeResPost. The examples distributed on this web site and discussed in the User Manual sometimes assume that thos programs have been installed on your computer. For example:

FeResPost allows to save Nastran and Samcef DataBases or intermediate results in GMSH files for later visualisation. You do not needs in GMSH files to run the example. the program is necessary if you want to visualize what you have saved, so you better install it on your computer. It is free, very easy to install, and distributed under the LGPL license.
The Result class has a member function for conversion from/to BLOB (Binary Large Objects) for interaction with SQL databases. Several examples illustrate the use of these conversion methods. These examples make use of the SQLite database system. The corresponding library is free, open source, but needs to be installed if you want to run the corresponding examples.
Some examples that use the COM component are written in the VBA code of excel spreadsheets. Of course, you need excel if you want to run these examples.