• Working with databases.

  • Creating databases.

  • Opening an existing database.

  • Database header data.

Working with databases

Creating databases

To create a new database, do one of the following:

·         Select File > Create Database

·         Press Ctrl+Ins

·         If no database is currently open, click the New icon from the toolbar.

CSI uses a template database called Template.mdb to create new database, therefore any component and assembly definition saved within this file will be inherited by the newly created database.  This is a good place to store your commonly used components so that they will be immediately available to new projects.

Note: CSI cannot create a copy of an open file, therefore, the Template.mdb database must be closed for this command to work.

Opening an existing database

To open an existing database, do one of the following:

·         Select File > Open database

·         Drag and drop the database from Windows Explorer onto gray area of the main application window

·         Click the open button on the context-sensitive toolbar

·         Select it from the list of Most-Recently-Used (MRU) files under the File menu

CSI verifies the validity of the selected file and if successful presents the main database interface shown in figure 5.

Database header data

The first window that a user sees after opening a database is the main database interface. An example is shown below:  Usually, the name in the figure below should be the project name and the comments should be comments that apply generally to all simulation cases in the project. 

Figure

A descriptive name and comments can be given to a database in this window. The Created By, Created On and Last Updated fields are read-only. The Created By property is taken from the user's login name; is the user is not required to login, CSI uses login name "user".

Note: CSI databases are handled as documents, hence, users must explicitly save changes by clicking the Save button on the main toolbar, selecting File > Save, or pressing Ctrl+S. (If the user made any changes and attempts to close a database, CSI prompts the user if changes are to be saved.

The database interface also provides the gateway to the component listing and the assembly listing.

·         Click the Components button to open the components listing

·         Click the Assemblies button to open the assemblies listing

As mentioned above, CSI uses the Template.mdb database to create new databases, so if you just created a new database, you will find the same components and assemblies that are present in the Template.mdb database. This happens because new databases are created by creating a copy of the Template.mdb database and renaming it to the selected filename.