Running the HCU

The utility is accessed from the MDS main menu.

1. Select the Utilities pull-down menu and select MDS Support Health Check.

   The following form is displayed.

   

   The list of supports is initially blank.

2. To load supports for checking, select All or CE and Below from the Add pull-down menu.

   The CE and Below option loads all supports below the current element (CE), or if at an element which is part of a support, for example, SCTN of a structural support or ROD of a hanger, then that single support is loaded.

   Groups are counted as one support, and the group name is displayed in the list (for example, PS05555, where the group may consist of /PS0555[1], /PS0555[2]). The whole group is loaded if one support, or part of one support, is loaded.

   Frameworks with multiple crossbars are counted as one support.

   Any supports which are not valid and so cannot be loaded into the list for checking (but are still, in some part or way, MDS supports) are recorded in a temporary load list file, for example, MDS-HEALTH-CHECK-LOADREPORTONLY-21Mar2007-093214-dat (or csv as appropriate). Unnamed supports are also included in the file.

   The load errors file is stored in the %pdmswk% directory and can be viewed by selecting Load Errors Only from the View Report menu.

3. The Remove option allows you to either remove All entries in the Supports list, or to remove selected entries from the list.

4. Click on an Output Format option button to select the required format for the health check report.

   The options are as follows:

   • If the screen option is selected, the report is output to the command window.

   • If text file is selected, the output is written to a text file (for example, MDS-HEALTH-CHECK-REPORT-21Mar2007-0931214.dat) in the directory specified in the Directory field. This directory defaults to %projcodeinfo%, where projcode is the Project Code (for example, TWD). If %projcodeinfo% does not exist, then %pdmswk% is used as the default and is displayed in the field. If an invalid directory name is entered, an error alert is displayed and the file is not written. If the field is left blank, the default directory is used (%projcodeinfo% if it exists, otherwise %pdmswk%), following an error alert.

     The appearance of the text file output is the same as the screen output.

   • If CSV file is selected, the same directory rules apply as for a text file, but a csv (comma separated variables) file is created. The file naming convention is the same as for a text file, except that a .csv extension is used. The csv output represents data under column headings, and can be viewed in a spreadsheet application (for example, Excel).

5. Once the supports have been loaded and the output format selected, click on the Apply button to start the health check.

   Once the check is complete, the report is output for screen or file, as described above.

   In addition to the file described in step 3, a temporary file of the report is also saved in the %pdmswk% directory.

6. View the report by selecting Load Errors Only or Complete Health Check from the View Report menu.

7. Click the Dismiss button to exit the Health Check Utility.