Utility Menu

The HyperWorks Utility menu allows you to customize the standard interface to create controls that include function buttons, radio options, and text that have command files and Tcl/Tk scripts associated with them.

The Configure is located on a tab of the tab area pane(s), and can be shown or hidden from within the View menu.

The Utility menu includes several default menu pages, each dedicated to different tasks. Thus, it is actually a group of menus, although only one displays at a time. Each page is associated with a button at the bottom of the Utility menu; clicking one of these buttons opens the page associated with it. Only one button can be clicked at a time—selecting a button deselects all of the other buttons in the group. Page numbers allow you to create multiple pages, so that scripts can be grouped in any fashion.

A macro file (.mac) controls the display and available operations of the Utility menu. Attributes that you can change include:
  • The menu page on which the control appears
  • Text to be displayed on each control
  • Location and size of the menu
  • The help string to be displayed on the menu bar
  • The script to call when each control is used, with optional arguments to pass

When HyperWorks starts, it looks for a macro file named hm.mac. This file may exist in the installation directory for HyperMesh or in the directory from which HyperWorks launches. Unix users also have the option of putting the hm.mac file in their home directory. If the hm.mac file exists in one of these locations, HyperWorks runs it automatically to define the attributes and contents of the Utility menu. A macro file may also be run after HyperWorks starts from within the Options panel.

The default hm.mac file includes the following macro files:
disppage.mac
Populates the Disp page of the Utility menu.
geommeshpage.mac
Populates the Geom/Mesh page of the Utility menu.
globalpage.mac
Creates the button group that allows you to switch pages.
qamodelpage.mac
Populates the QA/Model page of the Utility menu.
userpage.mac
Populates the User page of the Utility menu.

You may add Tcl/Tk scripts to the userpage.mac file. When HyperWorks starts, it first looks for the userpage.mac file in the directory from which it launches and then in the installation directory. Linux users also have the option of putting the userpage.mac file in their home directory.