PyMechanical-Env

Overview

PyMechanical-Env contains a package, ansys-mechanical-env, that facilitates the integration of PyMechanical within a Linux environment. The package has the ability to:

• Automatically determine the version and location of the Ansys Mechanical software.
• Offer users the option to manually specify the version number for Mechanical.
• Configure and set the requisite environment variables.

Installation

Two installation modes are provided: user and developer.

Install in user mode

Before installing the ansys-mechanical-env package, make sure that you have the latest version of pip with this command:

python -m pip install -U pip

Then, install the ansys-mechanical-env package with this command:

python -m pip install ansys-mechanical-env

Install in developer mode

Installing the ansys-mechanical-env package in developer mode allows you to modify the source and enhance it.

Before contributing to the project, ensure that you are thoroughly familiar with the PyAnsys Developer's Guide.

To install the ansys-mechanical-env package in developer mode, perform these steps:

1. Clone the PyMechanical-Env repository with this command:

   git clone https://github.com/ansys/pymechanical-env
   

2. Create a clean Python environment and activate it with these commands:

   # Create a virtual environment
   python -m venv .venv
   
   # Activate it in a POSIX system
   source .venv/bin/activate
   
   # Activate it in Windows CMD environment
   .venv\Scripts\activate.bat
   
   # Activate it in Windows Powershell
   .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
   

3. Make sure you have the latest required build system and documentation, testing, and CI tools with these commands:

   python -m pip install -U pip setuptools tox
   python -m pip install -r requirements/requirements_build.txt
   python -m pip install -r requirements/requirements_tests.txt
   

4. Install the project in editable mode with this command:

   python -m pip install --editable ansys-mechanical-env
   

5. Verify your development installation by running this command:

   tox
   

Basic usage

Once the ansys-mechanical-env and ansys-mechanical-core packages are installed, you can run the PyMechanical-Env command-line tool to launch and test embedded instances of PyMechanical on Linux.

Launching a Python shell containing environment variables set up by PyMechanical-Env allows you to run embedded instances of PyMechanical on Linux.

Launch the Python shell with this command:

mechanical-env python

In the Python shell, use this code to run an embedded instance of PyMechanical:

import ansys.mechanical.core as pymechanical
app = pymechanical.App()
print(app)

Run all embedding tests in the PyMechanical repository with this command:

xvfb-run mechanical-env pytest -m embedding

How to test

This project takes advantage of tox. This tool allows you to automate common development tasks (similar to Makefile), but it is oriented towards Python development.

Using tox

As Makefile has rules, tox has environments. In fact, tox creates its own virtual environment so anything being tested is isolated from the project to guarantee the project's integrity. These environment commands are provided:

• tox -e style: Checks for coding style quality.
• tox -e py: Checks for unit tests.
• tox -e py-coverage: Checks for unit testing and code coverage.

Raw testing

If required, you can always call the style commands (black, isort, flake8...) or unit testing ones (pytest) from the command line. However, this does not guarantee that your project is being tested in an isolated environment, which is the reason why tools like tox exist.

A note on pre-commit

The style checks take advantage of pre-commit. Developers are not forced but encouraged to install this tool with this command:

python -m pip install pre-commit && pre-commit install

Distributing

If you would like to create either source or wheel files, start by installing the building requirements and then execute the build module:

python -m pip install -r requirements/requirements_build.txt
python -m build
python -m twine check dist/*

Documentation and issues

Documentation for the latest stable release of this package can be found in this README file.

On the PyMechanical-Env Issues page, you can create issues to report bugs and request new features. On the PyMechanical-Env Discussions page or the Discussions page on the Ansys Developer portal, you can post questions, share ideas, and get community feedback.

To reach the project support team, email pyansys.core@ansys.com.

License and acknowledgments

PyMechanical-Env is licensed under the MIT license.

For more information, see the .reuse/dep5 file file, which follows the Reuse specification.

PyMechanical-Env makes no commercial claim over Ansys whatsoever. This tool supports PyMechanical, which extends the functionality of Ansys Mechanical by adding a Python interface to the Mechanical service without changing the core behavior or license of the original software. The use of PyMechanical with an embedded or remote instance of the Mechanical application requires a legally licensed local copy of Ansys.

For more information on the Mechanical application, see the Ansys Mechanical page on the Ansys website.