paraFoam won't Run. Please Help!
 

Hi All,

I am a new user to openFOAM and am not sure what to do. I have just installed bluecfd-singlecore (blueCFD-SingleCore 2.1-1 installer) from the following website:

http://code.google.com/p/bluecfd-sin...wiki/UserGuide

I have also download ParaView (v3.14, ParaView Binary Installers for 64-Bit Windows, though the installation guide for what files from the first link above was not as detailed as I would have liked) for post processing from the following webiste:

http://www.paraview.org/paraview/resources/software.php

I am working through the first tutorial, Cavity Flow, and I got blockMesh to run just fine. However, when I try to use paraFoam to view the mesh, I get the follow error:

"Windows cannot find 'paraview.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again."

I thought I may have not created the correct batch file when installing ParaView manually, as the instructions were most likely written for Linux and had a different version of ParaView.

Can anyone help? Thank you in advance!

Greetings Alfredo and welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry about the very few instructions that the page provides, but that's all we managed to provide for free online so far.

Anyway, did you follow the instructions from this section: ParaView @ blueCFD-SingleCore UserGuide :confused:

Best regards,
Bruno (the guy responsible for blueCFD ;))

Hi Bruno!

No worries about the instructions, I am just a bit frustrated at how little I know about this software.

I followed the instructions under "ParaView" however, I think my problem lies in the step where I have to create the batch file in \etc\config...

Regards,
Alfredo

OK, it's simple to do, but the instructions assume that Windows doesn't get in the way ;) What I mean is that you probably created a file named "paraview.bat.txt".

Therefore, since Windows doesn't always cooperate, here's what you can do:

1. Start one of the blueCFD-SingleCore command lines.
2. Go into the "config.d" directory:
   Code:

   ---

   cd "%WM_PROJECT_DIR%"
cd etc\config.d

   ---

3. Create an empty file:
   
   Code:

   ---

   echo. > ParaView.bat

   ---

4. Edit it:
   
   Code:

   ---

   notepad ParaView.bat

   ---

5. Place the code in it:
   
   Code:

   ---

   set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\ParaView 3.14.1

   ---

6. Save the file.
7. Start a new blueCFD-SingleCore command line and you're ready to go!

Best regards,
Bruno

Let me try the steps you outlined above! Please note the following differences I found thus far in the coding:

1) My config directory is "etc\config" not "etc\config.d". Does this matter?
2) In step 5, "C:\Program Files\ParaView 3.14.1", my computer has C:\Program Files (x86)....so I will replace the code with that. Is that ok?

I will let you know if this fixes the problem.

Thank you!!

Hi Alfredo,

You have to create the folder "etc\config.d". It's from there that blueCFD loads up custom environment initializations.
The instructions may be very summarized, but they tell no lies ;) OK, they don't mention that the folder has to be created... :rolleyes:


As for ParaView: If you are using ParaView 64bit, then why did it land in the "x86" folder? :confused: I don't remember the ParaView 64bit installer messing up something so simple....

Best regards,
Bruno

Hi Bruno,

Thank you for the clarification! I knew I must have been missing something pretty simple. I have created the new folder at the following location:

C:\Program Files (x86)\blueCFD-SingleCore-2.1\OpenFOAM-2.1\etc\config.d

However, I am still getting the same error :( However, If I open ParaView I can open the case.foam file and view the mesh that way. I would still like to try and get the command line to open ParaView though.

As far as ParaView, I am not sure why it saved in the "x86" folder. Maybe user error? :)

Should I uninstall everything and install it in the non "x86" folder?

Regards,
Alfredo

Uhm... did you create the folder "config.d" and move the "paraview.bat" file from "config" to that new folder?

After that, you need to start a new blueCFD-SingleCore command line...

I did....I created the new folder (config.d) under etc, so i have the following folders under

C:\Program Files (x86)\blueCFD-SingleCore-2.1\OpenFOAM-2.1\etc

codeTemplates
config
config.d
thermoData

Along with other files.

ParaView.bat is within the config.d folder...

I have started a new blueCFD-SingleCore command line and have gone through the tutorial. I am able to use blockMesh, but have no luck with paraFoam...

Thank you for all your help and I'm sorry for all of the headache...

Regards,
Alfredo

OK, let's see if this magic trick works:

1. Start a new command line. Any new command line will work, doesn't matter if it's the done from/with blueCFD-SingleCore or not.
2. Run this command:
   
   Code:

   ---

   dir "C:\Program Files (x86)\blueCFD-SingleCore-2.1\OpenFOAM-2.1\etc\config.d"

   ---

3. There you probably will see a file named "ParaView.bat.txt". Am I correct? :D
4. If I'm wrong, then what does the file therein contain?
   
   Code:

   ---

   cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\blueCFD-SingleCore-2.1\OpenFOAM-2.1\etc\config.d"
type ParaView.bat

   ---

I see the following: (thought it would be easier to attach a screenshot)

09/23/2012 10:25 AM <DIR> .
09/23/2012 10:25 AM <DIR> ..
09/23/2012 10:26 AM 51 ParaView.bat
1 File(s) 51 bytes
2 Dir(s) 299,372,552,192 bytes free

When I the second code you gave me, right after I type ParaView.bat, I get a lot of lines of coding (a screenshot would help show this clearly)....

Wait... I think I'm starting to remember what the problem might be... Look into the folder where ParaView is installed. Is the "paraview.exe" executable file inside that folder or is it inside a sub-folder named "bin"?

I'm asking this because I don't have a Windows machine handy right now :rolleyes:

The "paraview.exe" executable file is inside the sub-folder named "bin".... :)

I suppose you've already guessed it... Add "\bin" to the end of the line in "ParaView.bat" we've been talking about:

Bruno!!! You are amazing!! I had guessed it right after you asked about the bin folder, but I finally got paraFoam to work!!

Thank you for all of your help!! I'm sure I will be posting additional questions as I know nothing about openFOAM (thus this simple fix was way over my head :))

Regards,
Alfredo