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User Interface
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a Graphical User Interface generally known as the client workspace. This interface appears when you launch Simcenter STAR-CCM+ interactively.
Simulation Assistants
A Simulation Assistant provides a visual workflow within the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ user interface (UI).

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User Interface
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a Graphical User Interface generally known as the client workspace. This interface appears when you launch Simcenter STAR-CCM+ interactively.
- Using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Workspace
  This chapter shows you how to use the various components of Simcenter STAR-CCM+, with a focus on the user interface.
- What Are the Important Concepts?
  This section presents the key concepts you come across when using Simcenter STAR-CCM+.
- Working with Simulation Objects
  Objects are the key components of Simcenter STAR-CCM+. They represent various aspects of a simulation and have properties that you can set as required for your particular problem.
- Automation
  The Automation node provides easy access to a number of frequently used automated processes.
- Expressions
  In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can define property values using expressions, which you write using a function language that is a subset of the C programming language. Expressions can define mathematical expressions or perform other operations, such as interpolating tabular data from XY tables in the simulation.
- Global Parameters
  Global parameters include scalar and vector physical quantities (for example, 120.0 K or [0.0, 1.0, 0.0] m) that can be defined once and used in multiple objects. Another type of global parameter is a file, currently used for the Replace Parts operation in Geometry > Operations and in Design Manager.
- Field Functions
  Field functions allow you to access fields (scalar or vector data that are evaluated at cells, vertices, or boundary faces) in Simcenter STAR-CCM+. You can use field functions to visualize the computed fields, to specify boundary and region values, or to define initial conditions.
- Engineering Units
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ has flexible and customizable support for engineering units. The standard SI and USCS systems are built in, and you can add new units as desired. Physical quantities can be specified and displayed in any of these units. Individual quantities can be specified with new units on the fly by simply typing something like “80 mph”.
- Simulation Operations
  Simulation operations allow you to automate the solution processes in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ without using Java macros. Condition and loop operations provide the basic logic control common to many programming languages.
- Staged Physics
  In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, staged physics allows you to store multiple configurations of physics settings and apply them in sequence during a simulation. Simulation operations provide the framework in which physics stages are applied.
- Working with Volume Shapes
  A volume shape is a closed geometric figure that can be shaped as a block, cone, cylinder, or sphere.
- Simulation Guide
  The simulation guide is a single embedded document that you can edit within a simulation file. This document can contain formatted text, tables, images, and hyperlinks to nodes in the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ object tree or external web resources.
- Template Simulation Files
  Template simulation files allow you to define pre-configured setups for use in new simulations. When used in conjunction with query-based selection, template files present a powerful technique for automating repeat analyses on similar geometries.
- Scripting the Application
  Scripting allows you to work more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks.
- Working with User Code
  User code allows Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to be customized with functions written in a compiled language such as C, C++ or Fortran.
- Working with the Plugins Manager
  The Plugins Manager makes it possible to install and manage NetBeans modules for Simcenter STAR-CCM+.
- Simulation Assistants
  A Simulation Assistant provides a visual workflow within the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ user interface (UI).
  - The Simulation Assistant User Interface
  - Setting Up a Simulation Assistant Project in NetBeans
    To develop Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Simulation Assistants, it is recommended that you use an IDE (Integrated Development Environment).
  - Developing a Simulation Assistant
    A Simulation Assistant is a user-defined panel within the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ user interface. The panel is intended to provide a series of tasks that a user completes in sequence.
- Wizard Guide
  This part of the documentation illustrates how Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is used for special application tools and projects.

Simulation Assistants

A Simulation Assistant provides a visual workflow within the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ user interface (UI).

By default, this visual workflow appears as a panel to the right-hand side of the Graphics window. The panel is composed of a series of steps, or tasks, that you work through in sequence. You can reposition the Simulation Assistant panel in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ as if it were any other scene.

Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a Java framework that allows you to create your own Simulation Assistants. You create a Simulation Assistant using a combination of Java classes from the Simulation Assistant framework and Java macros that you record from Simcenter STAR-CCM+. You require a working knowledge of Java in order to create a Simulation Assistant. When complete, you can share Simulation Assistant with other users, who can load them directly into Simcenter STAR-CCM+. You do not require any knowledge of Java to use a Simulation Assistant.

If you are provided with an existing Simulation Assistant, you can load this into the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ UI.

Benefits of Using a Simulation Assistant

There are numerous benefits to having an assistant in your simulation:

New users can learn how to use Simcenter STAR-CCM+ faster by focusing on the topic of interest, and understand the process workflow.
Existing users can save time by following a pre-defined workflow that only exposes the areas that are relevant to their work.
Expert users can create workflows that make it easy for non-expert users to accomplish complex tasks.

Assistant Workflow

The workflow of a Simulation Assistant is made up of a hierarchy of tasks. Each task is presented in its own panel in the assistant. The aim of the workflow is to help you set up a simulation in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ without forcing you to perform tasks in a linear order.

Note	It is recommended that you follow a top-to-bottom approach when working with assistants. Jumping back and forth between tasks, especially if the tasks have no conditions, can lead to errors.