Main Form
Description
The Main Form is loaded when starting VECTO. Closing this form will close VECTO even if other dialogs are still open. In this form all global settings can be controlled and all other application dialogs can be opened.
In order to start a simulation the Calculation Mode must be set and at least one Job File (.vecto) must added to the Job List. After clicking START all checked files in the Job List will be calculated. From the user interface you can either run the simulation using Vecto 2.2 or Vecto 3.x by clicking the according START button on the left side of the window.
The Main Form includes three tabs as described below:
- Job Files Tab
- Driving Cycles Tab (only if Batch Mode is enabled)
- Options Tab
Job Files Tab
Job Files List
Job files (.vecto) listed here will be used for calculation. Unchecked files will be ignored! Doubleclick entries to edit job files with the VECTO Editor.
All
- (Un-)Check all files in Job List. Only checked files are calculated when clicking START.
Add files to Job List
Remove selected files from List
Move selected files up or down in list
List Options
- Save/Load List
- Save or load Job List to text file
- Load Autosave-List
- The Autosave-List is saved automatically on application exit and calculation start
- Clear List
- Remove all files from Job List
- Remove Paths
- Remove paths, i.e. only file names remain using the Working Directory as source path.
Driving Cycles Tab
- Driving Cycle List
- The Driving Cycles List is only used in Batch Mode. The same controls are used as in the Job Files List.
Options Tab
In this tab the global calculation settings can be changed.
Declaration Mode
- Select either Declaration Mode or Engineering Mode
Write modal results
- Toggle output of modal results (.vmod files). Summary files (.vsum, .vres) are always created.
Batch Mode
- If Declaration Mode is disabled VECTO can be run in Batch Mode.
Cycle Distance Correction
- Toggle Cycle Distance Correction. Always ON in Declaration Mode. Cycle Distance Correction monitors the driven distance in each time step and, if necessary, adds or removes time steps in order to keep the original distance given in the driving cycle.
- If enabled the vehicle drives the same distance as given in the driving cycle
- If disabled the vehicle travels the same time as given in the driving cycle (Note that distance-based cycles (see here) are always converted to time-based cycles internally)
Use gears/rpm’s form driving cycle
- If activated VECTO will use gear and/or engine speed defintions included in the driving cycle (see here).
Shutdown system after last job
- If activated VECTO will shutdown the system after the last job was completed. (Can be aborted during 100 seconds before shutdown.)
- Output Path (BATCH Mode only)
- Select target directory for result files (.vmod, .vres, .vsum)
Create Subdirectories for modal results (BATCH Mode only)
- If activated a subdirectory for each job file will be created inside Output Path for modal output.
Controls
New Job File
- Create a new .vecto file using the VECTO Editor
Open existing Job or Input File
- Open an existing input file (Job, Engine, etc.)
Tools
- Job, Vehicle, Engine, Gearbox Editor
- Opens the respective Editor
- Graph
- Open a new Graph Window
- Open Log
- Opens the Log File in the system’s default text editor
- Settings
- Opens the Settings dialog.
Help
- User Manual
- Opens this User Manual
- Release Notes
- Open the Release Notes (pdf)
- Report Bug via CITnet / JIRA
- Open the CITnet/JIRA website for reporting bug
- Create Activation File
- Create an Activation File used for Licensing
- About VECTO
- Information about the software, license and support contact
- Message List
- All messages, warnings and errors are displayed here and written to the log file LOG.txt in the VECTO application folder. Depending on the colour the following message types are displayed:
- Status Messages
- Warnings
- Errors
- Links - click to open file/user manual/etc.
Note that the message log can be opened in the Tools menu with Open Log.
In addition to the log messages shown in the message list, Vecto 3 writes more elaborate messages in the subdirectory logs. If multiple simulations are run in parallel (e.g., in declartion mode a vehicle is simulated on different cycles with different loadings) a separate log-file is created for every simulation run.
- Statusbar
- Displays current status and progress of active simulations. When no simulation is executed the current mode is displayed (Standard, Batch or Declaration Mode).