Getting started#

Use this guide to install and start working with the HDF5 composite CAE package.

Installation#

Install the package using pip:

pip install ansys-hdf5-composite-cae

Development installation#

Install the package with all optional and development dependencies:

# Install uv package manager
# See: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/

# Create virtual environment with Python >= 3.10
uv venv --python 3.12

# Activate the virtual environment
# Windows:
.venv\Scripts\activate
# Linux/macOS:
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install package with all development dependencies
uv sync --all-groups

Quick start#

After installation, you can use the package from the command-line interface or Python API.

Command-line interface#

To validate an HDF5 file against the composite CAE specification, run:

validate_composite_cae_h5 my_file.h5

To view the location of the example files, run:

show_composite_cae_h5_examples

Python API#

To validate a file, use:

from ansys.hdf5_composite_cae import validate_file

# Returns True if valid, raises an exception with details if invalid
validate_file("my_file.h5")

To create a minimal file, use:

from ansys.hdf5_composite_cae import create_minimal_h5_file

create_minimal_h5_file("output.h5")

View HDF5 files#

You need a viewer to inspect HDF5 file contents. You can download HDFView from the HDF Group website:

https://www.hdfgroup.org/download-hdfview/

Next steps#