Getting started#

This section provides instructions for installing and getting started with the HDF5 Composite CAE package.

Installation#

You can install the HDF5 Composite CAE package using pip:

pip install ansys-hdf5-composite-cae

Development installation#

For a development installation with all optional dependencies, follow these steps:

# 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#

Once installed, you can start using the package through either the command-line interface or Python API.

Command-line interface#

Validate an HDF5 file against the composite CAE specification:

validate_composite_cae_h5 my_file.h5

View the location of example files:

show_composite_cae_h5_examples

Python API#

Validate a file#

from ansys.hdf5_composite_cae import validate_file

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

Create a minimal HDF5 file#

from ansys.hdf5_composite_cae import create_minimal_h5_file

create_minimal_h5_file("output.h5")

Viewing HDF5 files#

HDF5 is a binary file format, so you need a viewer to open and inspect it. You can download the HDFView application here:

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

Next steps#