Edit Existing Synthesis Resources
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In the previous tutorial, you learned how to write data to a Synthesis repository; specifically, how to create new Synthesis resources (e.g., models, actions, URDs, etc.) and save them to a database. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to retrieve an existing Synthesis resource from a database, and then overwrite existing data about the resource with new information.
You'll use a model resource to work with the example. A similar approach can be used when working with other types of Synthesis resources.
Prerequisites
Before you begin:
- Create a Synthesis repository for testing purposes. Then create a model via the Resource Manager (Project > Synthesis> Resource Manager). Do not use published models for this tutorial (i.e., model resources that have been published from and are associated with an existing analysis/data source). Published models are read-only and therefore cannot be used to demonstrate the goals of this tutorial.
- Note down the model's object ID number. You will use the ID# to retrieve the model from the database. (To display the object IDs, choose File > Application Setup, then click Other under the Synthesis Settings heading in the navigation panel. Select the Display Object IDs check box. The object ID of the model is displayed in the Resource Manager.)
Tutorial: Edit an Existing Synthesis Resource
The following example demonstrates how to retrieve a Synthesis resource from a repository and overwrite existing data about the resource with new information. A discussion of the example follows.
A VBA version of the code sample is available here.
VB.NET Imports SynthesisAPI Public Module Module1 Sub Main() 'Connect to a Synthesis repository and project. Dim MyRepository As New Repository MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10") 'Replace with name and path to test repository. MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(1) 'Replace with the object ID of test project. 'Declare a new cModel object. Dim Amodel As New cModel 'Retrieve a model from the project. AModel = MyRepository.Model.GetModel(21) 'Replace with the object ID of test model. 'Edit the model's name, description and part number. Amodel.Name = "MyNewModel_Updated" Amodel.ItemDescription = "A specific type of light bulb." Amodel.ItemPartNumber = "PN5461" 'Send the changes to the project. MyRepository.Model.UpdateModel(AModel) End Sub End Module
Discussion
Begin by connecting to a Synthesis repository and project (for details, see this tutorial.) The example below demonstrates how to connect to a standard repository and open one of its projects. It assumes that a standard repository called "RSRepository1.rsr10" exists in the C drive and that we're accessing project ID#1. If you're copying this section of code, be sure to replace the inputs with appropriate data for your test repository.
'Connect to a Synthesis repository and project. Dim MyRepository As New Repository MyRepository.ConnectToRepository("C:\RSRepository1.rsr10") 'Replace with name and path to test repository. MyRepository.Project.SetCurrentProject(1) 'Replace with the object ID of test project.
Once you are connected to the repository, use the Model.GetModel method to retrieve a single model from the repository. The following code assumes that the repository contains a model with ID#21.
'Declare a new cModel object. Dim Amodel As New cModel 'Retrieve a model from the project. AModel = MyRepository.Model.GetModel(21) 'Replace with the object ID of test model.
You can then edit the model's properties. In this example, we edited the model's name, description and part number, as shown.
'Edit the model's name, description and part number. Amodel.Name = "MyNewModel_Updated" Amodel.ItemDescription = "A specific type of light bulb." Amodel.ItemPartNumber = "PN5461"
Use the Model.UpdateModel method to save the new information to the Synthesis repository.
'Send the changes to the project.
MyRepository.Model.UpdateModel(AModel)
To verify that the model's properties have been updated, open the Resource Manager and look up the model. You may need to display the Description and Part Number columns of the Resource Manager by right-clicking a column header and choosing Select Columns.
Notes
To update a model's parameters, category or type, use the cModel.SetModel method to edit the data, and then follow it up with the Repository.Model.UpdateModel method to save the changes to the repository.
To retrieve all other types of Synthesis resources, you can use the same approach demonstrated in the example. For example, to update the properties of an existing URD, you would use the Repository.URD.GetURD method to retrieve a single URD from the repository, and then use the Repository.URD.UpdateURD method to apply the changes.
To perform batch updates, use the Repository.Model.GetAllModels method to get an array of all available models in the repository. Similar methods exists for all other types of Synthesis resources (e.g., Repository.URD.GetAllURDs, Repository.Action.GetAllActions, etc.). See the Repository Class reference doc for the complete list.