ifm: Python API for FEFLOW Groundwater Modelling System¶
Programming Interface for the FEFLOW Grundwater Modelling System
Requirements¶
- Python >= 3.9
- FEFLOW 8.1
Installation¶
The ifm API is automatically installed with FEFLOW (Python API option must be selected).
Getting started¶
There are multiple ways to use the IFM API of FEFLOW.
- import ifm as a package in a Python script.
- use the -python option when calling FEFLOW from the command line
- inject Python code into a FEFLOW model that is executed during model run time (Callbacks)
The most common way is to import ifm as a package in a Python script. This is usually the preferred way during pre- and postprocessing.
>>> # open a model and read the number of nodes
>>> import ifm
>>> doc = ifm.loadDocument("myModel.fem")
>>> print(doc.getNumberOfNodes())
The package resides in the “C:\Program Files\DHI\2024\FEFLOW 8.1\python” file and the FEFLOW installer will add this path to the PYTHONPATH environment variable. Therefore, the example above should work out of the box.
Note that if multiple versions of FEFLOW are installed, you need to adjust the PYTHONPATH environment variable accordingly thus that the desired FEFLOW version is . Use ifm.getKernelVersion() to make sure the desired FEFLOW version has been loaded.
Inline Python Scripts¶
FEFLOW Python scripting capabilities are activated via Global Settings options from the Tools menu. The option Enable Scripting is part of the section Tool Properties. Once this scripting option has been activated, FEFLOW will remember the user-defined setting and provide access to the Scripting menu.
The operation in the Scripting menu differs slightly to an external Python interpreter or Python Shell outside FEFLOW. The import of the ifm module is not required. The document variable, typically referred as doc, is automatically initialized and referred to the current document instance (either FEM file or DAC file) loaded in the FEFLOW Graphical Interface.
Table below shows an example about the operation differences between an external Python interpreter and the Scripting menu. The simple example just print the total number of nodes in the finite-element mesh.
https://download.feflow.com/html/help81/feflow/14_References/GUI/Menus/menu_scripting.html
- Note: The in-built Python interpreter has standard libs only. Non standard-librarys can be imported from a separate environment. Experience showed that installations from python.org is more stable than conda-environments.
Depreciation notice: Future versions of FEFLOW may require an external Python runtime instead of using the in-built environments.