Module 0, Install GeoDMS GUI and setup a configuration

learning objective: install the GeoDMS, open your first configuration file, and set up your text editor

introduction

Before you can start modelling, you need two things working on your machine: the GeoDMS GUI and a text editor configured to work with it. This module walks you through both.

A quick note on how the GeoDMS works: your model lives in one or more plain text files with the extension .dms. These are called configuration files. The GeoDMS GUI reads these files, builds a tree of all the items defined in them, and lets you inspect and calculate results. You edit configuration files in a text editor; you view results in the GUI. You will constantly switch between the two.

step 1: install the GeoDMS

  1. Go to the GeoDMS releases page and download the most recent stable release.
  2. Run the installer and follow the steps up to and including Part I of the Installation Instructions.

step 2: load and open your first configuration

All exercises in this Academy are bundled in a single project. Download it once now and use it throughout all modules.

  1. Download the Academy project here
  2. Unzip it to a folder on your machine, for example C:/prj/GeoDMSAcademy. This folder is your ProjDir (project directory).
  3. Inside, each exercise has its own subfolder. The root configuration file for this first exercise is basics_my_first_geodms_project/cfg/basics_my_first_geodms_project.dms.

Now open the configuration in the GeoDMS GUI:

  1. Start the GeoDMS GUI (installed in the previous step).
  2. Go to File > Open Configuration and navigate to basics_my_first_geodms_project.dms.
  3. In the tree view on the left, find and click the item my_first_param. Double-click it to open it in a table view.
  4. If the text is cut off, drag the right edge of the column header to widen it.

Your screen should now look like this:

image

step 3: configure your text editor

The GeoDMS GUI and a text editor work hand in hand. From the GUI, you can jump directly to the line in the configuration file that defines any selected item. To set this up:

Install Notepad++

We recommend Notepad++ as your editor. It is free, fast, and has GeoDMS syntax highlighting support.

After installing Notepad++, import the GeoDMS language file for syntax highlighting. The language file is installed together with the GeoDMS software and can be found in:

%ProgramFiles%/ObjectVision/GeoDms<version>/

For instructions on importing it, see Setup GeoDMS language file in Notepad++.

Link the editor to the GUI

In the GeoDMS GUI, go to Settings > Local machine Options and look at the Configuration File Editor section:

  • Use the folder button to select your Notepad++ executable, for example C:/Program Files/Notepad++/Notepad++.exe.
  • Click Set default parameters for editor to automatically fill in the correct launch parameters ("%F" -n%L for Notepad++).

Test the editor integration

Select the item my_first_param in the tree view and press Ctrl + E (or right-click and choose Open in Editor). Notepad++ should open the configuration file with the cursor positioned on the line that defines my_first_param. If you imported the language file, the file will have syntax highlighting:

Now edit the text Welcome in the GeoDMS world to something else, save the file, and reload the configuration in the GUI (File > Reopen current Configuration). You should see your change reflected immediately. This edit-and-reload workflow is the standard way of working with GeoDMS.

step 4: configure local data folders

GeoDMS configurations often use two placeholder folders:

  • %SourceDataDir%: for read-only source data files (input datasets)
  • %LocalDataDir%: for intermediate and output files written by the model

These placeholders map to physical folders on your machine. You configure them under Settings > Local machine Options:

By default, the GeoDMS looks for C:/SourceData and C:/LocalData. Change these to folders that exist on your machine. We recommend setting LocalDataDir to a local drive (not a network drive) for performance.

For a broader overview of the folder structure and all available placeholders, see Folders and Placeholders.

Go to next module: Module 1, Learning the basic concepts of GeoDMS