Tutorial 1: Running FEBio from the command line on Windows

[maas]

FEBio is a console based application. In other words, it does not have a GUI. This implies that on Windows you have to run FEBio from the command line. In order for this to work properly, the FEBio path needs to be added to the PATH environment variable. To set this variable, follow the following steps:

1. Click on the Start icon.
2. Select the Control Panel. The Control Panel window appears.
3. Find the system icon and double-click it to open the System Properties dialog box.
4. Select the Advanced tab and click the "Environment Variables" button at the bottom of the page.
5. Under User Variables, select the PATH variable and click the Edit button.
6. Append the FEBio path (e.g. C:\Program Files\FEBio) at the end of the PATH variable's value field, seperated from the previous entry by a semicolon (.
7. Select OK on all the open dialog boxes.

Now that FEBio has been properly setup to run from a command prompt, you can open a console window as follows:
1. Click on the Start icon
2. Select the "Run ..." item to access the Run dialog box.
3. Type cmd in the open field and click OK.

This should open a command window. You can use the cd command to navigate to your work folder. To invoke FEBio from the command line, simply enter:
febio -i filename
where filename is the name of your input file and press Enter.

[mn06rj]

running FEbio

Hy in the command window whenever I type anything and return the command window dissapears, any help with this,
Regards,
Rhodri

[maas]

Hi Rhodri,

Can you please elaborate? Are you opening the command window as instructed above? What are you typing in?

You can also run FEBio by double-cliking the icon or selecting it from the start menu. It will then prompt you for your input file.

Thanks,

Steve.

[mn06rj]

running FEbio

Yer I dont know if it makes a difference but i'm running it on Windows vista, I followed your instructions but there isn't a run option in the start menu. When i type in for eg febio -i ..... etc the command window just disappears,
regards,
Rhodri

[maas]

Aha, I think I understand what you are doing. You first open FEBio (which opens a command window) and then you type febio -i filename. Is that correct? So, if you first open febio, it will prompt you for a filename. You do not have to type "febio -i" anymore then, you just have to specify the filename. Mind you that the filename has to include the path if the file is not in the same path as the febio executable.

The command window still exists on vista, but apparently has moved. A quick google search showed that you have to right-click on any folder holding the shift key down. Then you'll see an option "Open command window here". I don't have Vista, so I haven't been able to test this. Can you please let me know if this works so I can update my instructions above?

Thanks,

Steve.

[mn06rj]

Hy sorry but still getting the same problem, but when you say to put C:\Program files....etc in the user variables? there's no path file there, only in the system variables, do i need to create one in the user variables?
thanks,
Rhodri

[maas]

Hi Rhodri,

I think it is indeed best to create a new path variable in the user variables. I would not change the one under system. However, I would copy the value of the system's path variable to your local one.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Rosie Richards]

Hi I am also experiencing this same problem. I have opened febio from my start menu, but when I type in the file name the window disappears. I have tried also opening the tutorials directly from the folder in which they are stored, but the same thing happens. Please help if you know what's going wrong.
Thanks
Rosie

[maas]

Hi Rosie,

When you run FEBio directly from the start menu, or by double-clicking the icon, the default windows behavior is to close to command window when FEBio is done. This is a Windows feature and this is not something we can change. However, keep in mind that FEBio creates a log file of everything that was written to the screen, so you can always consult that file.

Another approach would be to open a command window and run FEBio from there. To do that, simply follow the three-step process as outline in the first post of this thread. Mind you that this process only works for Windows XP.

Cheers,

Steve.

[cakunkle]

I am also trying to run FEBio in Windows Vista. When I open FEBio and input a file from preview the command window immediately disappears. How do I access the files after the program closes?

[maas]

The output files are stored in the same folder from which you run FEBio. The log file is a text file and can be opened with any text editor (e.g. Wordpad). The plot file (extension .plt) can be viewed with PostView.

Cheers,

Steve.

[cakunkle]

Hi Steve,

So, if I want to run an analysis using FEBio on windows XP this is the protocol:

Create a .prv file in preview. Open FEBio and type: file.prv and then hit enter. The program will immediately close. Then, I should be able to go into program files and the FEBio folder and find the output file? I tried this and was still unable to find anything. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help!

Catherine

[maas]

Hi Catherine,

You forgot one step: you have to export an FEBio input file from PreView. The prv file is only for PreView and cannot be read with FEBio (or another program for that matter). To create an FEBio input file, simply select the File/Export menu. Select the FEBio files from the filter, enter a file name and press OK. Then, in FEBio open the .feb file that you just exported. Let me know if that works for you.

Cheers,

Steve.

[cakunkle]

Hi Steve,

I converted my preview file to feb and then typed it in the FEBio command line. However, I am still unable to locate any kind of .log or .plt files after the program closes.

Thanks again for the help,

Catherine

[maas]

Catherine,

Are you running FEBio from the same location as your input file? If not, that might part of the problem. You'll have to run FEBio from a command window to see the error message. I think the procedure to open a command window in vista has changed compared to XP so you might want to google that. Once you've done that, try running FEBio from the command window and let me know what the error message is.

Cheers,

Steve.