The method proposed by JervisW requires a chuck of code to be pasted at the top of every script. This would also be a small inconvenience when we begin moving to PSSE33 and in the unlikely chance that someone had PSSE installed in a different path.
Adding PSSE modules python search path
You can modify the python search path by adding a
.pth file to the site-packages directory which looks like:
C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages
$ cat .\pti.pth
C:\Program Files\PTI\PSSE32\PSSBIN
And a quick check to make sure python can find the psspy module:
python -m psspy
If python can't find the module you'll get a traceback.
Adding PSSBIN to the system PATH
To work properly, PSSEBIN needs to be in the system path. Otherwise you get insightful error messages when you try to load a case like:
Invalid file type. example2.sav (OpnApplFil/OPNPTI)
In my opinion, modifying the system PATH within python just feels wrong. I would prefer to add the PSSEBIN to you path manually.
Automagically Adding PSSBIN to the system PATH
TODO: This method only seems to work if you invoke python for interactively. To actually work whit will have to be modified.
PSSE docs seems to imply that adding PSSBIN to the system PATH is a good idea anyways.
Honestly, most users don't know what an environment variable is, so there's probably no harm in modifying it on the fly. Using the installed package mindset we can put the code in an init.py file in our own directory in site-packages.
C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages
$ cat .\pti\__init__.py
import os
import sys
PSSE_LOCATION = r"C:\Program Files\PTI\PSSE32\PSSBIN"
os.environ['PATH'] = os.environ['PATH'] + os.pathsep + PSSE_LOCATION
Now when we start python we have the modified path:
>>> os.environ['PATH'].split(os.pathsep)[-1]
'C:\\Program Files\\PTI\\PSSE32\\PSSBIN'
Intelligently Finding PSSE Install
You should be able to identify the location of PSSBIN reliably through an environment variable or a windows registry entry. This would make the psse-python integration work anywhere.
However, I can't find anything useful in the environment or registry. Maybe it's buried somewhere under Documents and Settings.
Alternate: Using .bat file to setup environment
PSSE sets the example of using batch files to setup your PSSE environment. See Start Menu -> PSSE-32 -> PSSE-32 Command Prompt. We can follow this example and modify the PSSE-32 Command Prompt batch file like this:
@echo OFF
REM == Start Sane Python Setup ==
SET PYTHONPATH=C:\PROGRA~1\PTI\PSSE32\PSSEBIN;%PYTHONPATH%
SET PATH=C:\Python25\;%PATH%
REM == End Sane Python Setup ==
PATH=C:\PROGRA~1\PTI\PSSE32\PSSBIN;C:\PROGRA~1\PTI\PSSE32\PSSLIB;%PATH%
echo.
echo Your PATH is now set to run PSS®E-32 programs!
echo.
Before any PSSE scripts are run, users have to open the special PSSE-32 command prompt. I think most of the users already do this, so it may dovetail into existing habits.
Why all this work?
I want ... (more)
