ANSE Tools

Description

This repository contains ANSE Input Generator and Database Export tools created for the Carbon Accounting Team at the Pacific Forestry Centre. The ANSE model is a software simulation model maintained by the Carbon Accounting Team for tracking and simulating the carbon stored within Harvested Wood Products.

XLSX to Text Conversion Tool

The primary goal of the xlsx2txt tool is to take in a .xlsx excel worksheet and generate a .in text file. The .in text file can then be used to create an ANSE model within a sqlite database.

DB Export Tool

The primary goal of the dbexport tool is to take in a .db model file and generate either a .xlsx worksheet or a .in text file. This can be considered the opposite of the tool above

Download / Installation

Currently, this repository does not contain the command line executables, which should be uploaded at a later date

To view the codebase itself, simply clone the repo, then open with your editor of choice. For C# oriented IDEs such as Visual Studio/Jetbrains Rider, it will be easiest to use the IDE's open project feature to select the .sln file located within the ANSE_Input_Gen folder.

Otherwise, simply download the executable for the corresponding operating system below, then refer to the user manual for usage instructions.

Operating System	XLSX to Text Tool	DB Export Tool
MacOS Silicon
MacOS Intel
Win10 x64
Ubuntu x64
More to be added

Dependencies

The two software tools use 6 external packages that are available through the C# packet manager NuGet. The names, usage, and licenses for these software packages are listed below.

To use the command line executables above, it is NOT necessary to install these packages.

Name	Version used in software (as of 06/2024)	License	Usage
EPPlus	7.13	Polyform Noncommercial License Required Notice: License Terms	This package is used for opening, and reading from any excel worksheets that are set as an input to the program
Microsoft.Data.Sqlite	8.0.8	MIT	This package is used for connecting to the sqlite database and reading data from the model to be written to an Excel or Text file in the DB exporter tool
Newtonsoft.Json	13.0.3	MIT	This package is used for reading and parsing the config.json file which describes the ANSE model configuration for the program
Seilog	4.0.0	Apache 2.0	This package is used to provide optional logging at multiple levels
Seilog.Sinks.Console	6.0.0	Apache 2.0	This package is used to allow for the log to write to the console
Seilog.Sinks.File	6.0.0	Apache 2.0	This package is used to allow for the log to write to a specific file

User Guide

Although the command line tool itself contains a help flag that display useful information with regards to the application usage, it is recommended to refer to the user manual for instructions on how to use the command line application.

If one is already familiar with the configuration and optional arguments to the command line program, the .exe file may be used like so.

1. Place the .exe file into the desired directory

2. Create a config.json file (instruction in user manual)

3. Run the tool and specify the configuration file and input file with the -c and -i flags respectively

4. The output will be a .in text file that can be found in the same directory as the .exe executable

To debug the application, it may be useful to activate basic/verbose logging, please refer to the user manual for more information.