CUBE 7 introduces a new project (catalog) and application (flow chart) data definition based on JSON format. A built-in importer is available to help convert your CUBE 6 catalog files(.cat) to CUBE 7 projects (.cube-project), as well as your CUBE 6 Applications (.app) to CUBE 7 Applications(.cube-app), with only a few steps. The importer will also copy the referenced input files and other files in your model folder.

The below steps illustrate the use of the CUBE 6 catalog importer

1. Open the CUBE 6 Catalog importer :CUBE Menu > File > Import from CUBE 6...
   
   
   
   
2. CUBE 6 Catalog File : Click the browse button to navigate and select the CUBE 6 catalog file you would like to import
3. New Project Name : Enter the name for the new project. In CUBE 7, projects are equivalent to the CUBE 6 catalog files.
4. New Project Location: Browse and select the location where you would like to save the imported project.
   Note: It is important to make sure that the output cube project will be added to its own folder. Avoid locating the converted version of your model in the same folder as the catalog being imported. Since CUBE 7 has a more standardized model folder structure, this might cause some confusion with your existing application and input files.
5. Create a project directory: Select this option if you would like to create a sub folder for the imported project inside the location selected above. The new sub folder will have the same name as your project. If the location you selected in item 4 is specific to this project, then you do need a separate project directory and can leave this option unchecked
6. Create a README.md file: CUBE 7 projects come with a README.md file which serves as a one- page documentation for your model. This file is in the markdown format and can support text formatting and other media. This file can be edited and viewed inside CUBE 7. Select this option if you would like to create a template README.md. The standard template contains examples of different formatting and media. You can edit this file in your project to add information relevant to your model for the model users. More information on Markdown is available at https://www.markdownguide.org/
7. Copy files: By default, the importer copies all input files referenced in your scenario keys and file links in your application manager. Select the Outputs option if you would like to copy the output files from your model. The importer will copy all the output files referenced (with resolvable paths) in your application flow chart. Use the Other project resources option to copy all the other files in your model folder. The importer will copy the inputs, outputs and other project resources in the same folder structure as was in the CUBE 6 model.
8. File Size Limit: Setup a limit on the size of the files to be copied. The importer will only copy files which are under this limit.
9. Click Import to start the import process.

The importer status window will open showing the status of the import process. The time to import depends on the size of your model application and other file sizes. If you have large files, this might take longer. You can also choose not to copy the output files and other project resources and do them outside of the import process depending on the need for these files.

After the import process is done, you will see one of the three confirmation messages below.

If your import process is complete with errors/warnings, you will receive a log of the errors/warnings which you can save to a file for further review.

The most common error in the import process is unable to find files. This could be due to many reasons as below:

• Output files from one program used as input file to another program but is not linked in the flow chart. In this case, if this file does not exist, the importer will log an error that the input file is missing. Errors and warning generated during Import.
• Input file setup as input in a scenario key but is missing.
• Input/output files with tokens in their file path/file name.
• Files output from external programs set up as part of the model process but is not visible in the application flow chart.

In this case, if a file is an original input (and not output as from an immediate program), but the importer is not able to resolve the path or if it is a missing file, the user needs to copy/create the file in the right location.

Common Error Messages:

• Invalid files:

External link to input file Zonal Data 1 on node DISTRIBUTION in C:/Cubetown65_NoGDB/MODEL/DISTRIBUTION.APP output file is not valid.

• Missing files:

Cannot find link to input file Network File on node PUBLIC TRANSPORT in C:/Cubetown65_NoGDB/MODEL/GDBOUT00.APP.

CUBE 7 has a more standardized folder organization for applications and scenarios. Each application (.cube-app) will reside in a separate folder under the parent Applications folder. Each subgroup within an application will have individual folders to organize script files and application specific file. For imported models, each application will be arranged under a separate folder. The script files are copied to the same folder structure as was in the original model. Each scenario will have a separate folder under the main Scenarios folder with the scenario code as the unique identifier (<scenario name>_<scenario code>).