5.1. Session files

A session file is an XML file that contains all of the necessary information to recreate the plots and visualization windows used in a VisIt session. You can set up complex visualizations, save a session file, and then run a new VisIt session later and be able to pick up exactly where you left off when you saved the session file. If you often look at the same types of plots with the same complex setup then you should save a session file for your visualization once it is set up so you don’t have to do any manual setup in the future.

5.1.1. Saving session

Once you have set up your plots, you can select Save session option in the Main Window’s File menu to open up a Save file dialog. Once the Save file dialog is opened, select the location and filename that you want to use to store the session file. By default, VisIt stores all session files in your .visit directory on UNIX and MacOS X computers and in the directory where VisIt was installed on Windows computers. Once you select the location and filename to use when saving the session file, VisIt writes an XML description of the complete state of all vis windows, plots, and GUI windows into the session file so the next time you come into VisIt, you can completely restore your VisIt session.

5.1.2. Restoring session

Restoring a VisIt session file deletes all plots, closes all databases, etc before VisIt reads the session file to get back to the state described in the session file. After restoring a session file, VisIt will look exactly like it did when the session file was saved. To restore a session file, click the Restore session option from the Main Window’s File menu to open an Open file dialog. Choose a session file to open using the Open file dialog. Once a file is chosen, VisIt restores the session using the selected session file. If you are on the Windows platform, you can double-click session files (.vses files) stored on your computer in order to directly open them with VisIt.