Customizing ProMax by Editing Options.xml

Lili Lyddon

Feb 21, 2008


The Options.xml file specifies ProMax program defaults such as stream properties, units sets, items appearing in Tooltips, etc. Some default settings can be changed using Project Options, however, extensive changes may be inconvenient if they are to be performed for each new Project. Other default settings cannot be accessed through the ProMax program. By editing the Options.xml file, default settings can be specified such that each new Project will use these modified default settings. Examples

  1. You can change the default stream properties and order of properties appearing in the stream Properties tab. All available stream properties are displayed by default and these properties appear in a certain order. To change these properties and the order of properties, the user must open the Project Options dialog, click on the Stream Properties tab, remove all unwanted properties, and drag properties to the desired order in the list. If the same properties and order of properties are to be used in future Projects, this procedure must be repeated for each new Project. To avoid modifying the default properties for each new Project, the Options.xml file may be edited such that the user selects certain properties and places them in the desired order. Each new project will use these new default settings.
  2. The Options.xml file defines the content of the unit sets available in ProMax. You may add more unit sets if desired or you may modify the existing unit sets.
  3. Default Units for properties appearing in the ProMax Report can be specified. For example, the default units for Standard Liquid Volumetric Flow are sgpm in the Report, however, you would like to see liquid flow listed in standard barrels per day (bbld). The Options.xml file can be modified such that the default liquid flow units in the Report are bbld instead of sgpm.
  4. You can add properties to the “Tables” in a heat exchanger. You can also remove properties.
  5. Properties can be added or removed from the tooltips. For example, if you want to see molecular weight displayed for a stream via the tooltip, you can modify Options.xml to display molecular weight, or any other desired properties.

How to Edit Options.xml

  • If Options.xml is altered, the new default settings will be in effect for ALL future projects. Be sure to save a back-up copy of Options.xml prior to editing so that original default settings can be easily restored if necessary. Options.xml may be found by copying and pasting or typing in the following in a browser Address field:

    %allusersprofile%\Application Data\Bryan Research & Engineering Inc\ProMax2\Data

  • Alternatively, you can use Start—>Search—>For files or Folders... to locate Options.xml on your computer. To edit Options.xml, do the following:
    1. Go to the above location and open the file in Notepad or some other XML editor.
    2. To open in Notepad, right click "Options.xml", select "Open With", and "Notepad".
    3. Note that Options.xml must be edited in the English language and all information in Options.xml is CASE SENSITIVE.
    4. Be sure ProMax is closed before editing and saving the file. Any changes made while ProMax is currently running will not be saved.
  • Alternatively, custom Options.xml files can be created by BR&E for the user at no charge. Viewing Permissible Values for Options.xml

To view the correct nomenclature and available permissible values, do the following:

  1. From the ProMax Flowsheet View, click on "Tools" in the main menu and choose "Macros".
  2. From the Macros list, select "Visual Basic Editor ".
  3. In the Visual Basic Editor, click on the "View" menu item and select "Object Browser".
  4. The drop-down list in the top left corner lists Type Libraries with a default of . To narrow the number of Classes, select "ProMax" from the drop-down list.
  5. For each of the Classes listed on the left, all permissible values are displayed on the right.
  6. For example, click on pmxPhysPropEnum under Classes. On the right side is a list of every physical property name as used in ProMax. This list gives the correct spelling and all available items to be used when modifying the Options.xml file.

Authored by Lili Lyddon (BR&E Technical Support and Help Author)