# Error messages in ParaView when reading in Transient OpenFoam test case
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [July 18, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247 "2019-07-18T15:48:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/1 "2019-07-18T15:48:33Z")
Hi,
I am reading in a transient openFoam test case using a case.foam file and VTK format on a Windows 10 system. I am editing an earlier post about this issue since I initially believed ParaView 4.4 did not have issues. But, I was mistaken. I have been able to determine that if I write out data from OpenFoam at time steps which involve a scientific format (in this case at time steps of 1e-8 s, 2e-8 s, etc…), ParaView (4.4. and 5.6.x) generate an error message, some of which are attached to this post. This is a reproducible error. For the same test case, if I read in data from OpenFoam written out at time points expressed in decimal format, this error does not appear.
I plan to post it too on the Development forum in the hope that someone on the development team can confirm and/or propose a workaround.
Thank you for your consideration.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2019, 7:19am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/2 "2019-07-19T07:19:04Z")
Please share your dataset.
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### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/3 "2019-07-20T22:37:55Z")
Hi,
Thank you for looking into this! I am attaching a few tar archives containing example data from the pitzDaily tutorial of OpenFoam (v1806) exemplifying the issue. The archives contain all the necessary dictionary files to re-run the calculations. I’ve modified controlDict to ensure only two time steps are written out. There are four archives:
1. pitzdaily.tar.gz
2. pitzdaily\_exp.tar.gz - same as 1, except results are written out at very early time steps such that the data folders are expressed in using scientific notation (5e-06/ and 1e-05/).
3. pitzdaily\_par.tar.gz - same as 1, except the calculation is run in parallel using mpi.
4. pitzDaily\_reconstr.tar.gz - same as 3, but results have been reconstructed using foamToVTK.
Except for archive #3, all examples have a VTK folder too. I have read in data using two approaches:
a) Read in case.foam file in the respective folder. Then Apply.
b) Read in .vtk group file in the VTK folder of the respective example.
I see error pop-up windows appear when I try to read in the data, depending on whether I utilize approach a) or b) listed above using ParaView 5.6.0 on Windows 7, and ParaView 5.6.0 (and 5.6.1) on Windows 10. I understand from a work colleague that no error pop-up windows appeared when he tried loading the data using a Mac with macOS Mojave (10.14.5) and ParaView 5.6.0. The results I obtained are listed below:
Folder Outcome Case.foam Outcome VTK
pitzDaily Error after data Apply It works!
pitzDaily\_par Error after data Apply N/A
pitzDaily\_reconstr Error after data Apply It works!
pitzDaily\_exp Error after data Apply Error after data Apply
Please note how there is also an error with the VTK data input when the results are written out to folders in expoential format (pitzDaily\_exp).
Here are the links to the archives.
> **[pitzdaily\_par.tar.gz](https://www.dropbox.com/s/xqmi1pi1aia30bf/pitzdaily_par.tar.gz?dl=0)**
>
> Shared with Dropbox
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0jsdt2uo9b9290/pitzDaily\_reconstr.tar.gz?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0jsdt2uo9b9290/pitzDaily_reconstr.tar.gz?dl=0)
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/n724ygf8ll84h9y/pitzdaily.tar.gz?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/n724ygf8ll84h9y/pitzdaily.tar.gz?dl=0)
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/std0ppss971hln6/pitzdaily\_exp.tar.gz?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/std0ppss971hln6/pitzdaily_exp.tar.gz?dl=0)
Many thanks for your help.
Maziar.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/4 "2019-07-24T11:57:35Z")
I was unable to reproduce your issues with the provided datasets. Could please explain, step by step, how to reproduce the issue ?
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### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/5 "2019-07-24T14:29:31Z")
Hi,
I am assuming you’ve unpacked the tar archives and the folders are available. I am using a Windows 10 system and ParaView 5.6.1.
Please start an instance of ParaView in the folder containing the “case.foam” file. Load the case.foam file and “Apply” for all test cases except for pitzdaily\_par. In the case of pitzdaily\_par, which is a parallel run, set the data type to “Decomposed” in place of the default “Reconstructed” before you “Apply”.
The alternative strategy to try is to load the VTK files located in the VTK folder, and then “Apply”. The pitzdaily\_par folder does not have a VTK folder.
You should see the errors based on the results I showed in my previous response. For example, where I wrote:
**FolderOutcome Case.foam Outcome VTK**
pitzDaily Error after data Apply It works!
pitzDaily\_exp Error after data Apply Error after data Apply
This means that for the folder “pitzDaily”, if I load the data using the case.foam approach presented above, I get an error. If I load the VTK files, it works. In the case of the folder pitzDaily\_exp, I get errors regardless of the approach.
Please let me know if this is clear. I would really like to know what the issue is and how it can be resolved. Thank you!
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/6 "2019-07-24T14:31:52Z")
This is exactly what I did, without any issue.
I’m using Windows 10 with an english language. What about you ?
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### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/7 "2019-07-24T14:48:06Z")
Yes. I am using an English language version. How to proceed? Can the nature of the error message provide clarification as to what aspect of my setup is the issue? I have attached the error messages for the case of the pitzDaily run.
 
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/8 "2019-07-24T14:49:22Z")
Please try to reproduce on another computer.
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### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/9 "2019-07-24T15:52:39Z")
I only have employer-issued hardware running Windows. I have reproduced these problems with hardware running Windows 7 and various versions of ParaView (4.4, 5.2, 5.6, 5.6.1). My colleague, who has an employer-issued Mac, does not have this problem as I reported in this thread. I am not sure what else to test within my means.
Does the error message provide no hint where the problem could reside?
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/10 "2019-07-24T15:55:19Z")
Not really no.
Please try to use our release instead of your own superbuild.
[https://www.paraview.org/download/](https://www.paraview.org/download/)
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### Author:  [@yek\_irani](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/yek_irani)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/11 "2019-07-24T15:59:34Z")
If by “superbuild” you mean a version I may have compiled from source, I did not.
I have downloaded the “.exe” which I subsequently installed using the install wizard.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/error-messages-in-paraview-when-reading-in-transient-openfoam-test-case/2247/12 "2019-07-24T16:05:44Z")
sorry, about that. You are right.
You will have to find a way to reproduce your error on another computer.