TAL file format (SIC version 4.33)

The .TAL file is a text file describing all the bathymetric information needed by EDITAL and TALWEG for the old SIC 4.33 versions or earlier. These files can be imported and/or exported from SIC version 5 and later (project editor EDISIC). This is the reason why this format, now obsolete, is nevertheless described in this documentation.

Its structure is hierarchical as regards the order and nature of the information, and includes the following parts, mandatorily in this order:

-* Network description -* Description of the network nodes -* Description of the network reaches & Description of the reach sections -* Description of the branches.

Each part includes a certain number of elements, whose storage structure is organized in lines. The first character of the line identifies the type of line, hence the element to which the line refers. In this version of the software, the following characters are “reserved”:

! identifies a network $identifies a node # identifies a reach N identifies a section % identifies a branch * identifies a comment line + identifies a continuation line.

Attention ! In the descriptions below, each comma is translated into a space character in the file, and each line is terminated by a carriage return (the \r\n character in c).

Network description (1 line)

‘!’, title, version, consistency, iflagx, xlm, ylm format: A1, A40, F5.3, I1, I1, F10.4, F10.4 where: version is the version of EDITAL (or EDISIC) used to generate this file, consistency is 1 if the network is consistent and 0 otherwise, iflagx : if it is 1 the longitudinal chainages must be multiplied by 1000 xlm : width scaling factor for the whole network ylm : height scaling factor for the whole network

Nota Bene: TALWEG could test “consistency” to analyze or not the network! For the moment it systematically re-checks the consistency.

Description of a node

‘$’, name, x, y, consistency format: A1, A6, I5, I5, I1 where: name is the name of the node x and y are the coordinates of the node in pixels, consistency is 1 if the node is consistent and 0 otherwise (always 1 for this version).

Description of a reach (2 lines + the sections of the reach)

1st line

‘#’, branch name, upstream node name, downstream node name, step, sin, aff, name, xlm, ylm format: A1, A8, A6, A6, I5, F5.3, I1, A40, F10.4, F10.4 where: step: is the calculation step sin: is the sinuosity of the reach = ratio of the medium bed length of the reach / minor bed length of the reach (between 0 and 1). aff: is a parameter that is 0 by default and 1 if one wants all the computational sections of this reach to be stored in the result file in transient flow (.RES). This allows a greater precision in the presentation of the results in transient flow. This is new in versions from 3.3 on. name: the name of the reach xlm: width scaling factor for the whole reach ylm: height scaling factor for the whole reach

Nota Bene: in the old SIC 2.1 version a - sign may appear in the 2nd column if the reach has been inverted. This peculiarity has disappeared in the files of the versions later than 3.0. Now the inverted reach is stored the same way as a normal reach, with its real upstream and downstream nodes.

2nd line

‘+’, upstream node number, downstream node number, x, y, consistency format: A1, I5, I5, I5, I5, I1 where: node number is the order of appearance of the node in the list of nodes which precedes, x and y are the coordinates of the “midpoint” of the reach in pixels, consistency is 1 if the reach is consistent and 0 otherwise.

Description of a section (variable number of lines)

1st line

‘N’, name, chainage, type, singular, display, consistency, xlm, ylm format: A1, A14, F8.1, A1, A1, A1, I1, F10.4, F10.4 where: chainage is the chainage of the section, type is: C if the section is Circular D if the section is Culvert R if the section is Rectangular P if the section is Power T if the section is Triangular or Trapezoidal L if the section is Width-elevation A if the section is Abscissa-elevation

singular: is S if the section is a singular section display: is D if the section is a display section consistency is 1 if the section is consistent and 0 otherwise xlm: width scaling factor for the section ylm: height scaling factor for the section

The number of lines depends on the type of section:

for the parametric sections, the number of lines is 2,

for the width-elevation and abscissa-elevation sections, the number of lines is: 4+2*(number of points-1)/8 (unless there is no point, in which case there are only 2 lines).

2nd line and following

The second line (and the possible following lines) depend on the type of section.

Circular section ‘+’, bottom elevation, bank elevation, radius, overflow elevation of the minor - medium beds format: A1, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, 7X, F7.2

Rectangular section ‘+’, bottom elevation, bank elevation, width, overflow elevation of the minor - medium beds format: A1, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, 7X, F7.2

Culvert or Trapezoidal (or Triangular) section ‘+’, bottom elevation, bank elevation, width, slope, overflow elevation of the minor - medium beds format: A1, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2

Power section ‘+’, bottom elevation, bank elevation, width, coefficient, overflow elevation of the minor - medium beds format: A1, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2, F7.2

Abscissa-elevation and Width-elevation section 2nd line ‘+’, reference elevation, overflow elevation of the minor - medium beds

format: A1, F7.2, F7.2

following lines (in pairs) (as long as there are points) ‘+’, (chainage or width [I] I = 1 to 8) ‘+’, (elevation [I] I = 1 to 8) format: 1A, (F7.2), x 8

Description of a branch

1st line

‘%’, name, color, consistency format: A1, A8, I10, I1 where: color is the RGB color of the branch consistency is 1 if the branch is consistent and 0 otherwise.

The number of lines depends on the number of reaches contained in the branch. It is: 2 + (number of reaches - 1)/12 if the branch contains at least one reach, and 1 otherwise.

Each following line is composed of: ‘+’ (number of the reach I = 1 to 12) format: (A1, (I5), x 12) where: number of the reach is the order of appearance of the reach in the EDITAL file.