Initialization of the TDB Module

The following explains how a database initialization file is constructed to work with the so-called TDB (database) module. When you start, the TDB module looks for a file that has information about the available standard databases. The database initialization file is called tc_initd.tdb. By default it is located in the data subdirectory of the Thermo‑Calc installation directory.

See Database Installation Folder

The location can be overridden by:

• A command line parameter -t followed by the path to the directory containing the tc_initd.tdb file.
• The environment variable TC_DATABASE_DIRECTORY pointing to the directory containing the tc_initd.tdb file. This overrides both the default value and a directory given with the -t command line argument.

Each database defined in tc_initd.tdb represents a database that can be used within Thermo‑Calc. Each entry has three parts:

1. The database short-name (e.g. FEDEMO, maximum seven characters, no white space, no commas).
2. The path to the database setup file (max 78 characters, no commas, can contain white space if it is a quoted absolute path).
3. A short description of the database (max 60 characters, can contain white space). The entry must end with an exclamation mark (!).

The paths can be relative to the tc_initd.tdb file or absolute. For platform independence, the recommendation is to always use forward slashes (/) in the paths, but on Windows backslash (\) also works.

You can add comment lines in the database initialization file. Comments must start with a $ sign.