Install PySTK in a Windows container#

This topic provides details on installing PySTK inside a Windows-based Docker container.

Download Dockerfiles#

Start by downloading the PySTK Docker images for Windows. The images contain the latest three stable versions of Python.

Artifact

Windows Dockerfiles

Size

0.01 MB

SHA-256

2b92ef812b091a6d9130d781d3361f2985b8fcdec8e5af6b27b566bebade4c41

Download STK artifacts#

Download the STK Engine and STK Engine Deployment Resources artifacts for Windows platforms from the https://support.agi.com/downloads page.

Place the artifacts inside a directory named distributions. This directory must be contained inside of the stk-engine directory.

windows/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── stk-engine
│   └── distributions/
│          └── Place STK Engine artifacts here
├── stk-engine-py311
├── stk-engine-py312
├── stk-engine-py313
└── stk-engine-pybase

Build Docker images#

Navigate to the windows directory and use Docker Compose to build the image of your choice by running:

docker compose build stk-engine-py3<minor>

where <minor> is one of the minor versions of Python.

Download PySTK wheels#

Download the PySTK wheels for Windows.

Artifact

ansys_stk-0.2.0-py3-none-any.whl

Size

1.93 MB

SHA-256

9cd71cf0dbc92d986c1f181402a6136f3ef44866195914090bda37de7b4dcedd

Next, create a working directory in your machine. This directory is used as a shared volume with future Docker containers. Place the PySTK wheels in this directory.

working-directory/
└── ansys_stk-0.2.0-py3-none-any.whl

Configure the license#

Open a terminal in your working directory. Make sure you have set the ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE environment variable by running:

set ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=<PORT>@<LICENSE_SERVER_IP>

$env:ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=<PORT>@<LICENSE_SERVER_IP>

where PORT usually takes the value of 1055 and LICENSE_SERVER_IP is the Internet Protocol (IP) of the machine hosting the license server.

Start a container#

With the artifacts and the license in place, start a Docker container and share the working directory as a volume. This enables you to write scripts using the tools in the host machine while isolating their execution inside the container.

Syntax#

docker run \
  --detach --interactive --tty \
  --network="host" \
  --env ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=$ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE \
  --name <container-name> \
  --entrypoint <entrypoint> \
  <image-name>

Command breakdown#

Use the docker run command to create and run a container from a Docker image. Various options are available to customize the container creation process.

  • --detach Runs the container in detached mode, enabling it to run in the background.

  • --interactive Enables interactive mode, providing a TTY session for connecting to the container.

  • --tty Allocates a pseudo-TTY, ensuring proper formatting and display of the container’s output.

  • --network="host" Shares the host’s network stack with the container, enabling network connectivity.

  • --env ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=$ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE Specifies environment variable(s) to be shared with the container.

  • --name <container-name> Assigns a name to the container for easy identification and reference.

  • --entrypoint <entrypoint> Defines the command or script to be executed when the container starts.

  • --volume <volume> Specifies the binding volume between the host and the container.

  • <image-name> Specifies the name or ID of the Docker image to be used for creating the container.

Example#

docker run \
  --detach --interactive --tty \
  --network="host" \
  --env ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=$ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE \
  --volume working-directory:/home/stk/pystk
  --name stk-python3.12 \
  --entrypoint /bin/bash \
  ansys/stk:dev-ubuntu22.04-python3.12

Install PySTK in the container#

With a working directory containing the PySTK wheels and shared as a volume with the container, it is possible to install the package by running:

docker exec \
  --interactive --tty \
  stk-python-3.<minor> \
  cmd /C "python -m venv .venv && cd pystk && chcp 65001 && call C:\Users\STK\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat && python -m pip install --upgrade pip && python -m pip install -e C:\Users\STK\pystk[tests,doc,visualization]"

where <minor> is the minor version of Python selected when building the container.

Running scripts in the container#

Save your scripts inside the working directory. Then, execute them by running:

docker exec \
  --interactive --tty \
  stk-python-3.<minor> \
  cmd /C "python /home/stk/pystk/<script>"

Where <script> is the name of the Python script you want to execute.