ASBD has two types of files.
- Project files
These use the extension .SST and can contain multiple design sections, design beams and a single structural analysis model.
- Section and beam files
These use the .SAM extension and contain a single design section or design beam.
A project file can contain linked or embedded design sections and beams. Linked files are a carry over from ASBD 2014 and earlier before the program had project files. In older versions of the software, there wasn’t a project file. The .SST file contained just structure data. The user had to define design sections and beams in separate files. These were then linked to in the structure file.
In ASBD 2016 we introduced the project file. All old structure files could be loaded into the program with their section and beams shown as linked files. These could then be embedded into the project file. All new design sections and beams are created as embedded files. The main reason to use linked files now is as a way of exporting a design section or beam to a file for importing into another project file.
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