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## The .visit file

Since scientific databases usually consist of dozens to thousands of time states. Those time states can reside in any number of actual files. Some database file formats support having multiple time states in a single file while other formats require each time state to be located in its own file. When all time states are in their own file, it is important for VisIt to know which files comprise the database. VisIt attempts to use automatic file grouping to determine which files are in a database but sometimes it is better if you provide the actual list of files in a database when you want to generate an animation using VisIt. You can create a .visit file that contains a list of the files in the database. By having a list of files that make up the database, VisIt does not have to guess database membership based on file naming conventions. While this may appear to be inconvenient, it removes the possibility that VisIt will include a file that is not in the database. It also frees VisIt from having to know about dozens of ad-hoc file naming conventions. Having a .visit file also allows VisIt to make certain optimizations when generating a visualization. VisIt provides a Group button in the File Selection Window to assist in the creation of a .visit file for databases that have no .visit file.