Project Structure

When you create a project named MyProject, SWAT+ Toolbox makes a folder named MyProject-spt in the destination you chose:

MyProject-spt/
├── MyProject.spt              project file
├── scenarios/
│   ├── Default/
│   │   └── TxtInOut/          the model as SWAT+ Editor wrote it
│   └── Toolbox/
│       └── Calibration/       the Calibration scenario, the model SWAT+ Toolbox works on
├── spt.data/
│   ├── observations/          observation files you add
│   └── backups/               automatic backups of the project file
└── gis.data/                  GIS files copied from the QSWAT+ project, when found

The project folder gets the SWAT+ Toolbox folder icon, so you can spot it in your file manager.

Project file

MyProject.spt keeps the project settings: run settings, parameters, observations, sensitivity analysis and calibration settings, and the scenarios. Open this file to open the project. Paths in it are relative to the project folder.

Scenarios

When the project is created, the model files are copied into two scenarios:

• Default (scenarios/Default/TxtInOut) is the model as it came from SWAT+ Editor. It stays as a reference.
• Calibration (scenarios/Toolbox/Calibration) is the copy SWAT+ Toolbox runs and changes. Parameter changes, calibration and management edits are made here. A new project opens with this scenario active.

spt.data

spt.data contains the data that belongs to the project but is not part of the model: the observation files you add and the automatic backups of the project file.

gis.data

If the TxtInOut folder belongs to a QSWAT+ project, the watershed shapes and the other GIS layers that project uses are copied into gis.data. If no QSWAT+ project is found, this folder is not made.

Moving a project

Everything a project needs is inside its folder, so you can move or copy the folder to another place or computer and open the .spt file there. To send a project to someone as one file, export it as a portable project (.sptp); see Exporting a Project.