From cbb3dc57acd3b370f38c996ec7e483d3895ea0f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Hammond, Rob" <13874373+RHammond2@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 14:22:22 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] slit save_layout to individual creation and save methods

---
 ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py | 64 +++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py b/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
index f1f65055..009c340f 100644
--- a/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
+++ b/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
@@ -361,36 +361,15 @@ def run(self):
         self._create_wind_farm_layout()
         self._create_cable_section_lengths()
 
-    def save_layout(self, save_name, return_df=False, folder="cables"):
-        """Outputs a csv of the substation and turbine positional and cable
-        related components.
-
-        Parameters
-        ----------
-        save_name : str
-            The name of the file without an extension to be saved to
-            <library_path>/cables/<save_name>.csv.
-        return_df : bool, optional
-            If true, returns layout_df, a pandas.DataFrame of the cabling
-            layout, by default False.
-        folder : str, optional
-            If "cables", then the layout will saved to the "cables" folder, and
-            if "plant", then the layout will be saved to the "project/plant"
-            folder.
+    def create_layout_df(self) -> pd.DataFrame:
+        """Creates a Pandas DataFrame layout.
 
         Returns
         -------
         pd.DataFrame
-            The DataFrame with the layout data.
-
-        Raises
-        ------
-        ValueError
-            Raised if ``folder`` is not one of "cables" or "plant".
+            Wind farm layout compatible with the ``CustomArrayDesignLayout`` or
+            for use with external models.
         """
-        if folder not in ("cables", "plant"):
-            raise ValueError("`folder` must be one of: 'cables' or plant'.")
-
         num_turbines = self.system.num_turbines
         columns = [
             "id",
@@ -460,7 +439,40 @@ def save_layout(self, save_name, return_df=False, folder="cables"):
         layout_df.cable_length = [""] + self.sections_cable_lengths.flatten()[
             :num_turbines
         ].tolist()
-        data = [columns] + layout_df.to_numpy().tolist()
+        return layout_df
+
+    def save_layout(self, save_name, return_df=False, folder="cables"):
+        """Outputs a csv of the substation and turbine positional and cable
+        related components.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        save_name : str
+            The name of the file without an extension to be saved to
+            <library_path>/cables/<save_name>.csv.
+        return_df : bool, optional
+            If true, returns layout_df, a pandas.DataFrame of the cabling
+            layout, by default False.
+        folder : str, optional
+            If "cables", then the layout will saved to the "cables" folder, and
+            if "plant", then the layout will be saved to the "project/plant"
+            folder.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        pd.DataFrame
+            The DataFrame with the layout data.
+
+        Raises
+        ------
+        ValueError
+            Raised if ``folder`` is not one of "cables" or "plant".
+        """
+        if folder not in ("cables", "plant"):
+            raise ValueError("`folder` must be one of: 'cables' or plant'.")
+
+        layout_df = self.create_layout_df()
+        data = [layout_df.columns] + layout_df.to_numpy().tolist()
         print(
             f"Saving custom array CSV to: <library_path>/cables/{save_name}.csv"  # noqa: E501
         )

From 697239a01150a70736e3198d0bdfaf978b0690c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Hammond, Rob" <13874373+RHammond2@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 14:22:37 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] update changelog

---
 docs/source/changelog.rst | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/source/changelog.rst b/docs/source/changelog.rst
index 5cee1899..d8906742 100644
--- a/docs/source/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/source/changelog.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Unreleased
   configuration input.
 - Move the matplotlib import from the import section of ``/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py``
   to the ``CustomArraySystemDesign.plot_array_system`` for missing module error handling.
+- Adds a general layout ``DataFrame`` creation method as ``ArraySystemDesign.create_layout_df()`` that
+  is called by the ``save_layout`` method to maintain backwards compatibility, but opens up the ability
+  gather the layout without saving it to a file.
 
 1.2.4
 -----

From 14cfa4b62e107b66e2c6f6310dccd800849a6d51 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Hammond, Rob" <13874373+RHammond2@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2025 09:31:26 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] more useful save log

---
 ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py b/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
index 009c340f..0e401bab 100644
--- a/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
+++ b/ORBIT/phases/design/array_system_design.py
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ def save_layout(self, save_name, return_df=False, folder="cables"):
         layout_df = self.create_layout_df()
         data = [layout_df.columns] + layout_df.to_numpy().tolist()
         print(
-            f"Saving custom array CSV to: <library_path>/cables/{save_name}.csv"  # noqa: E501
+            f"Saving custom array CSV to: <library_path>/{folder}/{save_name}.csv"  # noqa: E501
         )
         export_library_specs(folder, save_name, data, file_ext="csv")
         if return_df: