feat: add reuse flag to override gallery flag

.github/labels.yml

@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@
   description: Issues fixed in Ansys Mechanical version 271
   color: FFDD33
 
+- name: fixed-in-next-release
+  description: Issues fixed in the upcoming Ansys Mechanical release
+  color: FFEE66
+
 - name: 24R2
   description: Bug observed in PyMechanical with Mechanical version 24R2
   color: 804000

doc/changelog.d/1564.added.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add reuse flag to override gallery flag

doc/source/conf.py

@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 import ansys.mechanical.core as pymechanical
 from ansys.mechanical.core.embedding.initializer import SUPPORTED_MECHANICAL_EMBEDDING_VERSIONS
 
-# necessary when building the sphinx gallery
+# Documentation gallery: enables Sphinx-Gallery and embedded ``App`` instance
+# reuse across gallery scripts. Per-constructor opt-out: ``App(..., reuse_instance=True)``.
 pymechanical.BUILDING_GALLERY = True
 
 # Ensure that offscreen rendering is used for docs generation

doc/source/user_guide/embedding/globals.rst

@@ -43,3 +43,4 @@ not for the ``globals`` argument of the ``App`` class:
 
    app = App()
    app.update_globals(globals(), False)
+

src/ansys/mechanical/core/__init__.py

@@ -76,7 +76,19 @@
 from ansys.mechanical.core.pool import LocalMechanicalPool
 
 BUILDING_GALLERY = False
-"""Whether or not to build gallery examples."""
+"""Control documentation gallery behavior and embedded-app instance sharing.
+
+When ``True``:
+
+- Sphinx enables the example gallery during documentation builds (see ``doc/source/conf.py``).
+- For the embedded :class:`~ansys.mechanical.core.embedding.app.App`, multiple
+  ``App()`` constructions reuse one underlying Mechanical instance so examples can
+  run without exhausting resources.
+
+To opt out of embedded instance sharing for a single ``App`` while leaving this
+flag unchanged (for example when ``BUILDING_GALLERY`` is set globally), pass
+``reuse_instance=True`` to the constructor.
+"""
 
 __all__ = [
     "__version__",

src/ansys/mechanical/core/embedding/app.py

@@ -193,6 +193,13 @@ class App:
     feature_flags : list, optional
         List of feature flag names to enable. Default is [].
         Available flags include: 'ThermalShells', 'MultistageHarmonic', 'CPython'.
+    reuse_instance : bool, optional
+        When ``True``, gallery instance sharing is skipped for this constructor,
+        so initialization follows the same path as when the module-level
+        ``BUILDING_GALLERY`` flag is ``False``. Use this to opt out of gallery
+        sharing without assigning ``pymechanical.BUILDING_GALLERY = False`` (for
+        example when the flag is set globally for documentation builds).
+        Default is ``False``.
 
     Examples
     --------
@@ -236,12 +243,16 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         db_file: str | None = None,
         private_appdata: bool = False,
+        *,
+        reuse_instance: bool = False,
         **kwargs: typing.Any,
     ) -> None:
         """Construct an instance of the mechanical Application."""
         global INSTANCES
         from ansys.mechanical.core import BUILDING_GALLERY
 
+        use_gallery_sharing = BUILDING_GALLERY and not reuse_instance
+
         self._enable_logging = kwargs.get("enable_logging", True)
         if self._enable_logging:
             self._log = LOG
@@ -270,7 +281,7 @@ def __init__(
 
         # If the building gallery flag is set, we need to share the instance
         # This can apply to running the `make -C doc html` command
-        if BUILDING_GALLERY:
+        if use_gallery_sharing:
             if len(INSTANCES) != 0:
                 # Get the first instance of the app
                 instance: App = INSTANCES[0]
@@ -668,7 +679,8 @@ def _share(self, other) -> None:
         """Shares the state of self with other.
 
         Other is another instance of App.
-        This is used when the BUILDING_GALLERY flag is on.
+        This is used when the BUILDING_GALLERY flag is on and the constructor
+        was not called with ``reuse_instance=True``.
         In that mode, multiple instance of App are used, but
         they all point to the same underlying application
         object. Because of that, special care needs to be

tests/embedding/test_app.py

@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ def test_building_gallery(pytestconfig, run_subprocess, rootdir):
     """Test for building gallery check.
 
     When building the gallery, each example file creates another instance of the app.
-    When the BUILDING_GALLERY flag is enabled, only one instance is kept.
+    When the BUILDING_GALLERY flag is enabled, only one instance is kept (unless a
+    constructor uses ``reuse_instance=True`` to opt out of sharing).
     This is to test the bug fixed in https://github.com/ansys/pymechanical/pull/784
     and will fail on PyMechanical version 0.11.0
     """
@@ -350,6 +351,16 @@ def test_building_gallery(pytestconfig, run_subprocess, rootdir):
     assert "Multiple App launched with building gallery flag on" in stdout
 
 
+@pytest.mark.embedding_scripts
+def test_reuse_instance_bypasses_gallery_sharing(pytestconfig, run_subprocess, rootdir):
+    """When BUILDING_GALLERY is True, ``reuse_instance=True`` skips the sharing path."""
+    version = pytestconfig.getoption("ansys_version")
+    script = Path(rootdir) / "tests" / "scripts" / "reuse_instance_test.py"
+    _process, stdout, stderr = run_subprocess([sys.executable, str(script), version])
+    stdout = stdout.decode()
+    assert "reuse_instance bypassed gallery sharing as expected" in stdout
+
+
 @pytest.mark.embedding
 def test_shims_import_material(embedded_app, assets):
     """Test deprecation warning for shims import material."""

tests/embedding/test_globals.py

@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ def test_globals_kwarg_building_gallery(run_subprocess, pytestconfig, rootdir):
 
     Test ViewOrientationType exists and messages are printed when
     BUILDING_GALLERY is True and globals are updated during the app initialization.
+    (Gallery instance sharing can be skipped per ``App`` via ``reuse_instance=True``.)
     """
     version = pytestconfig.getoption("ansys_version")
     embedded_py = Path(rootdir) / "tests" / "scripts" / "run_embedded_app.py"

tests/scripts/reuse_instance_test.py

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2022 - 2026 ANSYS, Inc. and/or its affiliates.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+#
+#
+# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+#
+# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+# copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+#
+# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+# SOFTWARE.
+
+"""Exercise App(reuse_instance=...) when BUILDING_GALLERY is True."""
+
+import sys
+
+import ansys.mechanical.core as pymechanical
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    version = int(sys.argv[1])
+    pymechanical.BUILDING_GALLERY = True
+
+    _ = pymechanical.App(version=version)
+    try:
+        pymechanical.App(version=version, reuse_instance=True)
+    except RuntimeError as exc:
+        if "Cannot have more than one embedded mechanical instance" in str(exc):
+            print("reuse_instance bypassed gallery sharing as expected")
+        else:
+            raise
+    else:
+        raise AssertionError("Expected RuntimeError for second App with reuse_instance=True")