Simput

Goal

To provide a simple way to write input simpulation files.

Installation

$ npm install -g simput

Usage

After installing the package you will get one executable Simput with the following set of options:

$ Simput

  Usage: Simput [options]

  Options:

    -h, --help                    output usage information
    -V, --version                 output the version number

    -i, --input [file|directory]  Input file or directory
    -o, --output [directory]      Output directory to output to
    -t, --type [type]             Type of input

    --no-gui                      Just generate output
    -s, --silent                  Do not open the browser

    -c, --compile [directory]     Directory to compile files
    -m, --minify                  Minify compiled file
    -a, --add [file]              Add model to list of available inputs
    -l, --list                    List model types of available as inputs
    -r, --remove [type]           Remove model to list of available inputs

Examples

$ Simput -t pyfr -o ~/pyfr/example

Starts a server and opens your web browser, an empty PyFR model is loaded which you can modify. The Save button will export a pyfr.json file (model) which you can then be loaded later on. The Convert button will export a pyfr.ini file for PyFR execution.

As no initial model was provided, the boundary names will be autogenerated. In order to pre-define those boundary names, you can either edit the generated model (pyfr.json) or start with an empty model you've created like the following one.

my-pyfr-model.json

{
    "type": "pyfr",
    "data": {},
    "external": {
        "boundary-names": {
            "User friendly name": "value-expected-by-code",
            "Inlet": "inlet",
            "Outlet": "outlet",
            "External walls": "external-wall"
        }
    }
}

Then loading it back for further edits can be performed with the following command line:

$ Simput -i my-pyfr-model.json -o ~/pyfr/example

Demos

There are a few supplied demos in the folder types, each have their own README.

Development

$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/Kitware/simput.git
$ cd simput
$ npm install
$ npm run build
$ npm link
$ Simput

  Usage: Simput [options]

  Options:

    -h, --help                    output usage information
    -V, --version                 output the version number

    -i, --input [file|directory]  Input file or directory
    -o, --output [directory]      Output directory to output to
    -t, --type [type]             Type of input

    --no-gui                      Just generate output
    -s, --silent                  Do not open the browser

    -c, --compile [directory]     Directory to compile files
    -m, --minify                  Minify compiled file
    -a, --add [file]              Add model to list of available inputs
    -l, --list                    List model types of available as inputs
    -r, --remove [type]           Remove model to list of available inputs

Then to compile pyfr and publish it:

$ Simput -mc types/pyfr/src/ -t pyfr -o dist/types/

Degbugging

A recent version Firefox is preferred for debugging. Errors in Chrome do not always point to the exact line where the error is happening.

Creating a new simulation type

In a separate location create a folder for your type:

mkdir mytype
cd mytype
git init

Create the folder and file structure:

• /src
  • /lang
    • /[language] e.g. "en", "fr"
      • label.json, attribute and property labels.
      • /help, help dialogs, recommended, not required
        • /[folders for each attribute]
          • [file for each property, contents are html]
  • /templates
    • [template file and helpers]
  • model.json, primary data structure.
  • convert.js, converts the model into the simulation deck format.
  • parse.js, converts a complete input file to the simput model; recommended, not required.
• /samples, empty or partially full sample datasets; recommended, not required.
• /versions, an output folder for your compiled type; recommended, not required.
• README.md, a description of your type; recommended, not required.

For examples of each take a look at types/demo

Optional: Add the type as a submodule to this repository

It's critical that these are executed in order

git checkout -b type-[mytype] #replace 'mytype' with the name of the new type
git commit -m "initial commit"
git remote add origin https://github.com/Kitware/simput.git
git push origin [mytype-branch] # where 'mytype-branch' is the current branch name
cd [your simput repo]
git submodule add -b [mytype-branch] https://github.com/kitware/simput types/[mytype]
git add .gitmodules types/
git commit -m "added [mytype]"
git push

Licensing

Simput is licensed under BSD Clause 3.

Getting Involved

Fork our repository and do great things. At Kitware, we've been contributing to open-source software for 15 years and counting, and want to make Simput useful to as many people as possible.