Conversation on Props

RunTypes JSON File

(Mike Bottini here)

From my commit message of the runtypes_config.json revision:

---

Each RunType will now contain the following values:

• args, containing an ordered list of arguments. This is for the purpose of dialogue and presenting each parameter to the user.

• annotations, containing key-value pairs of arguments and descriptions for each one. This is for explaining each parameter to the user.

• types, containing key-value pairs of arguments and types. This is for defining valid user input for each argument.

• translations, containing key-value pairs of arguments and .props values. Upon running in main, the program will take a Run and its corresponding RunType and write values to its temporary .props file.

• props_defaults, containing values that will be written by default to the .props file without any user input at all. These are intrinsic to the RunType.

For example, let's say that we have an RunType with the following:

"SPAM" : {
  args : [
    "foo"
    "bar"
  ],

  annotations : {
    "foo" : "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur...",
    "bar" : "Sed blandit metus quis nulla dapibus..."
  },

  "types" : {
    "foo" : "string",
    "bar" : "integer"
  },

  "translations" : {
    "foo" : "controller.quux.spam.eggs.foo"
  },

  "props_defaults" : {
    "controller.muffin.scone" : false,
    "controller.waffle.pancake" : 50,
    "controller.bacon.sausage" : "eggs"
  }
}

Upon a user creating a SPAM Run, the Dialogue will ask the user to provide values for foo and bar, demanding a string and integer as input, respectively. If needed, the user can obtain the annotations (Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...) to explain what he is supposed to input. Let's say that he inputs oatmeal and 5, respectively.

Upon running the above run, main will write the following to the temporary .props file:

controller.quux.spam.eggs.foo=oatmeal
controller.muffin.scone=false
controller.waffle.pancake=50
controller.bacon.sausage=eggs

The remaining bar value will possibly be used in the actual JVM invocation.

RunList JSON File

The RunList is much simpler. Going with Benjamin Spriggs' request for more metadata, I'm happy to provide something like the following schema:

{
  "Runs" : [
    {
      "Tag" : "SPAM Run 1",
      "RunType" : "SPAM",
      "foo" : "oatmeal",
      "bar" : 5
    }
  ],

  "Meta" : {
    "creation_date": "2012 23 1 1",
    "name": "crepes",
    "company": "Cream of Wheat, Inc"
  }
}

Note that Runs is an ordered list, as each run will be run sequentially in an order that matters to the user.

Putting it Together In Main

As stated above and in the meeting, main needs to pull from both the RunList and the RunTypes JSON files.

• It will take the tag name from the RunList to create a directory with the results.

• It will obtain the RunType of the current Run from the RunList.

• It will write the props file with the props attributes defined in RunTypes and the values defined in the RunList.

• It will use a hardcoded function to create the JVM invocation, pulling values from the RunList. Note that right now, we're just constructing run.sh calls. Depending on how few arguments remain, this might not have to be hardcoded! It might be possible to create a generic invocation with any additional JVM Options, if necessary.

• It then invokes the JVM with this command and saves the data.