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Step 1: Write a suite definition
The suite definition describes how your tasks run and interact. task s can be grouped together in families, which themselves may be placed in other families and/or suite s. All the entities (tasks, families and suites) are called node s and form a hierarchical tree.
There are two main methods for describing a suite definition to the ecflow_server.
via a text suite definition
The grammar of this text definition is described by Definition file Grammar. This grammar does not support conditional statements (such as if,while,for) nor the ability to define functions. However, the text definition file can be generated/created using any language which in itself supports conditional statements. The text definition is similar to that offered by SMS/CDP and as such may be an appropriate migration path for some.
via a python suite definition
This allows more checking and functionality and as such is our preferred method. See ecFlow Python Api.
Step 2: Write your scripts
ecf scripts are text files that correspond to the task in the suite definition. The script defines the main work that is to be carried out. The script includes child command s and special comments and manual sections that provides information for users.
The child command s are a restricted set of ecflow_client commands that communicate with the ecflow_server. They inform the server when the job has started, completed, aborted or set some event.
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