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  • Created by Unknown User (ma0), last modified on Mar 13, 2019

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Serialisation

In ecflow 4 series, we used boost  Serialisation for the client/server communication.

Using the same boost version meant that different version of ecflow 4.X.X releases had client/server that could be used interchangeably.

However this caused problems when we wanted upgrade to a newer boost version, since it broke the client/server api.

This has been addressed in ecflow 5, we now use JSON for the client/server communication. 

Hence future release of ecflow 5 series can be done with different boost releases.

Stats Command

For the stats command in 4 series version , the server returns a struct for the  statistics, the client then formats this.

However this meant we would break client/server api,  if the struct was changed between releases.  When we added new statistics.

In ecflow 5.0.0 we return a string, the server itself will format the string, adding/removing new fields without effecting client/server compatibility. 

We still retain the ability to return the struct for test purposes.

Checkpoint and caching

Whenever the server checkpoints(i.e saves the definition state) , the full definition is written to disk.

The checkpoint uses ecFlow definition format, when writing to disk and reading it back into memory. (done faster the boost or even Json  serialisation)

In series 5 the server takes advantage of this by caching this as a string before writing it out as the checkpoint file.

This effectively caches the de-serialisation cost .

If any user requests the full definition,  we can return cached string really fast.

Auto Sync

In the 4 series, whenever the GUI makes a change, it involves two calls to the server.

  • Invoke the command
  • Call the sync command, this then syncs the changes from the server, into the client

In 5 series version  we support auto sync, which effectively combines the two separate commands into one.

This reduces the latency for GUI and python clients  and improves responsiveness.

Generic Attribute

A new generic attribute has been added to the definition in ecflow 5 series.

This will be used to address any new functionality required, without breaking backward compatibility.

generic <key> <value1> <value2> .... # comment  
suite a
  generic a  
  generic b c f #
  family b
    generic a  
    generic b c f #
    task c
        generic a  
        generic b c f #
        generic x #
  endfamily
endsuite
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