The following python code shows how to check expression and limits.
Checking existing definition file that has been saved as a file;
def = ecflow.Defs("/my/path.def") # will load file '/my/path.def' from disk
print def.check() # check trigger expressions and limits
Here is another example where we create the suite definition on the fly. In fact using the python API allows for a correct by construction paradigm.
defs = ecflow.Defs() # create a empy defs
suite = defs.add_suite("s1"); # create a suite 's1' and add to defs
task = suite.add_task("t1"); # create a task 't1' and add to suite
task.add_trigger("t2 == active)") # mismatched brackets
result = defs.check(); # check trigger expressions and limits
print "Message: '" + result + "'"
assert len(result) != 0, "Expected Error: mis-matched brackets in expression."