Load the file

Loading a Suite created as a text file¶

From within the course directory do the following from the unix shell:

> ecf_client --load=test.def

The executable ecf_client provides the shell level interface for communication with the ecf_server.

You will have already seen ecf_client being used in head.h and tail.h include files.

For a full list of commands type:

> ecf_client --help

Loading Suite created in python¶

We can ask the python script to write out the defs as ‘.def’ definition file:

#!/usr/bin/env python2.5
import os
import ecflow 
   
defs = ecflow.Defs("test.def")
suite = defs.add_suite("test")
suite.add_variable("ECF_HOME",os.getenv("HOME") + "/course")
suite.add_task("t1")

# this will generate a file 'test.def'
defs.save_as_defs()

You can also print the defs. The output will written to standard out:

print defs

If you called “defs.save_as_defs()” the file test.def will be written.

This can be loaded in the server as described earlier Loading a Suite created as a text file

However since the ecFlow Python Api allows the definition to be built in memory, it is more efficient if this could be directly loaded into the ecf_server.

This can be done by using ecflow.Client python class:

ci = ecflow.Client();
ci.set_host_port("localhost","3141")

try:
   ci.ping()                 # Ping the server, to see if its running
   ci.load(defs)             # load the definition into the server
except RuntimeError, e:
   print "failed: " + str(e);

If everything is OK, you should have defined a suite.

Have a look in the window running the ecf_server, and look at the log file

What to do:

1. Load the definition file
2. Check the log file