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In the previous section, we have implemented our first task (the t1.ecf file).

The t1.ecf script needs to be preprocessed to generate the job file.

This pre-processing is done automatically by ecflow_server when the task is about to run.

However, it is possible to check the job creation before the suite definition is loaded into the ecflow_server.

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Automated job creation checking is only available with Python.

If the ecflow_server can’t locate the ecf script, please see ecf file location algorithm

Python

The process of job creation can be checked before the suite definition

is loaded into the ecflow_server. The following checks are done:

Locating ecf script files, corresponding to the task in the suite definition.
Performing pre-processing

When the suite definition is large and has many ecf script this checking can save a lot of time.

The following points should be noted about job creation checking:

It is independent of the ecflow_server.
Hence ECF_PORT and ECF_HOST in the job file will have default values.
Job files have a .job0 extension, whereas the server will always generate jobs with an extension .job<1-n>, i.e. t1.job1, t1.job2.
The numbers correspond to ECF_TRYNO which is never zero.
By default, the job file is created in the same directory as the ecf script. See ECF_JOB

Checking is done using ecflow.Defs.check_job_creation

Update test.py with:

import os
from ecflow import Defs,Suite,Task,Edit
   
print("Creating suite definition")
home = os.path.join(os.getenv("HOME"),  "course")
defs = Defs( 
        Suite('test',
            Edit(ECF_HOME=home),
            Task('t1')))
print(defs)

print("Checking job creation: .ecf -> .job0")  
print(defs.check_job_creation())

# We can assert, so that we only progress once job creation works
# assert len(defs.check_job_creation()) == 0, "Job generation failed"

It is highly advisable that job creation checking is enabled for all subsequent examples.

What to do

Add job creation checking to $HOME/course/test.py
python3 test.py | ./test.py
Examine the job file $HOME/course/test/t1.job0
In particular note the substitutions made by the ecflow server such as ECF_PORT, ECF_HOST, etc