Repeat

It is sometimes useful to repeat the same task (or family) multiple times, iterating on a specific value. This can be achieved by defining a repeat attribute, which enables iterating over:

a sequence of integers (repeat integer)
a sequence of dates (repeat date)
a sequence of time instants (repeat datetime)
a list of string (repeat string or repeat enumerated)
a list of dates (repeat datelist)

Sequences of integers, dates or time instants are created by specifying the first and last element, with an optional increment (the default is 1 for integers, 1 day for dates, and 24:00:00 for time instants). Lists of strings or dates are created by specifying the individual elements.

On the definition file, a repeat attribute is specified by adding a line starting with the keyword repeat, followed by the type of repeat, the name of the repeat, and the values to iterate over.

Listing 50 Example of repeat attributes

repeat integer COUNT 1 10 2
repeat date DATE 20220101 20220110 2
repeat datetime INSTANT 20220101T000000 20220103T000000 12:00:00
repeat string COLOR red green blue yellow
repeat enumerated FRUIT apple banana cherry
repeat datelist YMD 20130101 20130102 20130103 20200101 20190101

In order to be used by the task script or trigger expressions, each repeat attribute generates ecFlow variable(s), with the name(s) corresponding to the name of the repeat.

Note

If repeat date, or repeat datelist are used in trigger expressions, they will use date arithmetic.

Repeat with day/date

Mixing day/date restrictions with repeat attributes is possible, but may lead to seemingly unexpected results.

Considering the following example, notice that once the day monday is free on family f1, it stays free until the automatic re-queue caused by the parent repeat. This means that task t2 will still execute, even if in the case where the day already changed to Tuesday.

Listing 51 day/date remain free until requeue

suite s1
  family f
    repeat integer rep 0 7
    family f1
       day monday
       time 23:00
       task t1
       task t2
            trigger t1 == complete
 ...

Repeat increment

A repeat under a family node will only increment when all the child nodes are complete. In the previous above, only once tasks t1 and t2 are both complete, the repeat integer rep will automatically be incremented to the next value and the f family is requeued.

Suite Definition

Modify the suite definition file, to add a new task /test/f4/f5/t1, as follows:

# Definition of the suite test.
suite test
 edit ECF_INCLUDE "$HOME/course"
 edit ECF_HOME    "$HOME/course"

 ...

 family f4
     edit SLEEP 2
     repeat string NAME a b c d e f
     family f5
         repeat integer VALUE 1 10
         task t1
             repeat date DATE 20101230 20110105
             label info ""
             label date ""
     endfamily
 endfamily

 ...

endsuite

Listing 52 $HOME/course/test.py

import os
from ecflow import (
    Defs,
    Suite,
    Family,
    Task,
    Edit,
    Trigger,
    Complete,
    Event,
    Meter,
    Time,
    Day,
    Date,
    Label,
    RepeatString,
    RepeatInteger,
    RepeatDate,
)


def create_family_f4():
    return Family(
        "f4",
        Edit(SLEEP=2),
        RepeatString("NAME", ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"]),
        Family(
            "f5",
            RepeatInteger("VALUE", 1, 10),
            Task(
                "t1",
                RepeatDate("DATE", 20101230, 20110105),
                Label("info", ""),
                Label("date", ""),
            ),
        ),
    )


print("Creating suite definition")
home = os.path.join(os.getenv("HOME"), "course")
defs = Defs(Suite("test", Edit(ECF_INCLUDE=home, ECF_HOME=home), create_family_f4()))
print(defs)
print("Checking job creation: .ecf -> .job0")
print(defs.check_job_creation())

print("Checking trigger expressions")
assert len(defs.check()) == 0, defs.check()

print("Saving definition to file 'test.def'")
defs.save_as_defs("test.def")

Task Script

Create a new task script file $HOME/course/test/f4/f5/t1.ecf to use repeat variables.

Listing 53 $HOME/course/test/f4/f5/t1.ecf

%include <head.h>
ecflow_client --label=info "My name is '%NAME%' " " My value is '%VALUE%' " " My date is '%DATE%' "
# Note the use of repeat date generated variables DATE_YYYY, DATE_MM, DATE_DD, DATE_DOW to automatically reference year,month,day of the month,day of the week
# These can also be used in trigger expression.
ecflow_client --label=date "year(%DATE_YYYY%) month(%DATE_MM%) day of month(%DATE_DD%) day of week(%DATE_DOW%)"
sleep %SLEEP%
%include <tail.h>

What to do

Apply the changes to suite definition.
Apply the changes to task script.
Check how many times the task /test/f4/f5/t1 is executed?
In the ecflow_ui, modify the values of a repeat
- Consider using F5 (Refresh) to update and display intermediate values.