[kepler-dev] Custom actors + kar file + xml description

[Matt Jones]

Hi,

I don't know the answers to your questions right off.  In theory we
planned to allow KAR files to contain multiple actors. I don't know if
the KAR file management system can handle this, so we'll have to look
into it.

We need to write up a FAQ about LSIDs.  The handling of LSIDs needs to
be streamlined as well, but it all comes down to this: your LSIDs must
be unique or the cache system will think it already has a copy of your
actor.  As long as the LSID is unique and follows the LSID syntax, it
should work with Kepler.   We'll try to address LSID handling soon for
the actor developers.

You should be able to create kar files programatically.  We have not
provided a utility to do so, but I think it would be a useful feature.
 The 'Export KAR...' action in Kepler creates a KAR file
programatically from an actor in a workflow.  The code used for this
could be refactored and leveraged in a utility to loop over the files
ina directory, instantiate the actors, and then export the resulting
actors as kar files.  Of course, you'd need a mechanism to document
them as well, as one of the main reasons to have KAR files is to
package up the various things that go along with an actor, such as
documentation and external resources.  But this could be done.  If you
were to write a utility like this, it would be a welcome contribution
to Kepler and I'm sure many people would benefit from it.  If you
can't get to it, I will put it on our long list of TODO's.

Regards,
Matt

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 2:44 AM, Michal Owsiak <michalo at man.poznan.pl> wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I have following situation.
>
> I have created multiple actors for Kepler. Now, I'd like to pack them
> for a distribution in a convenient way. At the moment I have to put JAR
> file (containing all the actors) into "kepler/lib/jar" directory and
> instantiate them one after another. I'd rather to distribute them as KAR
> file(s).
>
> I know that it is possible to instantiate one actor after another and
> save them as KAR files. But what I prefer is to create multiple actor
> KAR file.
>
> I have few question regarding this issue
>
> 1. Is it legal to create KAR file and put multiple XML files inside it
> as well as multiple "Name: xmlfile" sections inside MANIFEST.MF?
> 2. There are two "LSID" values in each kar file (one for KAR file and
> one inside "Name: ..." section) how they are related to each other?
> 3. How should I create LSID values? Is there any documentation regarding
> this topic?
> 4. Is it possible to create KAR file automatically basing on the source
> code of actors?
>
> Let's say I have source directory "src/pl/kepler/actors/*.java". Is it
> possible to generate KAR file automatically using Kepler build system?
> Do I have to create new module in order to achieve this?
>
> 5. Is it possible to create XML description of actor basing on source
> code of actor?
> 6. How can I export composite actor as a KAR file - at the moment I can
> save composite actor as a KAR, but after loading it back into Kepler all
> the ports disappear.
>
> Thanks in advance for the answers
>
> Cheers
>
> Michal
>
> --
> Michal Owsiak <michalo at man.poznan.pl>
> Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center
> ul. Noskowskiego 10, 61-704 Poznan, POLAND
> http://www.man.poznan.pl
> _______________________________________________
> Kepler-dev mailing list
> Kepler-dev at kepler-project.org
> http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/kepler/mailman/listinfo/kepler-dev
>



-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew B. Jones
Director of Informatics Research and Development
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
UC Santa Barbara
jones at nceas.ucsb.edu                       Ph: 1-907-523-1960
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinfo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~