[kepler-dev] Modifying MoML files

[Christopher Brooks]

You've found the ptolemy/moml/filter classes which is how we handle
sorts of changes at Berkeley.

My comments are interspersed with your message below.

On 4/10/12 10:02 AM, Hogan, D. (GE Energy) wrote:
> What's the best way to modify MoML inside of kar files?  Should I use
> ptolemy.moml.MoMLParser, some other class in Kepler, standard tools
> (XSLT/DOM) or something else?
Unfortunately, MoML is not well structured xml.  This is because
of the <configure> tag.  There is something in either the kepler email
archives or the ptolemy-hackers archives about this.

I have a test at ptolemy/configs/test/validDemos.tcl
that strips out the <configure> tags and runs a validating parser on the 
results.
However, the problem is that you need those configure tags for plotters etc.
So, using a validating parser will not be much help.

You could use other XSLT tools as long as the tool does not require 
valid xml.

>
> I'm trying to do two types of operations with MoML.  After I update
> source code for actors, I want to have a way to update all of the
> affected kar files.  This could be adding, removing or renaming ports
> and parameters or changing types and class names across all local kar
> files.  All of these operations appear to be supported as filters in the
> MoML parser.
Right, the ptolemy/moml/filter classes are the way to go here.
Let me know if the filters need any changes like accessor or reset methods.
You would need to write a script that unjars (I think) the .kar files, 
updates
the moml file and recreates the kar file.

>    The second task is doing a diff on MoML files without GUI
> or documentation related elements.  The automated layout in the GUI is
> great, but small changes in the workflow can result in big changes in
> the layout.   If I give a kar to someone and they update it, I want to
> be able to see what changes they made besides GUI placement or
> documentation.  This also appears to be supported by MoMLParser since
> there are filters to remove parts of the file.
Right, ptolemy/moml/filter/RemoveGraphicalClasses.java will remove
the gui xml.  That class has a main() method so that it can be run from
the command line.

To see if there are any changes, you could get part way there by
using RemoveGraphicalClasses, then, if necessary removing the
<configure> tags and then using tool to do a diff
> When I tried ptolemy.moml.MoMLParser with
> org.kepler.moml.filter.BackwardCompatibility.initialize(), I get a lot
> of unnecessary changes.  It would cause problems if I checked in the
> MoML files and ran 'svn blame'.  I noticed there is a file
> ptolemy-kepler-2.3/src/adm/bin/updatemoml which calls
> ptolemy-kepler-2.3/src/adm/bin/updateMoMLFile.tcl and runs diff to see
> if there were any differences.  I don't think that would work properly
> on a MoML from Kepler because there would be many changes.

I had forgotten about org.kepler.moml.filter.BackwardCompatibility, which
is found at ./core/src/org/kepler/moml/filter/BackwardCompatibility.java

I'm not sure I totally understand your question, but are you saying that the
MoML files included in the Kepler .kar files change when the Kepler-specific
BackwardCompatibility filter is run on them?

In Ptolemy II, we don't run the BackwardCompatibility filter on all the 
files
before a release.  In other words - the ptII tree includes files that 
would be
different if the BackwardCompatibility filter was run on them.  We partly
do this so that we can test the filters.  Another reason is so that we don't
have arbitrary changes in the change log.  Running the BackwardCompatibility
filter would make a number of changes which would make using 'svn blame'
less useful.

You could either run the BackwardCompatibility filters on all the moml 
files in the kar
files and provide an updated release to your users or you could try running
the BackwardCompatibility filter after the fact and comparing the output.
In other words, for any given model, you would need to run the filter on the
moml file from the Kepler distribution and on the updated version.

Kar files probably have a versioning system associated with them.
Ptolemy II updates the VersionAttribute in each file with the version of 
the PtolemyII
that is used.
There is also ptolemy/vergil/kernel/attributes/IDAttribute.java, which 
is not used
very much, but could be used to store version information.

In general, library management is a big issue.  Ptolemy II uses Actor 
Oriented Classes,
where a model is declared to be a class definition and there are derived 
instances
that are what is actually run.  There are rules about what can be 
updated or deleted.

_Christopher
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-- 
Christopher Brooks, PMP                       University of California
CHESS Executive Director                      US Mail: 337 Cory Hall
Programmer/Analyst CHESS/Ptolemy/Trust        Berkeley, CA 94720-1774
ph: 510.643.9841                                (Office: 545Q Cory)
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