[kepler-users] Kepler hosed with bad User Library

[Kenneth Evans, Jr.]

Shawn,

What I actually did, by mistake, was to add a Constant actor (renamed to
"Hello World" and outputting some hello string) to the library.  In the
dialog I probably renamed it to HelloWorld.  I added it to Computer Science
for lack of a better place (like My Actors ;-).  I then removed it from
Computer Science, but I suppose it got confused between Constant and
HelloWorld. In any event I couldn't start Kepler after that.

I am sorry to hear there is no way to fix it other than deleting .kelper.
That is not a good solution.

I am using the beta3 downloaded version for this issue.  I also checked out
the current version from CVS but it doesn't build so I can't use it.  I
submitted _that_ problem to the developers forum and there is a thread
going.  I assume it will be fixed sooner or later, probably sooner.

The following is not specifically part of the Kepler getting hosed issue,
but is related to saving actors:

I should also note that I can put my _own_ actors in the Kepler classpath
and access them via "Instantiate Component".  After that I can save them (to
Computer Science ;-).  This seems to work.  I still don't know how to remove
them.

I have so far been unsuccessful in making a KAR file that Kepler will
import.  I don't yet understand the syntax of the XML file, especially how
to specify the LSIDs.

As I said, this is all much easier in the Vergil GUI (as opposed to the
Kepler GUI).  I understand that both use much of the same code and both are
based on Ptolemy II.  BTW the search feature is an improvement IMHO, and I
think the Kepler GUI is more attractive.  The problem with Kepler for me is
that it is not easy to use my own actors, something I need to do.  I would
be developing for the x-ray community -- not one of your communities yet as
far as I can tell, so code would need to be written (and debugged).  I don't
like it that you have to rebuild the program to add or modify actors.  With
scientific software there is a range of users from those that want
developers to do it for them to ones that would rather do it all themselves,
thank you.  A solution where no users can modify the software easily is not
going to be accepted (double negative intended).

Thanks for your interest.

        -Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: smbowers at gmail.com [mailto:smbowers at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Shawn
Bowers
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 12:03 PM
To: Kenneth Evans, Jr.
Cc: Kepler Users
Subject: Re: [kepler-users] Kepler hosed with bad User Library

> >> A better method is when you have Kepler running, right click on the
> actor in the canvas and select "add to library".
>
> Actually, that is what I did.  I don't know what you mean by "this
> particular method".

Sorry, I assumed by "I tried adding an actor to the library" you meant
by building your own library as opposed to using "add to library".
There are multiple ways to add actors to the library, and I didn't
think you were using the GUI for this.

What version of Kepler are you using?  In particular, there have been
some recent modifications in the way in which the actor library works
-- and I've noticed a number of bugs that have cropped up from this.
In particular, using the "add to library" component should have told
you that there was already an actor with this name in the library
prior to trying to add it. This worked prior to the new changes --

> The immediate question is how can I undo what I did or recover from
Kepler's
> screwing it up.

At this point, because of the errors, you'll have to delete .kepler,
etc.  In general, removing an actor from the library is a bit tedious,
but can be done by removing the actors assigned "categories".

> The longer-term question is trying to figure out how to manage my own
actors
> in a reasonable way.  Vergil seems to be much more sensible in handling
> this.  Or perhaps I am not sufficiently informed.  I am new to both.

I am assuming you are refering to Ptolemy when you say Vergil ... In
Kepler, we also use Vergil, but have modified it to support actor
search and what we call KAR files -- archives of kepler actors.  In
the short term, this might be one way for you to add your own actors,
and was the way I assumed you were doing it in the first place.

-shawn

>
> Thanks,
>
>        -Ken
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: smbowers at gmail.com [mailto:smbowers at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Shawn
> Bowers
> Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 10:52 AM
> To: Kenneth Evans, Jr.
> Cc: Kepler Users
> Subject: Re: [kepler-users] Kepler hosed with bad User Library
>
> Hi,
>
> This particular method you are using to add to the actor library is
> meant to be used for deployment or to add an actor permanently to the
> actor library for distribution of kepler.
>
> A better method is when you have Kepler running, right click on the
> actor in the canvas and select "add to library".  You will have the
> option of renaming it, sticking it somewhere else in the library, or
> creating a new version of the actor if one already exists with the
> same name. Thus, existing actors can also be added to the library in
> this way. For example, a typical use case is when someone writes a
> configured web service actor or R actor, which they give a specific
> name, and then add to the library.
>
> We do not have gui support for adding new categories right now.  It
> can be done by changing, e.g., the file kepler-component.owl under
> kepler/configs/ptolemy/configs/kepler/ontologies/. But again, this is
> meant for creating custom deployments or changing a release version of
> Kepler.
>
> -shawn
>
> On 10/28/07, Kenneth Evans, Jr. <evans at aps.anl.gov> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I tried adding an actor to the library.  Now I can't start Kepler.  I
get:
> >
> > Could not set the EntityTeeeModel form the LibraryIndex:: Error building
> > tree model: Error building tree model: Error building tree model: Error
> > building tree model: Attempt to insert object named "HelloWorld" into
> > container named
> > .<UnnamedObject>.Components.DataInput.WorlflowInput.Constant", which
> already
> > contains an object with that name.
> >
> > I fixed it by deleting the .kepler directory (while writing this), but I
> > would rather not have to do that again.
> >
> > So my questions are:
> >
> > 1. How do you fix up the actor tree without destroying .kepler?
> > 2. How do you _remove_ something from the tree?
> > 3. Is there some way to make a new category like MyActors.
> >
> > I tried editing .kepler/actorLibrary.  It just overwrote my changes.
> >
> >  -Ken
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Kepler-users mailing list
> > Kepler-users at ecoinformatics.org
> >
http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics/mailman/listinfo/kepler-users
> >
>
>