Inlet User Guide

Note

Inlet, and this guide, is under heavy development.

Inlet, named because it provides a place of entry, is a C++ library that provides an easy way to read, store, and access input files for computer simulations in a variety of input languages.

API Documentation

Doxygen generated API documentation can be found here: API documentation

Introduction

Inlet provides an easy and extensible way to handle input files for a simulation code. We provide readers for JSON, Lua, and YAML. Additional languages can be supported via an implementation of Inlet’s Reader interface.

All information read from the input file is stored via Inlet into a user-provided Sidre DataStore. This allows us to utilize the functionality of Sidre, such as simulation restart capabilities.

Inlet is used to define the schema of the information expected in your input file. That data is then read via a Reader class into the Sidre Datastore. You can then verify that the input file met your criteria and use that information later in your code.

Requirements

  • Sidre - Inlet stores all data from the input file in the Sidre DataStore

  • (Optional) Lua - Inlet provides a Lua reader class that assists in Lua input files

Glossary

  • inlet::Container: Internal nodes of the Inlet hierarchy

  • inlet::Field: Terminal nodes of the Inlet hierarchy that store primitive types (bool, int, string, double)

  • inlet::Function: Terminal nodes of the Inlet hierarchy that store function callbacks

  • inlet::Proxy: Provides type-erased access to data in the Inlet hierarchy - can refer to either a Container, Field, or Function internally

  • struct: Refers to something that maps to a C++ struct. This can be a Lua table, a YAML dictionary, or a JSON object.

  • dictionary: Refers to an associative array whose keys are either strings or a mix of strings and integers, and whose values are of homogeneous type

  • array: Refers to either a contiguous array or an integer-keyed associative array whose values are of homogeneous type

  • collection: Refers to either an array or dictionary