Geoscientific Model Development Discussions www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net 1991-9611 1991-962X 1 1 2008 10.5194/gmdd-1-125-2008 http://www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/1/125/2008/ http://www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/1/125/2008/gmdd-1-125-2008.html http://www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/1/125/2008/gmdd-1-125-2008.pdf 125 146 2008-07-17 Spud 1.0: generalising and automating the user interfaces of scientific computer models D. A. Ham david.ham@imperial.ac.uk P. E. Farrell G. J. Gorman J. R. Maddison C. R. Wilson S. C. Kramer J. Shipton G. S. Collins C. J. Cotter M. D. Piggott Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, UK Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, Univ. of Oxford, UK Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, UK The interfaces by which users specify the scenarios to be simulated by scientific computer models are frequently primitive, under-documented and ad-hoc text files which make using the model in question difficult and error-prone and significantly increase the development cost of the model. In this paper, we present a model-independent system, Spud, which formalises the specification of model input formats in terms of formal grammars. This is combined with an automated graphical user interface which guides users to create valid model inputs based on the grammar provided, and a generic options reading module which minimises the development cost of adding model options. <br><br> Together, this provides a user friendly, well documented, self validating user interface which is applicable to a wide range of scientific models and which minimises the developer input required to maintain and extend the model interface. Bray, T., Paoli, J., Sperberg-McQueen, C M., Maler, E., Yergeau, F., and Cowan, J.: Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1 (Second Edition), Tech. rep., World Wide Web Consortium, http://www.w3.org/TR/xml11/, 2006. Brzozowski, J A.: Derivatives of Regular Expressions, J. ACM, 11, 481–494, \doihttp://doi.acm.org/10.1145/321239.321249, 1964. Clark, J.: The design of RELAX NG, http://www.thaiopensource.com/relaxng/design.html, 2001. Clark, J. and Murata, M.: RELAX NG specification, Tech. rep., Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, http://relaxng.org/spec-20011203.html, 2001. Eaton, B., Gregory, J., Drach, B., Taylor, K., Hankin, S., Caron, J., and Signell, R.: NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions, Version 1.1, http://cf-pcmdi.llnl.gov/documents/cf-conventions/1.1/cf-conventions.pdf, 2008. Erturk, E., Corke, T., and Gokcol, C.: Numerical solutions of 2-D steady incompressible driven cavity ow at high Reynolds numbers, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 48, 747–774, 2005. Harrison, M A.: Introduction to Formal Language Theory, Addison-Wesley Longman, Boston, MA, USA, 1978. Murata, M., Lee, D., Mani, M., and Kawaguchi, K.: Taxonomy of XML schema languages using formal language theory, ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT), 5, 660–704, \doi10.1145/1111627.1111631, 2005. Pain, C., Piggott, M., Goddard, A., Fang, F., Gorman, G., Marshall, D., Eaton, M., Power, P., and de~Oliveira, C.: Three-dimensional unstructured mesh ocean modelling, Ocean Model., 10, 5–33, 2005. Piggott, M., Gorman, G., Pain, C., Allison, P., Candy, A., Martin, B., and Wells, M.: A new computational framework for multi-scale ocean modelling based on adapting unstructured meshes, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fl., 56, 1003, \doi10.1002/fld.1663, 2008. Rew, R., Hartnett, E J., and Caron, J.: NetCDF-4: software implementing an enhanced data model for the geosciences, in: 22nd International Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/papers/2006-ams.pdf, 2006. Saunders, J., Jackson, M., and Pain, C.: A new numerical model of electrokinetic potential response during hydrocarbon recovery, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L15316, 2006. van~der Vlist, E.: Comparing XML Schema Languages, XML.com, http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/12/12/schemacompare.html, 2001.