[MOAB-dev] iMesh vs. MOAB format for string options

[Tim Tautges]

As I discussed earlier with Jason, I'm on the fence about this.  Always putting a delimiter at the front of the string 
looks goofy for single-option strings.  Handling options differently between MOAB and iMesh is error-prone.  The 
question boils down to: be consistent with (what we view as) a flawed standard, or be inconsistent and risk (somewhat 
infrequent) errors that result from that inconsistency.

And, phrasing the question in this way, I guess I feel that it's better to be consistent, even though the resulting code 
looks goofy.  Opinions?  Note, this would require changes to existing applications.

- tim

Jason Kraftcheck wrote:
> Both MOAB and iMesh have functions that are passed an optional string
> containing options (e.g. iMesh_loadMesh, iMesh_newMesh, and
> MBInterface::load_file).  The format used by the two interfaces is slightly
> different.  The MOAB format uses a ';' to separate multiple options, with a
> mechanism to request an alternate separator if necessary.  For example:
>   BINARY
>  or
>   PARALLEL=BCAST;MPI_ROOT=1
>  or
>   ;+PARALLEL=BCAST+MPI_ROOT=1
> The iMesh format requires that the desired separator always be the first
> character in the options string.  For example:
>   ;BINARY
>  or
>   ;PARALLEL=BCAST;MPI_ROOT=1
>  or
>   +PARALLEL=BCAST+MPI_ROOT=1
> 
> In the MOAB implementation of the iMesh API, the functions that accept
> option strings convert the string from iMesh to MOAB format before passing
> it to an MBInterface function.
> 
> Does anyone feel strongly that we should change the MOAB format to be
> consistent with the iMesh one?
> 
> - jason
> 
> 

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              Tim Tautges            Argonne National Laboratory
          (tautges at mcs.anl.gov)      (telecommuting from UW-Madison)
          phone: (608) 263-8485      1500 Engineering Dr.
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