3.4. Syntax for Run Matrix Files

Run matrix files have a customized comma- or space-separated file. It is customized in the sense that entries can be separated by either commas or spaces, and there is a capability to mark rows with extra characters as a way of giving a final disposition of the status of each case. The values of each column can be strings, floats, integers, or even hexadecimal integers.

These files are prototypically given a .csv file extension, but this is mostly so that double clicking on the files in a file browser will launch a spreadsheet program. Below shows a typical "RunMatrix" section from a JSON file for a simple configuration with three main keys: Mach number, angle of attack, and sideslip angle. There are two additional keys, which are the "config" (a group folder name) and a "Label".

"RunMatrix": {
    "Keys": ["mach", "alpha", "beta", "config", "Label"],
    "File": "matrix.csv"
}

The following shows some typical contents of a matrix.csv file.

# mach, alpha, beta, config, Label
  0.80, 0.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  0.80, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  0.80, 4.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  1.20, 0.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  1.20, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  1.20, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff, try2

This is a pretty straightforward file except possibly to point out that the first five cases have an empty "Label" value. After running some cases, suppose that the first four cases ran successfully and that the user determines those cases to be successful. These will be marked PASS by putting a p in the first column of the appropriate lines. However, the fifth case had some sort of problem and cannot be run using the initial configuration. Now the user is doing a second attempt, which has not been completed yet. For the user to mark these statuses, the contents of matrix.csv should be edited to

# mach, alpha, beta, config, Label
p 0.80, 0.0, 0.0, poweroff,
p 0.80, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff,
p 0.80, 4.0, 0.0, poweroff,
p 1.20, 0.0, 0.0, poweroff,
E 1.20, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff,
  1.20, 2.0, 0.0, poweroff, try2