From: Ajasja Ljubetič (ajasja.ljubetic_at_gmail.com)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2011 - 08:16:01 CST
Dear All,
I solved my predicament (for now) using subst in the namd conf file:
set infile [open $env(COLVARS_TEMPLATE) r]
set outfile [open $env(COLVARS_OUT) w+]
puts $outfile [subst [read $infile]]
close $infile
close $outfile
It's a bit inelegant, but I didn't have time to play around with a clever
combination of uplevel and upvar to pack the whole thing into a proc call.
The problem was that I had to split an abf calculation in 8 parts (eight
regions). I didn't know if the system (the colvars) have to be in the region
that is being explored, so I pulled the system to the middle of each region,
relaxed the constraints and equlibrated for some time.
So that would mean 2x3x8 files (2 - namd and colvar conf files,3 - puling
stage, relaxing stage and abf, 8 - eight regions). With 48 files I was bound
to forget something somewhere. With some scripting I was able to reduce this
to 8 batch files 1 namd conf file and 3 colvar templates (and an aditional 3
batchfiles). So 15 files instead of 48 with the added bonous that I don't
need to change the colvars in 3 places 8 times:)
If somebody is interested I'm attaching an example set. I know that this
could probably be done in a better way, so all constructive comments are
welcome.
Best regards,
Ajasja
On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 18:44, Ajasja Ljubetič <ajasja.ljubetic_at_gmail.com>wrote:
> Dear Axel,
>
> thank you for the warning. Currently I set all the environment variable in
> the same script that runs the simulations.
> The purpose of this being, that I can edit all the parameters in one place.
> Up to now I had no problems with mixing up the results of runs. As an added
> security measure I suppose I can print the values of the environment vars to
> the log file.
> But of course I'll try to overdue it with the scripting stuff:)
>
> Best regards,
> Ajasja
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 16:09, Axel Kohlmeyer <akohlmey_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> dear ajasja,
>>
>> while i can understand your excitement about using
>> scripting abilities in, there is one issue that i recommend
>> to take seriously before going too far with this.
>>
>> first off, i would advise strongly against making your
>> input depend on environment variables. this adds an
>> "external" element to your input and makes reproducing
>> a run depend on _two_ factors: your input and the current
>> environment (which may or may not be set from a script).
>> this can very easily to confusion or scenarios, where you
>> don't know for certain how to reproduce a given result.
>> not exactly what you want to have.
>>
>> secondly, scripting is most valuable when you can use
>> it to handle repetitive tasks and thus avoid typos or to
>> guarantee that certain parts of an input are consistent.
>> however, as it was already mentioned, you can do most,
>> if not all, of it by simply using a preprocessor and templates
>> then generating a single full input file. again, the benefit
>> is that it is much easier to reproduce calculations and
>> to verify that certain settings have been made exactly
>> as you expect them to be.
>>
>> the fact that something can technically be done, does
>> not always mean that it is a good idea to do it.
>>
>> cheers,
>> axel.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 8:17 AM, Ajasja Ljubetič
>> <ajasja.ljubetic_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Dear Jérôme and Chris,
>> >
>> > In general I think that this templating system I linked to could be used
>> > directly from the NAMD conf file. It would take the input template and
>> > output a substituted conf file. I think something like this could be
>> > implemented in pure TCL
>> > #NAMD.conf
>> > colvarsConfig [substify template.name out.name]
>> >
>> > This would then create a filled out template out.name and return the
>> correct
>> > file name.
>> >
>> > All my "problems" are basically just minor inconveniences, result from
>> the
>> > fact that I'm spoiled by NAMD's TCL syntax.
>> > Here are some concrete examples:
>> >
>> > 0) I use TCL variables extensivaly in NAMD conf files here's an example:
>> > #NAMD.conf
>> > set strucname $env(STRUCTNAME)
>> > structure $strucname.psf
>> > coordinates $strucname.pdb
>> > ..
>> > #set length $env(LENGTH_NS) ;#ns
>> > set timestep 1 ;#femtosecond
>> > ..
>> > #set numsteps [expr round(($length * 1000000)/ $timestep)]
>> >
>> > 1) Lets say I would like to change the number of samples for each bin.
>> But
>> > then I have to edit the number of steps to run in the NAMD conf file as
>> well
>> > (and I always kept forgetting this). Using TCl I could just do:
>> >
>> > #NAMD.conf
>> > set fullsamples 500
>> > set numbins 10 ;#
>> >
>> > ..
>> > set numsteps [expr $fullsamples*($numbins+1)]
>> > run $numsteps
>> >
>> > #colvars.in
>> > colvar {
>> > name chi1
>> >
>> > width [expr 360/$numbins]
>> > lowerboundary -180
>> > upperboundary 180
>> > ...
>> > }
>> >
>> > abf {
>> > colvars chi1
>> > fullSamples $fullsamples
>> > }
>> >
>> > 2) Let's say I have 5 colvars and I would like to run the simulations on
>> the
>> > pairs of colvars. Using TCl I could have just one pair of configurations
>> > files instead of 10 pairs.
>> > #namd.conf
>> >
>> > set colvar1 chi1
>> > set colvar2 chi2
>> >
>> > #colvar.in
>> > if {[string compare "chi1" $colvar1 ] || [string compare "chi1" $colvar2
>> ] }
>> > {
>> > .define chi1..
>> > }
>> >
>> > if {[string compare "chi2" $colvar1 ] || [string compare "chi2"
>> $colvar2] }
>> > {
>> > .define chi2..
>> > }
>> > ..
>> > abf {
>> > colvars $colvar1 $colvar2
>> > fullSamples $fullsamples
>> > }
>> >
>> >
>> > 3) Let's say I have some similar systems (a protein labeled at different
>> > positions). Using enviorment variables I could use the same pair of conf
>> > files and pass the different atom ID’s like this:
>> > #colvar.in
>> > …
>> > dihedral {
>> > group1 { $env(ATOM1) }
>> > group2 { $env(ATOM2)}
>> > group3 { $env(ATOM3)}
>> > group4 { $env(ATOM4)}
>> > }
>> > …
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Best regards,
>> > Ajasja
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Axel Kohlmeyer
>> akohlmey_at_gmail.com http://goo.gl/1wk0
>>
>> Institute for Computational Molecular Science
>> Temple University, Philadelphia PA, USA.
>>
>
>
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