Re: Colvars: implement a CV which requires computing minimal RMSDs with respect to multiple different reference frames

From: yjcoshc (yjcoshc_at_gmail.com)
Date: Mon Mar 11 2019 - 22:16:08 CDT

Hi Giacomo,

Thanks for your reply. For the code change I have made a pull request on
the github repository. The patch should have no problem with existing
features.

Best regards,

Haochuan Chen

在 2019/3/11 下午11:39, Giacomo Fiorin 写道:
> Hi Haochuan,
>
> On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 9:51 AM <yjcoshc_at_gmail.com
> <mailto:yjcoshc_at_gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Dear Jerome,
>
> It seems difficult to do something like accepting a vector of
> RMSDs and then applying force on them since RMSD is already a
> colvar class, and I know developers are trying to avoid something
> like "colvar of colvar".
>
> No developers are trying to avoid this as far as I'm aware of.
>
> At the C++ level, "colvar" is the class whose job is controlling how a
> variable is /used/ (i.e. handling input/output, receive forces from
> biases, etc).  Instead, colvar::cvc and its derived classes (AKA the
> components) are responsible for computing functions of the atomic
> coordinates.  To compute a function of this function, you are already
> well aware of the available methods (deriving a new C++ class from the
> original one, using a Tcl scripted function, or a Lepton custom
> function).  Especially if you derive a new C++ class (e.g. from
> colvar::rmsd to colvar::multi_rmsd?) there are hardly any restrictions
> to what function you can implement.
>
> In your specific example, Jérôme pointed out the easiest solution: a
> Tcl proc that computes the minimum of the given arguments (the values
> of each RMSD) using a smoothing function of your choice (I presume
> that you're not applying forces discontinuously).  You'll have, of
> course, more freedom with a new C++ class, which you can also document
> separately from the original class, and include any references to its
> use/development in a paper.
>
> Today I have managed to make the previous code in my email works
> by modifying colvarparse.cpp like this:
>
> Modifications to the parser are tricky, but can be generally useful
> provided that your changes are consistent with the rest of the
> functionality beyond your use case. Specifically, please ensure that
> you are making changes onto the current master (see header at the top
> of each Colvars source file).
>
> Giacomo
>
> diff --git a/src/colvarparse.cpp b/src/colvarparse.cpp
> index 999677e..4d3e8fe 100644
> --- a/src/colvarparse.cpp
> +++ b/src/colvarparse.cpp
> @@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
>
>  #include <sstream>
>  #include <iostream>
> +#include <algorithm>
>
>  #include "colvarmodule.h"
>  #include "colvarvalue.h"
> @@ -481,6 +482,10 @@ void colvarparse::strip_values(std::string &conf)
>    size_t offset = 0;
>    data_begin_pos.sort();
>    data_end_pos.sort();
> +  std::list<size_t>::iterator data_begin_pos_last =
> std::unique(data_begin_pos.begin(), data_begin_pos.end());
> +  data_begin_pos.erase(data_begin_pos_last, data_begin_pos.end());
> +  std::list<size_t>::iterator data_end_pos_last =
> std::unique(data_end_pos.begin(), data_end_pos.end());
> +  data_end_pos.erase(data_end_pos_last, data_end_pos.end());
>
>    std::list<size_t>::iterator data_begin = data_begin_pos.begin();
>    std::list<size_t>::iterator data_end   = data_end_pos.begin();
>
> The patch just deduplicates the indices when stripping conf
> strings and allows to parse the same keyword repeatedly.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Haochuan Chen
>
>
> 在 2019/3/11 下午9:01, Jérôme Hénin 写道:
>> Dear Haochuan,
>>
>> For your purpose the simplest approach would seem to define
>> multiple RMSD components and process them in a script, similar to
>> the patch collective variables.
>>
>> You could do something similar in C++, but then I would use a
>> vector of RMSD components, rather than a vector of atom groups.
>>
>> Best,
>> Jerome
>>
>> On Sat, 9 Mar 2019 at 02:44, yjcoshc <yjcoshc_at_gmail.com
>> <mailto:yjcoshc_at_gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear NAMD and Colvars developers,
>>
>> I am trying to implement a collective variable (CV) through
>> the C++
>> interface of Colvars. This CV should accept multiple
>> reference frames
>> and compute the minimal RMSDs of the current atomic
>> coordinates with
>> respect of them. In the class of new CV I have tried to add a
>> vector
>> like "std::vector<cvm::atom_group*> comp_atoms" and then
>> parsed the
>> selected atoms in the constructor like this loop:
>>
>>      for (size_t i_frame = 0; i_frame < reference_frames.size();
>> ++i_frame) {
>>          cvm::atom_group* tmp_atoms = parse_group(conf, "atoms");
>>          // Swipe from the rmsd class
>>          tmp_atoms->b_center = true;
>>          tmp_atoms->b_rotate = true;
>>          tmp_atoms->ref_pos = reference_frames[i_frame];
>>          tmp_atoms->center_ref_pos();
>>          tmp_atoms->disable(f_ag_fit_gradients);
>> tmp_atoms->rot.request_group1_gradients(tmp_atoms->size());
>> tmp_atoms->rot.request_group2_gradients(tmp_atoms->size());
>>          comp_atoms.push_back(tmp_atoms);
>>      }
>>
>> However this doesn't work, and the colvars ends up with
>> throwing an
>> exception of "std::out_of_range" in "basic_string::erase"
>> after the
>> constructor finishes.
>>
>> Is there a standard way to compute multiple minimal RMSDs in
>> the C++
>> interface?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Haochuan Chen
>>
>
>
> --
> Giacomo Fiorin
> Associate Professor of Research, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
> Contractor, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
> http://goo.gl/Q3TBQU
> https://github.com/giacomofiorin

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