Writing data files in the simulation output directory.

Quite often when you run CC3D simulations you need to output data files where you store some information about the simulation. When CC3D saves simulation snapshots it does so in the special directory which is created automatically and whose name consists of simulation core name and timestamp. By default, CC3D creates such directories as subfolders of <your_home_directory>/CC3DWorkspace. You can redefine the location of CC3D output in the Player. If standard simulation output is placed in a special directory it makes a lot of sense to store your custom data files in the same directory. The following code snippet shows you how to accomplish this (the code to open file in the simulation output directory can be inserted from Twedit++ - simply go to CC3D Python->Python Utilities):

def step(self,mcs):
    fileName='myOutput+'+str(mcs)+'.txt'
    try:
        fileHandle,fullFileName\
        =self.openFileInSimulationOutputDirectory(fileName,"w")
    except IOError:
        print "Could not open file ", fileName," for writing. "
        return

    for cell in self.cellListByType(self.NONCONDENSING):
        print >>fileHandle, 'cell.id=',cell.id,'volume=',cell.volume

    fileHandle.close()

In the step function we create fileName by concatenating 'myOutput', current MCS - str(mcs), and extension '.txt'. Inside try/except statement (refresh you knowledge about Python exceptions) we call self.openFileInSimulationOutputDirectory function where first argument is file name and second argument is file open mode. Since we are opening file for writing we use "w" . To open file in the read mode we would use "r". Please consult appropriate chapter from Python programing manual for more information about file modes. If CC3D fails to open file in the simulation directory we print error message and return from step function. If the file open operation is successful we iterate over all cells of type NonCondensing and print cell id and cell current volume. Notice that when writing to a file in Python we have to use

print >>fileHandle

syntax. The reminder of this print statemnt looks exactly as a regular print statement. Alternatively we can use the following syntax to write to a file:

fileHandle.write('formatting string' %(values for formatting string))

The formatting string contains regular text and formatting characters such as \n denoting end of line, %d denoting integer number, %f denoting floating point number and %s denoting strings. For more information on this topic please see any Python manual or see online Python documentation.

After we are done with writing we close the file which ensures that file buffers are transferred to a disk. Do not forget to close the file after you are done writing.

Notice that with self.openFileInSimulationOutputDirectory function we do not need to know the actual nameof the output directory. This makes things much easier than if we had to construct full file path. If you would prefer to store your files in a separate subfolder of the simulation directory all you have to do is to prepend filename with the name of the subfolder followed by /. For example the following statement:

self.openFileInSimulationOutputDirectory('OUTPUT_SUBFOLDER/myoutput.txt','w')

creates subfolder called OUTPUT_SUBFOLDER inside simulation output directory and inside this subfolder it opens file myoutput.txt for writing. You can replace OUTPUT_SUBFOLDER` with any partial path e.g. ``OUTPUT/TXT_FILES and CC3D will make sure that all directories specified in the partial paths get created. This greatly simplifies file output operations in the CC3D.