ModelsEnvironments
Explore with Data Processing

Data processing often revolves about massive computation using big bunch of files. Model inputs come in many shapes; this is why OpenMOLE features some file exploration functions to manipulate your datasets as easily as possible.

Exploring a set of files


OpenMOLE introduces the concept of Domains as a variable ranging along a set of files. For instance, to run a program over a set of files in a subdirectory you may use:
val f = Val[File]
val explo = ExplorationTask (f in (workDirectory / "dir"))

To explore files located in several directories:
val i = Val[Int]
val f = Val[File]

val explo =
  ExplorationTask (
    (i in (0 to 10)) x
    (f in (workDirectory / "dir").files("subdir${i}", recursive = true).filter(f => f.isDirectory && f.getName.startsWith("exp")))
  )

The filter modifier filters the initial file sampling according to a predicate. You can filter using any function taking a File and producing a Boolean (see the corresponding javadoc or create your own). Some predicate functions available out of the box are startsWith(), contains(), endsWith() .
val f = Val[File]

val explo =
  ExplorationTask ( (f in (workDirectory / "dir") filter(_.getName.endsWith(".nii.gz")) ) )

Searching in deep file trees can be very time consuming and irrelevant in some cases where you know how your data is organised. By default the file selector only explores the direct level under the directory you've passed as a parameter. If you want it to explore the whole file tree, you can set the option recursive to true as in files(recursive = true).


If you wish to select one single file for each value of i you may use the select operation:
val i = Val[Int]
val f = Val[File]

val explo =
  ExplorationTask (
    (i in (0 to 10)) x
    (f in File("/path/to/a/dir").select("file${i}.txt"))
  )

Files vs Paths


As its name suggests, the files selector manipulates File instances and directly injects them in the dataflow.

If you plan to delegate your workflow to a local cluster environment equipped with a shared file system across all nodes, you don't need data to be automatically copied by OpenMOLE.

In this case, you might prefer the paths selector instead. Paths works exactly like files and accept the very same options. The only difference between the two selectors is that paths will inject Path variables in the dataflow.

Path describes a file's location but not its content. The explored files won't be automatically copied by OpenMOLE when using Path, so this does not fit a grid environment for instance.

import java.nio.file.Path

val dataDir     = "/vol/vipdata/data/HCP100"

val subjectPath = Val[Path]
val subjectID   = Val[String]
val exploIDsTask = ExplorationTask ( subjectPath in File(dataDir).paths(filter=".*\\.nii.gz") withName subjectID)

( exploIDsTask hook ToStringHook() ) -- EmptyTask()

More details on the difference between manipulating Files and Paths can be found in the dedicated entry of the FAQ. You can also learn more about the OpenMOLE dataflow in the dedicated section.

More examples


You can find full examples using OpenMOLE's capabilities to process a dataset in the following entries of the marketplace:

Going further


Files can also be injected in the dataflow through Sources. They provide more powerful file filtering possibilities using regular expressions and can also target directories only.