AppForm FAQ
From UGP-Wiki
Contents |
[edit] appForm Description
appForm is a job submission portal that allows users to create input files for a variety of general-purpose and discipline-specific applications and submit these input files to the grid.
This is accomplished through two tabs:
- Job Parameters: contains the parameters needed to submit a job to the grid
- Input Generator: provides a form that can be used to create an input file for an application
Through the combination of these two tabs, a user can both create an input file and submit it to the grid.
Note: The majority of the information on this page is also included in the Grid help files. To access these, click the question mark located on any Grid page.
[edit] How to Use appForm
- On the Grid Portal, go to 'Applications' under the Job Services Tab
- Select the application you want to use. If the application is appForm enabled, it will load in a separate window.
- When first opening appForm, you will be presented with a pop-up window containing two tabs: Job Parameters and Input Generator
- The Job Parameters tab will be selected by default. If you already have an input file, use the "Select File" button to load your file's information into the Job Parameters form. Change any other options that you require, then submit the job
- If you do not have an input file, select the Input Generator tab to create one.
- The Input Generator tab is usually divided into another set of tabs. Navigate through each tab and fill out any desired options. Required options will be outlined in bold.
- Once you have completed the form, save your input file using the "Save" button. This will create your input file and update the Job Parameters form with your input file's location and name.
- After saving, return to the Job Parameters tab and change any options you require. Once finished, click the "Submit Job" button.
- To follow the progress of your job, go to the "Job Status" link under the Job Services tab in the Grid Portal.
- To view the output of your job, go the "Job Status" link. Next, click the "stdout" link in your job's row to view your output within the Grid Portal. To download your output to a file, click the arrow icon next to the "stdout" link.
[edit] Tips on How to use appForm
- When using the Input Generator, make sure you Save your file. Your input file is not created until you do this, and it updates the Job Parameters tab with the location of your input file. Once you save, then submit.
- When using the Input Generator, use the Load button to reload the information of a previously created job. Just click the load button, find the .xml file with the name of the previous job and load
- The load button is also useful for loading the molecule geometry of a previous job. When loading a previous job, the molecule geometry is also updated. To create a new job, simply load a previous job, then change the calculation options to reflect your new job.
- Make sure you do not delete the app_form.xml files created by appForm. These are used by the Load button to reload previous jobs. Note, the Load button cannot use your input files to reload jobs, it must use the .xml file.
- If you already have a completed input file, skip the Input Generator and use the Job Parameters tab. Click the Select File button, select your file in the directory tree and press "Select". Once your file's information is loaded into the Job Parameters pane, submit your job
- Many applications allow you to view their job output using the 'stdout' link in the Job Status page. Please note that these applications do NOT automatically create a hardcopy of a job output on your cluster. By default, the output is only stored on the Grid Portal under the 'stdout' link. Therefore, if you purge any job in the Job Status page, its output will be lost. To store a permanent copy of your job output, click the arrow next to the 'stdout' link. This will allow you to store a copy of your output on your local machine
[edit] Frequently Asked Questions
- What is this .xml file?
- appForm creates a .xml file in the same directory as your input file. They are used by appForm to reload your input file using the Load button. Make sure you do not delete them as you will be unable to reload and change your input file in appForm without them.
- How do I reset all fields to their default values?
- Reload the page (in firefox, press ctrl-r)
- My job has completed, but when I click the 'stdout' link for my job in the Job Status page my output does not load. How do I view my job output?
- Some applications are not able to display their job output using the 'stdout' link. To view your output, navigate to the Data Manager tab on Grid Portal. Select either the Data Manager or AJAX Data Manager. Next, select the grid your job was run on. After the file list loads, find your output file in the Data Manager and use the edit function to view the file.
- Some of appForm's Pulldown Menus have text inside parentheses. What are these values?
- If a pulldownmenu has options formatted with parentheses (e.g. (opt) Optimize the Wavefunction), then the value in parentheses is the actual value that will be sent to make the input file. This is useful for users who are familiar with creating their own input file and the values that it requires. The absence of a value in parentheses does not necessarily mean one is not being sent, your grid admin may have hidden these values for formatting purposes.
