The main software components

Introduction

This section will give a brief introduction to the software components in the Pipe-It package.

The figure shows the main software components of the Pipe-It package. In the figure, solid lines indicate that the program has a graphical user interface (GUI). Dashed line indicates that the program is started from the command line, without GUI. File type extensions of the input files are also shown. Most of the programs write out to the same file or same type of file.

Pipe-It

The main program with GUI.

Pipe-Itc

The command line version of Pipe-It.

Linkz

It is used to define links to individual data elements or matrices inside files. Linkz can work with any text file and with MS Excel (binary or xml) files. Through a GUI the user can "teach" Linkz how to find the desired data elements. The link definitions are saved in a .ppl file.

Optimizer

A control panel to set up and start automatic iterations of executions, using a solver. The optimizer can use links into data files defined with Linkz.

(Solvers)

A solver contains the optimization algorithm. It is started by the Optimizer and takes over control during optimization. A collection of solvers is delivered with Pipe-It, most of them are in dynamic libraries (.dll). Choice of solver is available from a menu in the Optimizer.

Runner

A part of Pipe-It that takes care of execution of the project. It is not visible to the user. The Runner runs only the parts of a large project that need updating according to changed data and dependencies.

Streamz

Uses .str (Stream files). It calculates combination and splitting of collections of streams. It is both a command line program and tightly integrated within Pipe-It.

Strexzel

A spreadsheet-like program that is specially made to do operations on .str files, which are beyond the scope of Streamz.

Plotz

Makes graphs / plots.

MapLinkz

Copies data from one file to another by using links defined with Linkz. It is integrated with Pipe-It and easy to use in projects in the Pipe-It GUI.

(Convertors)

A collection of utilities that can read various other file formats, including binary files, and produce .str files.

ProjectBuilder

A utility program that can read definitions from "templates" (made by expert users), and based on these it shows Wizard-like question pages to the user, collects data about the new project from the user's answers, and generates (possibly very large) Pipe-It project files as a result.

ScriptAssistant

A utility that helps the user to set up how to use (a new) external program (what input it needs, what output it generates etc.) from within Pipe-It. The result is that the external program becomes apparently integrated in Pipe-It and easier to use in a Pipe-It project.

Terminology

Unsure about what we mean? Need a one line definition of a term used on the website? What is a Resource? A Process?

Refer to the Appendix for a collection of all technical terms in the context of Pipe-It. Even Pipe-It is defined here! Use the search function to search for the term.