FDF - Flexible Data Format¶
Purpose of Module¶
FDF (Flexible Data Format) is an input file parser that offers an easy, transferable and practical way for a Fortran program to read its input. It is text (ASCII) based, and conceived for small data (input parameters). Every input piece of data is introduced in a line of an input file (which can be standard input) by writing a name-value pair, that is, a name characterising the data, and its value. If the latter corresponds to a physical magnitude, the units can also be specified after the value. Names can be long and should be descriptive of the value it corresponds to. FDF blocks are used to input structured data, in which case, the program using FDF reads the inside of the block.
From the programming point of view, FDF allows for any data to be retrieved whenever, from any part of the code, and in any order.
If a piece of data sought by FDF is not found in the input file, FDF will return a default value, as set up in the call to the FDF routine.
Background Information¶
FDF is a software library and module to be used within a calling code. It is developed as part of the Siesta DFT code (see Source Code), but is self-contained within a separate directory and can be used independently of the main code.
Software Technical Information¶
- License
- GPL
- Language
- Fortran 95
- Documentation Tool
- Source code documentation in progress.
- Application Documentation
- ESL wiki
- Relevant Training Material
- Creation of materials in progress.
Installation¶
Note
The information contained in the Installation and Testing sections are likely to work with the latest version of the source code from the Siesta website. If this is not the case you can download the siesta-4.1-b2 release where the information is guaranteed to work.
For now, FDF has to be compiled as part of Siesta; see the documentation in the
Docs directory. Once compiled, the FDF library and module files can be
found in the fdf subdirectory of the building directory.
1.For the senquential version installation, go to Obj and issue the command:
sh ../Src/obj_setup.sh
If the intel compiler is used, do:
cp intel.make arch.make
If the gcc compiler is used, do:
cp gfortran.make arch.make
then do:
make
2. For parallel version installation, you should follow the same procedure except of using a appropriate
parallel arch.make. A arch.make file with gcc compiler is available in E-CAM website.
Testing¶
Choose one specific test under the Obj/Tests directory, do:
make
Compare the output files with those under Tests/Reference.
Source Code¶
The source code is available from the Launchpad under the siesta project. The FDF directory can be found here.