iterable parameter values not passed correctly into the command-line

[Allycan]

There seems to be a bug with the repeat policy for a cab input that can accept two options in the form of a list to be cast as --option X --option Y on the command line.

I have defined a cab with a repeat policy of repeat: repeat as documented here but I get the output as [--option X] [--option Y].

I suggest a fix on this line to perhaps something like ' '.join(list(itertools.chain.from_iterable([option, x] for x in value))) if option else list(value). This ensures that the correct output is passed into the command-line when multiple values (in list form) for option are provided.

[o-smirnov]

You mean you're literally getting [--option X] [--option Y] in the output, square brackets included? That's odd.

You can try your fix, but the join will return a single string, which will be stuffed into a single command-line argument (spaces and all), which is probably not the intention either.

[Allycan]

@o-smirnov yes I get everything with the square brackets. Below is what is displayed on the terminal;

### running singularity exec /path/to/stimela_casa_1.7.0.sif   
simms --name /path/to/ms3063MHz.ms --tel meerkat --type casa --coord-sys itrf --synthesis 1.0    
--freq0 3063MHz --dfreq 1000kHz --nband 1 --nchan 5 --dtime 10 ['--direction', 'J2000,01h25m46s,-30d42m48s'] ['--direction', 'J2000,01h25m46s,-30d00m00s'] --scan-length 0.5 --scan-lag 0.0 --pol XX XY YX YY --feed perfect X Y 

I will give my suggested fix much thought and try my fix, I just thought about it from head without trying the implementation. The only problem is the square brackets and the '', so simms is not able to read the passed values.

# simms.simms.ParserError: unrecognized arguments: ['--direction', 'J2000,01h25m46s,-30d42m48s'] ['--direction', 'J2000,01h25m46s,-30d00m00s']

[o-smirnov]

It's definitely a bug, but I can't see it from the code. Could you add a print statement here:

stimela/stimela/kitchen/cab.py

Line 387 in 084b3ff

if type(value) is list:

It should be the case that type(value) is list, but from the outcome it seems that it's doing args.append(value) instead.

[Allycan]

As I had thought earlier, the bug is in Line 308 of stimela/stimela/kitchen/cab.py.

Instead of using the itertools.chain(), we should be using itertools.chain.from_iterable(), just without the ' '.join() as I previously suggested.

I have changed list(itertools.chain(([option, x] for x in value))) to list(itertools.chain.from_iterable(([option, x] for x in value))) and I get the expected options parsed into the command line. See below;

### running singularity exec /path/to/stimela_casa_1.7.0.sif simms --name /path/to/ms3063MHz.ms --tel meerkat --type casa --coord-sys itrf --synthesis 1.0 --freq0 3063MHz --dfreq 1000kHz --nband 1 --nchan 5 --dtime 10 --direction J2000,01h25m46s,-30d42m48s --direction J2000,01h25m46s,-30d00m00s --scan-length 0.5 --scan-lag 0.0 --pol XX XY YX YY --feed perfect X Y

Of-course I stand to be corrected if there is anything I missed/misleading with my suggestion.