CFD Online Discussion Forums - [OpenFOAM] Problem with spaces in paraFoam execution

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Problem with spaces in paraFoam execution

Hi,

I'm running a parallel ParaView 4.0.1 pre-built binary download using the multicore option that the settings in paraview offers. I'm also running OpenFOAM-2.2.2 and have made a couple of changes to the paraFoam file so that I can match these two up hopefully easily instead of using all of the ThirdParty.tar.gz files available with OpenFOAM.

The changes I've made are

Code:

extension=foam



requirePV=0

(since I haven't built the PV modules, as they want lots more config of paraview files in a collection of folders/a layout which I don't have - I'm not sure if this is my problem but I think not)

When I go to a case directory (I'm using the cavity tutorial for simplicity) and type paraFoam, I get

Code:

$ paraFoam

created temporary 'cavity.foam'

AutoMPI: SUCCESS: command is:

 "/home/christian/Downloads/ParaView-4.0.1-Linux-64bit/lib/paraview-4.0/mpiexec" "-np" "6" "/home/christian/Downloads/ParaView-4.0.1-Linux-64bit/lib/paraview-4.0/pvserver" "--server-port=54130"

AutoMPI: starting process server

-------------- server output --------------

Waiting for client...

AutoMPI: server successfully started.

Cannot open data file " cavity.foam "

If I manually type "touch cavity.foam" and then "paraview" and navigate to the file, all is well. However, as can be seen here (I think) when I use paraFoam it tries to open " cavity.foam " with spaces on either side, which is I assume why paraview complains that
it "Cannot open data file " cavity.foam ""

I looked through the paraFoam file, but can find no spaces enclosed within quotation marks that would need to not be there.

What am I missing? And is it the spaces that are the problem?

Thank you in advance

Greetings Christian,

:eek: Interesting bug! Unfortunately those spaces are a misleading error message.
The actual problem is that the file "cavity.foam" is not being found by ParaView's pvserver, because the automatic parallel mechanism is launching the executable from its own folder, namely at:

Code:

/home/christian/Downloads/ParaView-4.0.1-Linux-64bit/lib/paraview-4.0/

And in that folder, there is no such "cavity.foam" file ;)

I also have ParaView 4.0.1 handy, using an alias... which I'll write about in a bit. In the meantime, the solution is to give the full path to the file, e.g.:

Code:

paraview --data=$PWD/case.foam

And yes, "$PWD" is a valid environment variable:

As for the alias I use, I have this in my "~/.bashrc" file:

Code:

alias paraFoam4='(. $WM_PROJECT_DIR/etc/config/unset.sh; touch case.foam && $HOME/OpenFOAM/ParaView-4.0.1-Linux-64bit/bin/paraview --data=$PWD/case.foam)'

Which brings me to your modifications... you have at least 2 choices:

To create an alias like the one above.
Or to hack the paraFoam script once again and change this:

Code:

paraview --data="$caseFile" "$@" 2>&1

To this:

Code:

paraview --data="$PWD/$caseFile" "$@" 2>&1

Best regards,
Bruno