Managing CompuCell3D simulations (CC3D project files)

Until version 3.6.0 CompuCell3D simulations were stored as a combination of Python, CC3DML (XML), and PIF files. Starting with version 3.6.0 we introduced new way of managing CC3D simulations by enforcing that a single CC3D simulation is stored in a folder containing .cc3d project file describing simulation resources (.cc3d is in fact XML), such as CC3DML configuration file, Python scripts, PIF files, Concentration files etc…* and a directory called Simulation where all the resources reside. The structure of the new-style CC3D simulation is presented in the diagram below:

->CellsortDemo

CellsortDemo.cc3d

->Simulation

Cellsort.xml

Cellsort.py

CellsortSteppables.py

Cellsort.piff

FGF.txt

Bold fonts denote folders. The benefit of using CC3D project files instead of loosely related files are as follows:

  1. Previously users had to guess which file needs to be open in CC3D – CC3DML or Python. While in a well written simulation one can link the files together in a way that when user opens either one the simulation would work but, nevertheless, such approach was clumsy and unreliable. Starting with 3.6.0 users open .cc3d file and they don’t have to stress out that CompUCell3D will complain with error message.

Warning

The only way to load simulation in CompuCell3D is to use .cc3d project. We no longer support previous ways of opening simulations

  1. All the files specified in the .cc3d project files are copied to the result output directory along with simulation results (uncles you explicitly specify otherwise). Thus, when you run multiple simulations each one with different parameters, the copies of all CC3DML and Python files are stored eliminating guessing which parameters were associated with particular simulations.
  2. All file paths appearing in the simulation files are relative paths with respect to main simulation folder. This makes simulations portable because all simulation resources are contained withing single folder. In the example above when referring to Cellsort.piff file from Cellsort.xml you use Simulation/Cellsort.piff. This makes simulations easily exchangeable between collaborators
  3. New style of storing CC3D simulations has also another advantage – it makes graphical management of simulation content and simulation generation very easy. As a matetr of fact new component of CC3D suite – Twedit++ - CC3D edition has a graphical tool that allows for easy project file management and it also has new simulation wizard which allows users to build template of CC3D simulation within less than a minute.

Let’s now look in detail at the structure of .cc3d files (we are using XML syntax here):

<Simulation version="3.6.0">
    <XMLScript>Simulation/Cellsort.xml</XMLScript>
    <PythonScript>Simulation/Cellsort.py</PythonScript>
    <Resource Type="Python">Simulation/CellsortSteppables.py</Resource>
   <PIFFile>Simulation/Cellsort.piff</PIFFile>
    <Resource Type="Field" Copy="No">Simulation/FGF.txt</Resource>
</Simulation>

As you can see the structure of the file is quite flat. All that we are storing there is names of files that are used in the simulation. Two files have special tags <XMLFile> which specifies name of the CC3DML file storing “CC3DML portion” of the simulation and <PythonScript> which specifies main Python script. We have also <PIFFile> tag which is used to designate PIF files. All other files used in the simulation are referred to as Resources. For example Python steppable file is a resource of type “Python” - <Resource Type="Python">Simulation/CellsortSteppables.py</Resource> . FGF.txt is a resource of type “Field” - <Resource Type="Field" Copy="No">Simulation/FGF.txt</Resource>. Notice that all the files are specified using paths relative to main simulation directory i.e. w.r.t to the dir in which .cc3d file resides

As we mentioned before, when you run .cc3d simulation all the files listed in the project file are copied to result folder. If for some reason you want to avoid coping of some of the files, simply add Copy="No" attribute in the tag with file name specification for example”

<PIFFile Copy="No">Simulation/Cellsort.piff</PIFFile>
<Resource Type="Field" Copy="No">Simulation/FGF.txt</Resource>