Some renamings in CacheService, better warnings when trying to use the wrong...

Some renamings in CacheService, better warnings when trying to use the wrong backend function for arrays.

common/python/nomadcore/baseclasses.py

@@ -272,11 +272,11 @@ class RegexService(object):
     Stores basic regex definitions that can be reused on multiple parsers.
     """
     def __init__(self):
-        self.regex_f = "-?\d+\.\d+(?:E(?:\+|-)\d+)?"  # Regex for a floating point value
-        self.regex_i = "-?\d+"  # Regex for an integer
-        self.regex_word = "[\S]+"  # Regex for a single word. Can contain anything else but whitespace
-        self.regex_letter = "[^\W\d_]"  # Regex for a single alphabetical letter
-        self.regex_eol = "[^\n]+"  # Regex for a single alphabetical letter
+        self.float = "-?\d+\.\d+(?:E(?:\+|-)\d+)?"  # Regex for a floating point value
+        self.int = "-?\d+"  # Regex for an integer
+        self.word = "[\S]+"  # Regex for a single word. Can contain anything else but whitespace
+        self.letter = "[^\W\d_]"  # Regex for a single alphabetical letter
+        self.eol = "[^\n]+"  # Regex for a single alphabetical letter
 
 
 #===============================================================================
@@ -580,43 +580,56 @@ class CacheService(object):
         if cache_object.update:
             if not cache_object._updated:
                 raise LookupError("Could not push value '{}' to backend because it was not updated since last push.".format(cache_object.name))
-                # logger.warning("Could not push value '{}' to backend because it was not updated since last push.".format(cache_object.name))
                 return False
 
         return True
 
-    def push_value(self, name, metaname=None):
-        """Pushes the scalar value stored with the given name to the backend.
-        If the name cannot be found, nothing is pushed. If the metaname
-        property is not defined the value is pushed with the name that was used
-        as key.
+    def addValue(self, metaname, name=None):
+        """Pushes the value stored in the cache with the given name to
+        the backend.
+
+        If the name cannot be found in the dictionary, or the value associated
+        with the name is None, nothing is pushed. This allows one to use the
+        cache with a simple syntax without having to worry about the actual
+        availability of the data.
+
+        If the metaname property is not defined the value is pushed with the
+        name that was used as key.
         """
+        if name is None:
+            name = metaname
+
         cache_object = self.get_cache_object(name)
         if cache_object is None or cache_object._value is None:
             logger.warning("The value for metaname '{}' was not set in the CacheService, and could not be pushed".format(name))
             return
 
         if self.check_push_allowed(cache_object):
-            if metaname is None:
-                metaname = name
             self.backend.addValue(metaname, cache_object.value)
             cache_object._pushed = True
             cache_object._updated = False
 
-    def push_real_value(self, name, unit=None, metaname=None):
-        """Pushes the scalar value stored with the given name to the backend.
-        If the name cannot be found, nothing is pushed. If the metaname
-        property is not defined the value is pushed with the name that was used
-        as key.
+    def addRealValue(self, metaname, name=None, unit=None):
+        """Pushes the real value stored in the cache with the given name to
+        the backend. A unit conversion will be made if units are specified.
+
+        If the name cannot be found in the dictionary, or the value associated
+        with the name is None, nothing is pushed. This allows one to use the
+        cache with a simple syntax without having to worry about the actual
+        availability of the data.
+
+        If the metaname property is not defined the value is pushed with the
+        name that was used as key.
         """
+        if name is None:
+            name = metaname
+
         cache_object = self.get_cache_object(name)
         if cache_object is None or cache_object._value is None:
             logger.warning("The value for metaname '{}' was not set in the CacheService, and could not be pushed".format(name))
             return
 
         if self.check_push_allowed(cache_object):
-            if metaname is None:
-                metaname = name
 
             if cache_object.value is not None:
                 self.backend.addRealValue(metaname, cache_object.value, unit=unit)
@@ -625,20 +638,27 @@ class CacheService(object):
             else:
                 logger.warning("The value for metaname '{}' was not set in the CacheService, and could not be pushed".format(name))
 
-    def push_array_values(self, name, unit=None, metaname=None):
-        """Pushes the scalar value stored with the given name to the backend.
-        If the name cannot be found, nothing is pushed. If the metaname
-        property is not defined the value is pushed with the name that was used
-        as key.
+    def addArrayValues(self, metaname, name=None, unit=None):
+        """Pushes the array value stored in the cache with the given name to
+        the backend. A unit conversion will be made if units are specified.
+
+        If the name cannot be found in the dictionary, or the value associated
+        with the name is None, nothing is pushed. This allows one to use the
+        cache with a simple syntax without having to worry about the actual
+        availability of the data.
+
+        If the metaname property is not defined the value is pushed with the
+        name that was used as key.
         """
+        if name is None:
+            name = metaname
+
         cache_object = self.get_cache_object(name)
         if cache_object is None or cache_object._value is None:
             logger.warning("The value for metaname '{}' was not set in the CacheService, and could not be pushed".format(name))
             return
 
         if self.check_push_allowed(cache_object):
-            if metaname is None:
-                metaname = name
 
             if cache_object.value is not None:
                 self.backend.addArrayValues(metaname, np.array(cache_object.value), unit=unit)

common/python/nomadcore/local_backend.py

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class LocalBackend(object):
             # Check that the value is actually of scalar type
             value_type = type(value)
             if value_type not in [float, int, bool, type(b""), type(u""), str, np.float64]:
-                raise TypeError("The value '{}' with type '{}' for metainfo '{}' is not of scalar nature.".format(value, value_type, metaName))
+                raise TypeError("Could not use function 'addValue' to push value '{}' with type '{}' for metainfo '{}'.".format(value, value_type, metaName))
 
             # Check that the metainfo should be scalar
             metainfo_shape = dataManager.metaInfo.shape