Streamlined the installation, updated readme accordingly.

README.md

@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ and then installing the package itself with the provided installation script:
 python setup.py develop --user
 ```
 
+This will install a development version, which means that if you update the
+source code, all the changes will be available immediately without reinstall of
+the package. The current setup also assumes a certain location for the metainfo
+repository. If you place all the repositories (python-common, nomad-meta-info,
+parser repository) in the same folder, things should work.
+
 After this the package will be available to import by simply calling
 
 ```python

common/python/nomadcore/baseclasses.py

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class ParserInterface(object):
     __metaclass__ = ABCMeta
     metainfo_env = None
 
-    def __init__(self, main_file, metainfo_to_keep=None, backend=None, default_units=None, metainfo_units=None):
+    def __init__(self, main_file, metainfo_to_keep=None, backend=None, default_units=None, metainfo_units=None, debug=True, store=True):
         """
     Args:
         main_file: A special file that can be considered the main file of the
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ class ParserInterface(object):
         backend: An object to which the parser will give all the parsed data.
             The backend will then determine where and when to output that data.
         """
+        self.debug = debug
+        self.store = store
         self.initialize(main_file, metainfo_to_keep, backend, default_units, metainfo_units)
 
     def initialize(self, main_file, metainfo_to_keep, backend, default_units, metainfo_units):
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ class ParserInterface(object):
         if backend is not None:
             self.parser_context.super_backend = backend(type(self).metainfo_env)
         else:
-            self.parser_context.super_backend = LocalBackend(type(self).metainfo_env)
+            self.parser_context.super_backend = LocalBackend(type(self).metainfo_env, debug=self.debug, store=self.store)
 
         # Check the list of default units
         default_unit_map = {}

common/python/nomadcore/local_backend.py

@@ -6,14 +6,29 @@ from collections import defaultdict
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+#===============================================================================
+class DummyFile:
+    def write(self,input):
+        pass
+
 #===============================================================================
 class LocalBackend(object):
     """A backend that outputs results into a regular python dictionary. This is
     useful if you wan't to run the parser with python only.
     """
-    def __init__(self, metaInfoEnv, fileOut=StringIO.StringIO(), debug=True):
+    def __init__(self, metaInfoEnv, debug=True, store=True):
+        """
+        Args:
+            metaInfoEnv: The description of the metainfo environment.
+            debug: Boolean indicating whether some debugging should be done
+                (check that correct types and shapes are pushed into backend)
+            store: Boolean indicating whether the parsed results should be
+                stored in memory. Useful to skip the storing if you just want
+                to quickly check that everything is runnning fine and don't
+                want to waste RAM in doing so.
+        """
         self.__metaInfoEnv = metaInfoEnv
-        self.fileOut = fileOut
+        self.fileOut = DummyFile()
         self.__gIndex = -1
         self.__openSections = set()
         self.__lastIndex = {}
@@ -22,6 +37,7 @@ class LocalBackend(object):
         self.sectionManagers = {}
         self.results = Results(metaInfoEnv, self.dataManagers, self.sectionManagers)
         self.debug = debug
+        self.store = store
 
         for ikNames, ik in metaInfoEnv.infoKinds.items():
             if ik.kindStr == "type_section":
@@ -177,12 +193,7 @@ class LocalBackend(object):
 
 #===============================================================================
 class Results(object):
-    """The collection of results gathered by a parser.
-
-    The results are input into a dictionary that is augmented with supporting
-    functionality.
-
-    Attributes:
+    """A wrapper object for the collection of results gathered by a parser.
     """
     def __init__(self, metaInfoEnv, datamanagers, sectionmanagers):
         self._datamanagers = datamanagers
@@ -297,29 +308,32 @@ class Section(object):
             results.append(path)
 
     def addValue(self, metaInfo, value):
-        vals = self.simpleValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
-        if vals is None:
-            self.simpleValues[metaInfo.name] = [value]
-        else:
-            vals.append(value)
+        if self.backend.store:
+            vals = self.simpleValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
+            if vals is None:
+                self.simpleValues[metaInfo.name] = [value]
+            else:
+                vals.append(value)
 
     def setArrayValues(self, metaInfo, values, offset=None):
-        vals = self.arrayValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
-        if vals is None:
-            raise Exception("setArrayValues(%s,...) called before adding a value" % metaInfo.name)
-        else:
-            if offset:
-                idxs = map(lambda i: slice(offset[i], offset[i] + values.shape[i]), range(len(offset)))
+        if self.backend.store:
+            vals = self.arrayValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
+            if vals is None:
+                raise Exception("setArrayValues(%s,...) called before adding a value" % metaInfo.name)
             else:
-                idxs = map(lambda x: slice(0, x), values.shape)
-            vals[len(vals) - 1][idxs] = values
+                if offset:
+                    idxs = map(lambda i: slice(offset[i], offset[i] + values.shape[i]), range(len(offset)))
+                else:
+                    idxs = map(lambda x: slice(0, x), values.shape)
+                vals[len(vals) - 1][idxs] = values
 
     def addArrayValues(self, metaInfo, values):
-        vals = self.arrayValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
-        if vals is None:
-            self.arrayValues[metaInfo.name] = [values]
-        else:
-            vals.append(values)
+        if self.backend.store:
+            vals = self.arrayValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
+            if vals is None:
+                self.arrayValues[metaInfo.name] = [values]
+            else:
+                vals.append(values)
 
     def addSubsection(self, metaInfo, section):
         vals = self.subSectionValues.get(metaInfo.name, None)
@@ -331,7 +345,8 @@ class Section(object):
 
 #===============================================================================
 class SectionManager(object):
-
+    """Manages the sections for the given metainfo.
+    """
     def __init__(self, metaInfo, parentSectionNames, lastSectionGIndex=-1, openSections={}):
         self.metaInfo = metaInfo
         self.parentSectionNames = parentSectionNames
@@ -405,6 +420,8 @@ class SectionManager(object):
 
 #===============================================================================
 class DataManager(object):
+    """Stores the parent (SectionManager) for the given metainfo.
+    """
     def __init__(self, metaInfo, superSectionManager):
         self.metaInfo = metaInfo
         self.superSectionManager = superSectionManager

setup.py

@@ -11,14 +11,12 @@ def main():
     setup(
         name="nomadcore",
         version="0.1",
-        description="Tools for NOMAD parser development",
+        description="Tools for NOMAD parser development.",
         package_dir={'': 'common/python'},
-        packages=["nomadcore", "nomadcore.unit_conversion", "nomadscripts"],
-        include_package_data=True,
+        packages=find_packages("common/python"),
         package_data={
             'nomadcore.unit_conversion': ['*.txt'],
-        },
-        zip_safe=False
+        }
     )
 
 # Run main function by default