`FrostBase` Reactor

The FrostBase reactor serves as the foundational component for all other reactors in the Frost framework. It provides a set of common utility methods and basic functionalities that are inherited by other, more specialized reactors. Its primary purpose is to offer a standard toolkit for logging, parameter handling, and message passing, ensuring consistency across the entire system.

Core Functionalities

Logging: Initializes a logger for each reactor instance, allowing for standardized and configurable logging.
Parameter Overriding: Includes a method to override a reactor's default parameters with values from a configuration file. This allows for flexible and centralized configuration management.
Message-Passing Utilities: Provides helper methods like _set_output_port and _get_input_values to simplify the process of sending and receiving messages through ports, including handling multiport outputs.

Configuration and Parameter Overriding

One of the key features provided by FrostBase is the ability to override a reactor's parameters from an external configuration file. This allows for highly flexible and centralized management of reactor settings without modifying the source code.

Configuration File Example

The configuration is typically provided in a YAML file. This file can define settings for multiple reactors, including their logging levels and any custom parameters.

Here is an example of a config.yml file:

reactors:
  my_reactor_instance:
    logging_level: "DEBUG"
    parameters:
      update_interval: 500  # msec
      threshold: 42.5

In this example, we are defining settings for a reactor instance named my_reactor_instance. We are setting its logging level to DEBUG and overriding two of its parameters: update_interval and threshold.

How It Works

Loading the Configuration: At the start of the simulation, this YAML file is loaded into a Python dictionary.
Passing to the Reactor: This dictionary is then passed to the reactor, typically during its initialization.
Overriding Parameters: The __override_initial_parameters method is called within the reactor's startup sequence. This method explores the configuration dictionary to find the section corresponding to the reactor's name. It then dynamically updates the reactor's attributes (self.update_interval = 500, self.threshold = 42.5) using the values from the file.

This mechanism allows you to easily change reactor behavior for different simulation runs just by modifying the configuration file.

Code Snippets

Parameter Overriding Method

This is the method within FrostBase that performs the dynamic parameter update.

method __override_initial_parameters(configuration, reactor_name) {=
    // ... search for the reactor's configuration in the dictionary ...

    if "parameters" not in configuration or not isinstance(configuration["parameters"], dict):
        return

    for key, value in configuration["parameters"].items():
        if not hasattr(self, key):
            self.logger.warning(f"Parameter {key} not found in reactor {reactor_name}. Creating dynamic parameter {key} = {value}.")

        setattr(self, key, value)
=}

Setting Output Port Value

This utility method simplifies the process of setting or appending values to an output port, which is fundamental for message passing.

method _set_output_port(value, output_port) {=
    '''Set the output value for the specified output port. If a value is already set, it will append the new value to the existing one.'''

    if output_port.width > 0:
        self._set_output_multiport(value, output_port, None)
        return

    if not output_port.is_present:
        output_port.set([])

    if isinstance(value, list):
        output_port.value.extend(value)
    else:
        output_port.value.append(value)
=}

FrostBase Reactor