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One of my colleagues is having trouble developing a peculiar tool: it has no inputs. This makes sense in our local context - it fetches some constantly updating remote data for the current user - but implementing it has escaped our skill. Galaxy complains about a tool with no params (i.e. an empty <inputs>). It complains about a tool with no <inputs> tag. Hidden input fields don't seem to work (i.e. looks like I'm getting the cached value of the form).

From: "Duddy, John" <jduddy@illumina.com>

Doesn't this violate one of the basic tenets of Galaxy - reproducibility? Without the ability to provide full traceability to the inputs, one can make no guarantees about the outputs.

I think that condition is being met - the resulting dataset depends on no inputs but the time of "fetching", and so traceability is satisfied, just like many remote and updating data sources. In any event, our pragmatic need in this case is for such a tool without any need for reproducibility. Which leads me to note the strange behaviour seen when the only input is a hidden field. When the inputs are: <inputs> <param name="input_seq_file" type="data" format="fasta" label="Input sequences" help="The sequences to have MLST profiles constructed for." /> <param name="offset" type="hidden" value="0" /> </inputs> this works as expected: a dataset selection dropdown and a hidden field (seen in the source). But if you delete the non-hidden parameter: <inputs> <param name="offset" type="hidden" value="0" /> </inputs> Galaxy doesn't generate an error, reports loading the tool, and puts an entry in the tool panel. However the link for the tool in question is malformed, missing a tool identifier and when clicked only reloads the middle welcome panel. I haven't worked out where and why this is happening, but at the least it's an uninformative error. ---- Paul Agapow (paul-michael.agapow@hpa.org.uk) Bioinformatics, Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency ----------------------------------------- ************************************************************************** The information contained in the EMail and any attachments is confidential and intended solely and for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). It may not be disclosed to any other person without the express authority of the HPA, or the intended recipient, or both. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose, copy, distribute or retain this message or any part of it. This footnote also confirms that this EMail has been swept for computer viruses, but please re-sweep any attachments before opening or saving. HTTP://www.HPA.org.uk **************************************************************************