Why isn't there a datatype for a directory of files? This seems like such a simple thing. If an executable generates or expects a directory as its input or output, why must a fancy complicated composite datatype be created to handle this? David Hoover -------------------- David Hoover, PhD Helix Systems Staff SCB/DCSS/CIT/NIH 301-435-2986 http://helix.nih.gov
On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 4:34 PM, David Hoover <hooverdm@helix.nih.gov> wrote:
Why isn't there a datatype for a directory of files? This seems like such a simple thing. If an executable generates or expects a directory as its input or output, why must a fancy complicated composite datatype be created to handle this?
David Hoover
A directory of files is too broad to be of use in itself - in the same way that defining tools to take or produce a generic "data" file is unhelpful. If you had a directory of files all the same format, then try to use the Galaxy collections feature (e.g. a collection of FASTA files). If the directory has some structure then the composite datatype is probably most suitable, e.g. an HTML file with a collection of image files; or a BLAST database made up of several binary files. Peter
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