CLI vs Python

Developers building off the wildcat framework may wonder whether to build off the CLI or Python interface. When possible, we recommend building off of the Python interface, as this provides various development options not availabe for the CLI. As discussed on the logging page, the logging streams and format can be customized within a Python session, but are fixed when run from the CLI. The Python interface also allows developers to address error Exceptions not handled by wildcat. For example, you could use something like the following to address a DEM georeferencing error:

from wildcat.errors import GeoreferencingError
from wildcat import preprocess

try:
    preprocess()
except GeoreferencingError:
    # Code that adds georeferencing to the DEM
    pass
    # Rerun the preprocessor with the updated DEM
    preprocess()

Also, the CLI suppresses error tracebacks by default, setting the global sys.tracebacklimit to 0. By contrast, the Python commands do not alter this setting, and display error messages as normal.

Disabling Files

Developers should be aware of a subtle difference between the command line and Python interfaces when disabling an input file. Although the configuration.py and command line settings disable a file path using None, you should use False to disable a file path when using Python kwargs. This is because the Python functions use None to indicate the lack of a configuration override.

Python

# Disable the KF-factor preprocessor
from wildcat import preprocess
preprocess(kf=False)

configuration.py

# Disable the KF-factor preprocessor
kf = None

CLI

# Disable the KF-factor preprocessor
wildcat preprocess --kf None