Summary of what I received within half a day:
12 out of office replies
1 unknown recipient notification
9 suggestions to use BRUGS (which does not work in my particular situation, and I had inquired on winbugs)
4 requests to share solutions if I receive any
3 other replies, among them one suggesting to use a path that is a subdirectory of c:\program files\winbugs14 (the only suggested solution that actually implements a relative path but should be prevented unless you have admin rights on your system - but then, writing to a system directory is not a good idea)
1 email from an author of (win)bugs, Andrew Thomas, inquiring about details and generating hope in me that the desired feature might be added in some future version
It seems that many list members are actually not winbugs but BRUGS users and this might need clarification in postings.
Thanks to everyone.
Andreas
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andreas Krause
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 2:54 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: handling paths in scripts
>
>
>
> I would like to discuss or learn how to "best" handle paths
> when writing winbugs scripts. I am not happy with the current
> status (my current status, to be precise) and I wonder if
> there are better ways to handle path names.
>
> Situation: Have a script file that reads a model file, a data
> file, and an init file. The log file and the values of the
> chain(s) shall be written out.
> All of these files reside in a single directory.
> My ideal world is that there is no absolute path name
> involved such that directories can be transfered to other
> paths, computers, or people easily.
>
> The script file might look like this:
>
> check('c:/project999/model.txt')
> data('c:/project999/data.txt')
> inits(1, 'c:/project999/inits.txt')
> [ ... ]
> coda(*, 'c:/project999/values')
> save('c:/project999/log.odc')
>
> In reality the directory is more similar to something like
> c:/Documents and Settings/akrause/My
> Documents/projects/modeling/model5678/winbugs/
>
> Having to write a lengthy path name five times into a script
> is not only displeasing to the eye, it is also more
> error-prone than defining a directory at the beginning of a
> script and then using relative paths throughout the remainder
> of the script.
>
> In an ideal world there would be no absolute path at all. I
> set the startup-directory for the winBUGS shortcut to my
> project directory, but seemingly without effect. Saving to a
> file stored the file in the winbugs directory, c:\program
> files\winbugs14.
>
> Can someone point me to a solution where
> a) no absolute path is needed or
> b) something like this would work in a winbugs script:
> dir='c:/project999/'
> check(dir+'model.txt')
> data(dir+'data.txt')
> etc.
>
> Any further insights are highly welcome.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Andreas
>
> Note: I searched the archive, promised.
>
>
> Andreas Krause, PhD
> Pharsight Corporation
> Strategic Consulting Services
> Phone: +41-61-481 39 74
> Fax: +41-61-481 39 78
> Cell: +41-76-324 75 54
>
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