As you have already seen, ecFlow has a ecFlow Python Api: (for both python2 and python3)

import ecflow
This allows the suite definition to be built with python.
It also allows communication with the ecflow_server.
This is a very powerful feature, that helps to define very complex suites in a relatively compact way.
Consider the following suite:


suite test
 family f1
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
 family f2
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
 family f3
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
 family f4
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
 family f5
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
 family f6
     task a
     task b
     task c
     task d
     task e
 endfamily
endsuite

This can be written in python as:


def create_suite(name) : 
    suite = Suite(name)
    for i in range(1, 7) :
        fam = suite.add_family("f" + str(i))
        for t in ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" ) :
            fam.add_task(t)
    return suite



 def create_suite(name) : 
     return Suite(name,
             [ Family("f{0}".format(i),
                 [ Task(t) for t in ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e") ]) 
               for i in range(1,7) ])


Python variables can be used to generate trigger dependencies.
Imagine that we want to chain the families f1 to f6, so that f2 runs after f1, f3 after f2 and so on.
The following will do the trick:


def create_sequential_suite(name) :
    suite = Suite(name)
    for i in range(1, 7) :
        fam = suite.add_family("f" + str(i))
        if i != 1: 
            fam += Trigger("f" + str(i-1) + " == complete")  # or fam.add_family( "f%d == complete" % (i-1) )
        for t in ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" ) :
            fam.add_task(t) 
    return suite

For more detailed example please see the user manual

Adding Node attributes

There are several styles for adding node attributes(Repeat,Time,Today,Date,Day,Cron,Clock,DefStatus,Meter,Event,Variable,Label,Trigger, Complete, Limit,Inlimit,Zombie,Late)

# Functional style
node.add_variable(home,'COURSE')          # c++ style
node.add_limit('limitX',10)               # c++ style

# Using <node>.add(<attributes>) 
node.add(Edit(home=COURSE),               # Notice that add() allows you adjust the indentation
         Limit('limitX',10))              # node.add(<attributes>)  

# in place. When creating a Node, attributes are additional arguments (preferred)
# This also allows indentation.
#   Task(name,<attributes>)
#   Family(name,Node | <attributes>)
#   Suite(name,Node  | <attributes>)
node = Family('t1',                               
           Edit(home='COURSE'),                   
           Limit('limitX',10),
           Task('t1',
              Event('e')))

# Using <node> += <attribute>     adding a single attribute                        
node += Edit(home='COURSE')                            

# Using <node> += [ <attributes> ]  - use list to add multiple attributes
node += [ Edit(home='COURSE'), Limit('limitY',10), Event(1) ]     

# Using node + <attributes>  - A node container(suite | family) must appear on the left hand side. Use brackets to control scope.
node + Edit(home=COURSE) + Limit('limitZ',10)   

# In this example, variable 'name' is added to suite 's/' and not task 't3'     
suite = Suite("s") + Family("f") + Family("f2") + Task("t3") + Edit(name="value")

suite s
  edit name 'value'
  family f
  endfamily
  family f2
  endfamily
  task t3
endsuite


# here we use parenthesis to control where the variable gets added
suite = Suite("s") + Family("f") + Family("f2") + (Task("t3") + Edit(name="value"))

 suite s
  family f
  endfamily
  family f2
  endfamily
  task t3
    edit name 'value'
endsuite