What precautions should I take when the “model” run by PEST is actually a batch or script file comprised of more than one executable program?
The following precautions are recommended. • Ensure that data is transferred between executable programs with maximum precision. Thus numbers written to all model component output files which constitute input files for another model component should have at least six to seven significant figures. (Use exponential notation to represent numbers if possible.) • Begin the model batch file by deleting all files that are written by one model component and read by another. Thus if one model component fails to run, the next component will not read an old output file, mistaking it for a new one. Instead it will crash. Its output files will not therefore be written and following model components will crash. Finally, when the files that PEST expects to read are not present, it will cease execution with an appropriate error message. (Note that PEST deletes all model output files that it must read prior to running the model, for this same reason – that is so that it does not read an old model outpu
The following precautions are recommended. • Ensure that data is transferred between executable programs with maximum precision. Thus numbers written to all model component output files which constitute input files for another model component should have at least six to seven significant figures. (Use exponential notation to represent numbers if possible.) • Begin the model batch file by deleting all files that are written by one model component and read by another. Thus if one model component fails to run, the next component will not read an old output file, mistaking it for a new one. Instead it will crash. Its output files will not therefore be written and following model components will crash. Finally, when the files that PEST expects to read are not present, it will cease execution with an appropriate error message.
