IGLi
IGLi is the same thing with a window. You write a model, problems get
underlined as you type, you run it, and you look at the results. It sits
beside the command line tool the way phreeqci sits beside
phreeqc: installed separately and updated separately, into the
same folder.
What it does
- It colours your file by reading it the same way the checker does, so what you see highlighted is what the checker actually saw.
- It underlines problems where they are, with the explanation and the worked
example coming from the same source as
igl explain. - It lists every block and everything it accepts in a panel on the left, and a button inserts a skeleton with just the required statements in it.
- It shows the results as a table and as a plot. You choose the horizontal axis yourself: against time, or against the fraction reacted, which is usually how you want to read a distillation.
- It names in the status bar which engine it found and which version. If you forget to rebuild your engine, it will happily give you last week's numbers and say nothing about it, so this is worth a glance before you trust a result.
How it runs a model
Reading and checking a model happens inside IGLi itself. A problem has to be underlined on the right line while you are still typing, and nothing outside the editor can keep up with that.
The calculation is different. IGLi launches igl run as a separate
program, and that allows you three things. If ever the program is stucked or
crashed, you can safely stop it without losing your unsaved work with it. The
sharable result files records which engine was used to produce its values and
results. And finally, you can use another engine just by changing the IGL paths
in the settings.
Chemistry
If you use PHREEQC, the Chemistry window is where you tell IGLi where to find it, and where to find a thermodynamic database if you want a specific one. Those paths are kept on your machine and are never written into a model. Where PHREEQC sits on your computer has nothing to do with the model itself, which is made to be sharable and replicable by anyone, a model that carried that path would stop working as soon as you send it to a colleague or publish it along to an article.