Support file I/O for string columns in SolutionArray

[ischoegl]

Changes proposed in this pull request

• Enable CSV import of string columns
• Enable HDF export/import of string columns
• Add phase_of_matter to SolutionArray

If applicable, fill in the issue number this pull request is fixing

Fixes #896

Checklist

• There is a clear use-case for this code change
• The commit message has a short title & references relevant issues
• Build passes (scons build & scons test) and unit tests address code coverage
• The pull request is ready for review

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Merging #900 into main will increase coverage by 0.00%.
The diff coverage is n/a.

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main     #900   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   71.17%   71.18%           
=======================================
  Files         376      376           
  Lines       46190    46201   +11     
=======================================
+ Hits        32877    32888   +11     
  Misses      13313    13313           

Impacted Files	Coverage Δ
test/general/test_containers.cpp	99.57% <0.00%> (-0.43%)	⬇️
src/base/AnyMap.cpp	83.99% <0.00%> (+0.21%)	⬆️

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[ischoegl]

@bryanwweber ... enabling strings wasn’t difficult after all. However, any comments (or better ideas) on the numpy version if/else condition here? (Alternative would be a less specific try/except)

It’s pretty quiet these days otherwise: I hope that the work on beta is coming along.

[bryanwweber]

Thanks @ischoegl. In 6edb133 we set the minimum NumPy version to 1.12, since that's required for #838 to work properly. Ubuntu 18.04 provides 1.13.x in the system packages, and we didn't want to break compatibility with that version, so that's how I picked 1.12. Anyhow, I left a comment below about the version comparison.
Too many other things going on right now, with the semester approaching. It is my goal to get 2.5.0 out before the semester (i.e., before August 31) but... you know 😄

[ischoegl]

@bryanwweber ... thanks for the review: your recommendations were useful as always and were easily addressed. I'm happy about the suggestion for np.lib.NumpyVersion, as I didn't like the distutils dependency (which I however still preferred to a try ... except structure).

Definitely looking forward to the release of 2.5.0 - I appreciate your and @speth's efforts on getting this out! I won't teach combustion again until next spring though 😜

PS: failing tests are fixed by #905

[ischoegl]

@bryanwweber ... thanks again for your feedback - the comment is now added; I believe everything is taken care of at this point.

[bryanwweber]

Thanks @ischoegl!

[ischoegl]

Thanks @bryanwweber!