parameter and step groups

[tetron]

Want to be able to apply annotations to groups of parameters or workflow steps. This would principally be metadata documentation -- need to decide if this should include features that affect runtime execution or not. The goal is to have a way to provide better documentation & user interface for tool use.

Syntax options:

inputs:
  parameter1: string
  parameter2: int
groups:
  group1:
    groupMembers: [parmeter1, parameter2]
    doc: "parameters related to the foobar feature"

inputs:
  parameter1:
    type: string
    groupMember: group1
  parameter2:
    type: int
    groupMember: group1
groups:
  group1:
    doc: "parameters related to the foobar feature"

Discussion points

• should groups include things that are meaningful to runtime, e.g. applying a hint or requirement to several steps? rejected
• Can an item be a member of more than one group? rejected
• Should it be possible for groups to be members of other groups? rejected
• What kind of metadata should be specified?
  • label, doc, 'expanded'
• Are groups the appropriate place to declare dependencies between inputs, for example if optional input A is specified then optional input B is actually required
  • The user guide describes option groups using records and unions but nobody uses that in practice
  • rejected
• specifying order that parameters / groups appear in UI
  • suck for the user but decided we need this because we can't guarantee order in JSON/YAML documents
  • should decide if reusing "position" field is appropriate, in CommandLineTool it allows either integers or expressions, but expressions don't make sense here.

[tetron]

Groups should have a field called "expanded" (default true) which indicates if the group is expanded in the UI by default.

Groups should be displayed after any non-grouped items.