Cleanout UtilityRoutines by mitchute · Pull Request #11438 · NatLabRockies/EnergyPlus

mitchute · 2026-02-26T17:39:17Z

Pull request overview

Reviewing PR #11411 prompted me to look at UtilityRoutines, where it appears we have a number of obsolete functions. This PR cleans these out in lieu of better approaches.

FindItemInSortedList was used in one place, and we have a number of other ways that are used more commonly to do this.
VerifyName was used in five places to verify object names are not duplicated or blank. I believe this is all now enforced through the IDD/epJSON schema validation methods, so I suspect this separate step is unnecessary and can be removed.
IsNameEmpty was used in about 110 places; however, like VerifyName I think nearly all of this is handled already by the epJSON schema, and whatever is left can be handled by the .empty() string method.

Description of the purpose of this PR

Pull Request Author

Reviewer

rraustad · 2026-02-27T00:43:23Z

src/EnergyPlus/HeatBalanceManager.cc

-            if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1), state.dataHeatBalMgr->CurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+            if (state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
                continue;
            }


Don't need this check because:

Zone, A1 , \field Name \required-field

This test:

Zone, , !- Name 0, !- Direction of Relative North {deg}

gives this error from the InputProcessor:

** Severe ** <root>[Zone] - Object name is required and cannot be blank or whitespace

Thanks. I'll remove this check.

rraustad · 2026-02-27T00:50:51Z

src/EnergyPlus/NodeInputManager.cc

-        if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, cAlphas(1), CurrentModuleObject, localErrorsFound)) {
+        if (cAlphas(1).empty()) {
            continue;
        }


NodeList, A1 , \field Name \required-field

Thanks. I'll remove this check.

rraustad · 2026-02-27T00:56:05Z

src/EnergyPlus/Photovoltaics.cc

-                if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1), s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+                if (s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
                    continue;
                }


This one should be required (because it is checked as such) but it's not so this is OK. I suspect all object names should be required-field but there may be exceptions. i.e., be careful which one of these checks get deleted. I always check the idd when adding/removing input checks.

PhotovoltaicPerformance:Simple, A1 , \field Name \reference PVModules

The next 2 are OK as-is (Name is not a required field).

mitchute

I checked all objects where these were used against the IDD. Every one except the PhotovoltaicPerformance objects that I noted are required in the IDD, so these checks should not be needed.

mitchute · 2026-03-04T13:56:25Z

src/EnergyPlus/HeatBalanceManager.cc

-            if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1), state.dataHeatBalMgr->CurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+            if (state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
                continue;
            }


Thanks. I'll remove this check.

mitchute · 2026-03-04T14:06:45Z

src/EnergyPlus/NodeInputManager.cc

-        if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, cAlphas(1), CurrentModuleObject, localErrorsFound)) {
+        if (cAlphas(1).empty()) {
            continue;
        }


Thanks. I'll remove this check.

mitchute · 2026-03-04T14:17:03Z

src/EnergyPlus/Photovoltaics.cc


                ErrorObjectHeader eoh{routineName, s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1)};

-                if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1), s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {


Adding \required-field for the PhotovoltaicPerformance:Simple name. OK to remove after that.

mitchute · 2026-03-04T14:21:15Z

src/EnergyPlus/Photovoltaics.cc

                                                                         s_ipsc->cNumericFieldNames);

                ErrorObjectHeader eoh{routineName, s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1)};
-                if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1), s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {


PhotovoltaicPerformance:EquivalentOne-Diode name should be required, right?

mitchute · 2026-03-04T14:21:53Z

src/EnergyPlus/Photovoltaics.cc

                                                                         s_ipsc->lAlphaFieldBlanks,
                                                                         s_ipsc->cAlphaFieldNames,
                                                                         s_ipsc->cNumericFieldNames);
-                if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1), s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {


PhotovoltaicPerformance:Sandia name should be required, right?

…bject names required in the IDD

mitchute · 2026-03-04T16:39:25Z

idd/Energy+.idd.in

        \memo which surfaces convert incident solar radiation to electricity and need not specify
        \memo arrays of specific modules.
   A1 , \field Name
+        \required-field


I went ahead and made these required since I can't see why they should not be.

rraustad · 2026-03-05T00:57:42Z

src/EnergyPlus/PlantCondLoopOperation.cc

-        if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1), CurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+        if (state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
            continue;
        }


PlantEquipmentOperationSchemes, \min-fields 4 A1 , \field Name \required-field

Thanks for looking this over @rraustad. I'll clean out these last few.

rraustad · 2026-03-05T00:58:35Z

src/EnergyPlus/PlantCondLoopOperation.cc

-        if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1), CurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+        if (state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
            continue;
        }


CondenserEquipmentOperationSchemes, \min-fields 4 A1 , \field Name \required-field

rraustad · 2026-03-05T01:00:36Z

src/EnergyPlus/ThermalChimney.cc


-            if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1), cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {
+            if (state.dataIPShortCut->cAlphaArgs(1).empty()) {
                continue;


ZoneThermalChimney, \min-fields 10 A1, \field Name \required-field

rraustad · 2026-03-05T01:05:00Z

tst/EnergyPlus/unit/BranchInputManager.unit.cc

-                    continue;
-                }
-                Alphas(1) = Alphas(1) + "--dup";
-            }


I wonder why a Branch name would be protected like this for a duplicate name?

Branch, A1, \field Name \required-field

Fair question. I'll take another look at it.

This could be a pre Input Processor unit test? But there is only 1 Branch in this unit test? The only concern I have is whether using the same branch name in different Branch objects is caught. I would suspect it is but can't find that in code or unit tests.

As far as I can tell, this was added about 10 years ago, by me...... #5575. No idea on why I did it or where I would have gotten that from. Unless we can point to some reason to keep it, I think it's safe to remove at this point.

mitchute · 2026-03-09T23:56:51Z

Thanks for the careful review @rraustad. This looks ready. Merging.

mitchute added 5 commits February 25, 2026 13:45

cleanout FindItemInSortedList

b3ee9f8

eliminate VerifyName usages

55aca74

remove VerifyName plus a few other lingering usages

b027210

remove IsNameEmpty

771dc28

cleanout TODO checks after verifying old code was not used

3c23b5a

mitchute changed the title ~~Cleanout utility routines~~ Cleanout UtilityRoutines Feb 26, 2026

mitchute added the Refactoring Includes code changes that don't change the functionality of the program, just perform refactoring label Feb 26, 2026

mitchute self-assigned this Feb 26, 2026

rraustad reviewed Feb 27, 2026

View reviewed changes

mitchute marked this pull request as draft March 2, 2026 22:42

Merge branch 'develop' into cleanout-utility-routines

324d454

mitchute commented Mar 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

mitchute marked this pull request as ready for review March 4, 2026 15:56

remove a few unnecessary checks, make all PhotovoltaicPerformance:* o…

98524a8

…bject names required in the IDD

mitchute commented Mar 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

mitchute added 2 commits March 4, 2026 09:48

remove blank name checks in PhotovoltaicPerformance:*

781adbf

Merge branch 'develop' into cleanout-utility-routines

916334c

rraustad reviewed Mar 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

mitchute added 2 commits March 6, 2026 11:12

Merge branch 'develop' into cleanout-utility-routines

eb58016

cleanout remaining redundant blank name checks

0c11be4

mitchute merged commit d1725fe into develop Mar 9, 2026
8 checks passed

mitchute deleted the cleanout-utility-routines branch March 9, 2026 23:56


		ErrorObjectHeader eoh{routineName, s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1)};

		if (Util::IsNameEmpty(state, s_ipsc->cAlphaArgs(1), s_ipsc->cCurrentModuleObject, ErrorsFound)) {

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mitchute commented Feb 26, 2026

Pull request overview

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mitchute commented Mar 9, 2026

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