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numpartitions

Class: matlab.io.datastore.Partitionable
Namespace: matlab.io.datastore

Default number of partitions

Syntax

n = numpartitions(ds)
n = numpartitions(ds,pool)

Description

n = numpartitions(ds) returns the default number of partitions for datastore ds.

n = numpartitions(ds,pool) returns a reasonable number of partitions to parallelize datastore access over the parallel pool specified by pool. To parallelize datastore access, you must have Parallel Computing Toolbox™ installed.

Input Arguments

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Input datastore, specified as a matlab.io.Datastore object. To create a Datastore object, see matlab.io.Datastore.

Parallel pool, specified as a parallel pool object.

Example: gcp

Attributes

Sealedtrue
Abstractfalse

To learn about attributes of methods, see Method Attributes.

Examples

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Build a datastore with parallel processing support and use it to bring your custom or proprietary data into MATLAB®. Then, process the data in a parallel pool.

Create a .m class definition file that contains the code implementing your custom datastore. You must save this file in your working folder or in a folder that is on the MATLAB® path. The name of the .m file must be the same as the name of your object constructor function. For example, if you want your constructor function to have the name MyDatastorePar, then the name of the .m file must be MyDatastorePar.m. The .m class definition file must contain the following steps:

  • Step 1: Inherit from the datastore classes.

  • Step 2: Define the constructor and the required methods.

  • Step 3: Define your custom file reading function.

In addition to these steps, define any other properties or methods that you need to process and analyze your data.

%% STEP 1: INHERIT FROM DATASTORE CLASSES
classdef MyDatastorePar < matlab.io.Datastore & ...
        matlab.io.datastore.Partitionable
   
    properties(Access = private)
        CurrentFileIndex double
        FileSet matlab.io.datastore.DsFileSet
    end
    
    % Property to support saving, loading, and processing of
    % datastore on different file system machines or clusters.
    % In addition, define the methods get.AlternateFileSystemRoots()
    % and set.AlternateFileSystemRoots() in the methods section. 
    properties(Dependent)
        AlternateFileSystemRoots
    end
    
%% STEP 2: DEFINE THE CONSTRUCTOR AND THE REQUIRED METHODS
    methods
        % Define your datastore constructor
        function myds = MyDatastorePar(location,altRoots)
            myds.FileSet = matlab.io.datastore.DsFileSet(location,...
                'FileExtensions','.bin', ...
                'FileSplitSize',8*1024);
            myds.CurrentFileIndex = 1;
             
            if nargin == 2
                 myds.AlternateFileSystemRoots = altRoots;
            end
            
            reset(myds);
        end
        
        % Define the hasdata method
        function tf = hasdata(myds)
            % Return true if more data is available
            tf = hasfile(myds.FileSet);
        end
        
        % Define the read method
        function [data,info] = read(myds)
            % Read data and information about the extracted data
            % See also: MyFileReader()
            if ~hasdata(myds)
                msgII = ['Use the reset method to reset the datastore ',... 
                         'to the start of the data.']; 
                msgIII = ['Before calling the read method, ',...
                          'check if data is available to read ',...
                          'by using the hasdata method.'];
                error('No more data to read.\n%s\n%s',msgII,msgIII);
            end
            
            fileInfoTbl = nextfile(myds.FileSet);
            data = MyFileReader(fileInfoTbl);
            info.Size = size(data);
            info.FileName = fileInfoTbl.FileName;
            info.Offset = fileInfoTbl.Offset;
            
            % Update CurrentFileIndex for tracking progress
            if fileInfoTbl.Offset + fileInfoTbl.SplitSize >= ...
                    fileInfoTbl.FileSize
                myds.CurrentFileIndex = myds.CurrentFileIndex + 1 ;
            end
        end
        
        % Define the reset method
        function reset(myds)
            % Reset to the start of the data
            reset(myds.FileSet);
            myds.CurrentFileIndex = 1;
        end

        % Define the partition method
        function subds = partition(myds,n,ii)
            subds = copy(myds);
            subds.FileSet = partition(myds.FileSet,n,ii);
            reset(subds);
        end
        
        % Getter for AlternateFileSystemRoots property
        function altRoots = get.AlternateFileSystemRoots(myds)
            altRoots = myds.FileSet.AlternateFileSystemRoots;
        end

        % Setter for AlternateFileSystemRoots property
        function set.AlternateFileSystemRoots(myds,altRoots)
            try
              % The DsFileSet object manages AlternateFileSystemRoots
              % for your datastore
              myds.FileSet.AlternateFileSystemRoots = altRoots;

              % Reset the datastore
              reset(myds);  
            catch ME
              throw(ME);
            end
        end
      
    end
    
    methods (Hidden = true)          
        % Define the progress method
        function frac = progress(myds)
            % Determine percentage of data read from datastore
            if hasdata(myds) 
               frac = (myds.CurrentFileIndex-1)/...
                             myds.FileSet.NumFiles; 
            else 
               frac = 1;  
            end 
        end
    end
    
    methods(Access = protected)
        % If you use the  FileSet property in the datastore,
        % then you must define the copyElement method. The
        % copyElement method allows methods such as readall
        % and preview to remain stateless 
        function dscopy = copyElement(ds)
            dscopy = copyElement@matlab.mixin.Copyable(ds);
            dscopy.FileSet = copy(ds.FileSet);
        end
        
        % Define the maxpartitions method
        function n = maxpartitions(myds)
            n = maxpartitions(myds.FileSet);
        end
    end
end

%% STEP 3: IMPLEMENT YOUR CUSTOM FILE READING FUNCTION
function data = MyFileReader(fileInfoTbl)
% create a reader object using FileName
reader = matlab.io.datastore.DsFileReader(fileInfoTbl.FileName);

% seek to the offset
seek(reader,fileInfoTbl.Offset,'Origin','start-of-file');

% read fileInfoTbl.SplitSize amount of data
data = read(reader,fileInfoTbl.SplitSize);

end

Your custom datastore is now ready. Use your custom datastore to read and process the data in a parallel pool.

Tips

  • For your custom datastore implementation, we recommend that you do not implement the numpartitions method.

Algorithms

In the default implementation, the number of partitions, n, is selected as the minimum between these two values:

  • Value returned by the maxpartitions method on the datastore object.

  • Three times the number of workers available.

Version History

Introduced in R2017b