.. _ContributingInputFilesDoc:

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Contributing Input Files
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As part of the development cycle, functional input files should be introduced 
into the repository in order to provide 1) testing, 2) examples of proper use of
the code.
The input files should be modulerized such that the majority of the input
resides in a base file, and the variations in input are contained in specific
files for integrated/smoke testing, and benchmarking. 
For example if we had a single input file named ``myProblem.xml``, we would break 
it up into ``myProblem_base.xml``, ``myProblem_smoke.xml`', and 
``myProblem_benchmark.xml``.
Each of the ``smoke/benchark`` files should include the ``base`` file using an
include block as follows:

.. code-block:: c++

     <Included>
       <File name="./myProblem_base.xml"/>
     </Included>
     
The files should be placed in the appropriate application specific subdirectory
under the ``GEOS/inputFiles`` directory. 
For example, the ``beamBending`` problem input files reside in the 
``inputFiles/solidMechanics`` directory. 
The files then be linked to from the appropriate location in the ``integratedTests`` 
repository as described in the following section.