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how to specify network access with example
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Expand Up @@ -447,6 +447,51 @@ The reference runner and several other CWL implementations support running
those Docker format containers using the Singularity engine. Directly
specifying a Singularity format container is not part of the CWL standards.

## How do I specify when network access is required?

In CWL v1.1 and above, you need to specify when network access is required by
including the `NetworkAccess` requirement.
If `networkAccess` is `true`the tool must be able to make
outgoing connections to network resources.
If `networkAccess` is `false` or not specified, is false or not
specified, tools must not assume network access, except for localhost
(the loopback device).

Below is an example using `curl` where `networkAccess: true` which
allows the page with the link in the yaml file to be downloaded and
saves it in a `download.hmtl` file


```
cwlVersion: v1.2
class: CommandLineTool

requirements:
NetworkAccess:
networkAccess: true

baseCommand: curl

stdout: download.html

inputs:
url:
type: string
inputBinding:
position: 1

outputs:
out:
type: File
outputBinding:
glob: download.html
```

The input yaml file will be
```
url: https://www.commonwl.org/v1.2/
```

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I think we also need to document what happens when networkAccess: false. I believe this flag is a suggestion, and it may or may not block the network access (it does not in cwltool, yet, common-workflow-language/cwltool#1733).

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The flag doesn't block the network access; I ran the above code with networkAcess: false and it still downloaded the file.

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Correct. It's planned work for cwltool. But would be useful to document the expected behavior in the spec and maybe in cwltool as well.

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So can I say that when the networkAccess value is false, the code still runs, but we do not expect it to?

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I think we must say what happens in both cases. We can probably use or adapt the text from the specification, where it explains it's an indicative flag, what implementations/users can expect, and the meaning of true or false for the flag: https://www.commonwl.org/v1.2/CommandLineTool.html#NetworkAccess

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Alright, thanks!

## Debug JavaScript Expressions

You can use the <code>--js-console</code> option of <code>cwltool</code>, or you can try
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