broadcast scalars when getting list with known size

this makes old material configurations backward compatible and allows to
shorten configurations in case that the same value is used for multiple
families

src/IO.f90

@@ -573,8 +573,6 @@ subroutine IO_error(error_ID,ext_msg,label1,ID1,label2,ID2)
       msg = 'length mismatch'
     case (710)
       msg = 'closing quotation mark missing in string'
-    case (711)
-      msg = 'incorrect type'
 
 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ! errors related to the mesh solver

src/types.f90

@@ -258,8 +258,14 @@ subroutine types_selfTest()
                                                       error stop 'tDict_asFormattedStr'
     if (d%get_asInt('three') /= 3)                    error stop 'tDict_get_asInt'
     if (dNeq(d%get_asReal('three'),3.0_pREAL))        error stop 'tDict_get_asReal'
+    if (any(d%get_as1dReal('one-two') /= real([1,2],pReal))) &
+                                                      error stop 'tDict_get_as1dReal'
+    if (any(d%get_as1dReal('three',requiredSize=3) /= real([3,3,3],pReal))) &
+                                                      error stop 'tDict_get_as1dReal/size'
     if (d%get_asStr('three') /= '3')                  error stop 'tDict_get_asStr'
     if (any(d%get_as1dInt('one-two') /= [1,2]))       error stop 'tDict_get_as1dInt'
+    if (any(d%get_as1dInt('three',requiredSize=3) /= [3,3,3])) &
+                                                      error stop 'tDict_get_as1dInt/size'
     call d%set('one-two',s4)
     if (d%asFormattedStr() /= '{one-two: 4, three: 3, four: 4}') &
                                                       error stop 'tDict_set overwrite'
@@ -1193,6 +1199,7 @@ end function tDict_get_asReal
 
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !> @brief Get list by key and convert to real array (1D).
+!> @details If a size is required, scalars are valid input and are broadcasted to the required size.
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 function tDict_get_as1dReal_size(self,k,defaultVal,requiredSize) result(nodeAs1dReal)
 
@@ -1202,12 +1209,21 @@ function tDict_get_as1dReal_size(self,k,defaultVal,requiredSize) result(nodeAs1d
   integer,          intent(in),               optional :: requiredSize
   real(pREAL), dimension(:), allocatable :: nodeAs1dReal
 
-  type(tList), pointer :: list
+  class(tNode), pointer :: content
 
 
   if (self%contains(k)) then
-    list => self%get_list(k)
-    nodeAs1dReal = list%as1dReal()
+    content => self%get(k)
+    select type(content)
+      class is(tScalar)
+        if (present(requiredSize)) then
+          allocate(nodeAs1dReal(requiredSize),source = content%asReal())
+        else
+          call IO_error(706,'"'//trim(content%asFormattedStr())//'" is not a list of reals')
+        end if
+      class is(tList)
+        nodeAs1dReal = content%as1dReal()
+    end select
   elseif (present(defaultVal)) then
     nodeAs1dReal = defaultVal
   else
@@ -1322,7 +1338,7 @@ function tDict_get_asInt(self,k,defaultVal) result(nodeAsInt)
   integer,          intent(in), optional :: defaultVal
   integer :: nodeAsInt
 
-  type(tScalar), pointer :: scalar
+ type(tScalar), pointer :: scalar
 
 
   if (self%contains(k)) then
@@ -1339,6 +1355,7 @@ end function tDict_get_asInt
 
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !> @brief Get list by key and convert to int array (1D).
+!> @details If a size is required, scalars are valid input and are broadcasted to the required size.
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 function tDict_get_as1dInt(self,k,defaultVal,requiredSize) result(nodeAs1dInt)
 
@@ -1348,12 +1365,21 @@ function tDict_get_as1dInt(self,k,defaultVal,requiredSize) result(nodeAs1dInt)
   integer,               intent(in), optional :: requiredSize
   integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: nodeAs1dInt
 
-  type(tList), pointer :: list
+  class(tNode), pointer :: content
 
 
   if (self%contains(k)) then
-    list => self%get_list(k)
-    nodeAs1dInt = list%as1dInt()
+    content => self%get(k)
+    select type(content)
+      class is(tScalar)
+        if (present(requiredSize)) then
+          allocate(nodeAs1dInt(requiredSize),source = content%asInt())
+        else
+          call IO_error(706,'"'//trim(content%asFormattedStr())//'" is not a list of integers')
+        end if
+      class is(tList)
+        nodeAs1dInt = content%as1dInt()
+    end select
   elseif (present(defaultVal)) then
     nodeAs1dInt = defaultVal
   else