Configuration

Note

Configuration is only necessary for systems which require data acquisition capabilities. To use the software in a visualisation/analysis mode only, this section is likely irrelevant and can be skipped.

Configuration File

The configuration file is named trspectrometer.toml and is stored in a user configuration directory which is operating system specific. On application start, the location of the configuration file is displayed in the log (View->Log). For Linux operating systems, this should be /home/$USER/.config/trspectrometer, and C:\Users\$USER\AppData\Local\trspectrometer on Windows (where $USER is your username).

The configuration file format is TOML, which is much like the Windows .ini format. Currently, there is no application configuration window in the GUI so, while the application defaults probably don’t need modification, editing the configuration file manually is the only way to customise the application. The configuration file should have sufficient comments to explain each entry. If you happen to break the application by setting an invalid entry, you may delete entries or sections at will and the defaults will be recreated.

Note

The configuration file will be overwritten on application exit. If editing the configuration file manually, first close the application.

Plugins

The application uses a plugin module system which allows the behaviour of the program to be varied. This has a number of advantages:

• Data collection requires specialised hardware to be attached to the computer. There are many types and brands of equipment which can perform similar jobs, so a different piece of hardware can be supported by substituting a hardware driver plugin, without modification of the core application code.

• A user may wish to view and analyse data on a different computer to that which acquires the data. By omitting the hardware plugins, the application behaves as purely a data viewer.

• Functionality can be extended or modified without overwriting or breaking the original behaviour. A new plugin module can be derived from an existing one and substituted with just a configuration file change.

The plugin modules are simply python modules which are placed in a specific location and then instructed to be loaded via a line in the Configuration File. See the Writing a User Plugin section in the developer guide for more information about creating a plugin, and the API Documentation under the plugins package to see a listing of plugins included with the application.

Plugin Locations

Some plugins are provided with the application, and found under the plugins package. User plugins can be placed in an arbitrary location, as long as the directory is added to the plugins list in the directories section of the Configuration File.

[directories]
# List of directories containing user plugin modules
plugins = ["/home/user/Documents/TRPlugins"]

Loading Plugins

To load a plugin module, include its name in the load list in the plugins section of the Configuration File.

For example, a system configured for data acquisition will need to load a variety of hardware plugins:

[plugins]
# List of plugin modules to load
load = ["aligncam", "delay", "chopper", "detector", "interface", "acquisition", "scope"]

On the other hand, a system which only needs to be able to display previously collected data may need no plugins at all, with an empty load = [] line.

Command Line Parameters

Passing the --help command line parameter to the application will show the available command line parameters:

usage: __main__.py [-h] [--hardware {true,false}] [--loglevel {critical,error,warning,info,debug}]

Run the TRSpectrometer application.

optional arguments:
-h, --help              show this help message and exit
--hardware {true,false}
                        Perform hardware detection and initialisation.
--loglevel {critical,error,warning,info,debug}
                        Verbosity of the log output.

The following command line parameters are accepted which change the behaviour of the application:

• --hardware

  --hardware=true indicates that spectrometer hardware is attached, and the application will attempt to detect and initialise it. --hardware=false indicates that spectrometer hardware is not attached, and the application should run in data visualisation/analysis mode only.

  The effect of this switch is permanent, in that if --hardware=true is specified, it is assumed that hardware will be connected in the future and should also be detected on subsequent application start.

• --loglevel

  Set the verbosity of the logging output. The options are critical, error, warning, info, debug, where critical produces the least amount of output, and debug produces the most.