NAME

mcxtrace - Compiler of the McXrace X-ray trace simulation package

SYNOPSIS

mcxtrace [-o file][-I dir1 ...][-tv][--verbose] file.instr

DESCRIPTION

The mcxtrace command is the instrument compiler of the McXtrace package.

McXtrace is a general tool for simulating x-ray scattering instruments and experiments. It is actively supported by DTU Physics, ESRF, and University of Copenhagen

McXtrace is based on a compiler [mcxtrace(1)] that reads a high-level specification language defining the instrument to be simulated and produces C code that performs the Monte Carlo Simulation. The system is very fast in use, both when setting up the instrument definition and when doing calculations.

McStas supports all x-ray scattering instruments. It comes with a comprehensive manual and a library of well-tested components that include most standard elements of x-ray scattering instruments, including steady-state and pulsed sources, monochromators/analysers, powder samples, choppers, and a variety of detectors.

To start mcxtrace, use: mxgui(1)

The package consists of the following user commands:

mxgui(1): is the graphical user interface. Then use the X-ray Site menu to select an example instrument, and access the whole documentation for the Help menu. It contains an instrument editor, methods to plot simulation results, and much more
mxrun(1): is the command-line tool for building and running simulations
mxplot(1): is the simulation results plotting tool
mxdisplay(1): is the instrument geometry and photon trajectory viewer
mxdoc(1): is the documentation tool
mcxtrace(1): is the instrument compiler
mxformat(1): can transform any text data set from one format to an other. It does not support conversion from binary data sets. It can also merge equivalent results.

We encourage users to refer to the User and Component Manuals, which are available with the command mxdoc

OPTIONS

-h | --help: displays the command help
-t | --trace: Enable 'trace' mode for instrument display.
-v | --version: Prints McXtrace version.
--verbose: Display compilation process steps.

INSTRUMENT OPTIONS

These options apply to the generated instrument code (foo.c and foo.out)

-s SEED | --seed=SEED: Set random seed (must be non zero)
-n COUNT | --ncount=COUNT: Set number of x-rays to simulate
-d DIR | --dir=DIR: Put all data files in directory DIR
-f FILE | --file=FILE: Put all data in a single file
-t | --trace: Enable trace of x-ray through instrument (must have been set during code generation with mcxtrace(1)). This is necessary for mxdisplay(1) to run
-a | --data-only: Do not put any headers in the data files
--no-output-files: Do not write any data files
-h | --help: Show help message for the instrument
-i | --info: Detailed instrument information, including valid parameters
--format=FORMAT: Output data files using format FORMAT (format list obtained from foo.out -h, e.g. Matlab, Scilab, PGPLOT, HTML, XML, IDL, VRML, Python, Octave)

EXAMPLES

The three following examples are equivalent to the single command: mxrun -c foo.instr param1=value1 ...

Typical usage (creates a C file to be compiled): mcxtrace foo.instr
gcc -O -o foo.out foo.c -lm: Compile the instrument (with basic optimization and math libraries)
foo.out param1=value1 ...: Execute instrument simulation

ENVIRONMENT

The MCXTRACE environment variable may be set to define the McStas library location. This is /usr/local/lib/mcstas on Linux systems. Executables are usually located in /usr/local/bin. The default McXtrace configuration file is MCXTRACE/tools/perl/mcstas_config.perl, but may be overridden on the user level by putting a copy in HOME/.mcxtrace/.

The MCXTRACE_FORMAT environment variable may be set to define the default data format used for storing results. This is usually 'PGPLOT'.

BUGS

McXtrace is a large package, and bugs might be found. If so, please report to http://trac.mccode.org and the mailing list mcxtrace-users@mcxtrace.org

EXIT STATUS

mcxtrace returns 1 in case of error, 0 when all went fine

AUTHOR

Erik B Knudsen, Peter Kjaer Willendrup, Emmanuel FARHI, Kim Lefmann, Søren Schmidt