NAME

mxformat - Text data set conversion/merging tool of the McXtrace X-ray trace simulation package

SYNOPSIS

mxformat [--format=FORMAT] [file|dir ...]

DESCRIPTION

The mxformat command is the text data conversion tool of the McXtrace package. It may convert any kind of McXtrace data into an other format. Additionally, it can merge equivalent data sets. These might be for instance two simulations made independently (e.g. on a grid or cluster) with the same instrument and parameters. The result will be as if the simulation was performed once on a single machine. The command can merge at the same time many data sets into families. When given directories as input, mxformat works recursively, and the resulting data set follows the same directory hierarchy as the input data sets.

McXtrace is a general tool for simulating neutron 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.

McXtrace supports all neutron scattering instruments, including triple-axis, time-of-flight instruments, and polarised neutrons. It comes with a comprehensive manual and a library of well-tested components that include most standard elements of neutron scattering instruments, including steady-state and pulsed sources, monochromators/analysers, guides, collimators, vanadium and powder samples, velocity selectors and choppers, and a variety of detectors.

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 neutron 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

--format=FORMAT: Specifies wanted output format, i.e. PGPLOT, Matlab, Scilab, IDL, HTML, XML, Octave, ...
-d DIR | --dir=DIR: Put all data files in directory DIR.
-f FILE | --file=FILE: Put all data in a single file.
-a | --data-only: Do not put any headers in the data files.
--no-output-files | -t | --test: Do not write any data files (test mode).
-h | --help: Show the command help.
-c | --force: Force writting in existing directories and enable relaxed merging mode (no name check). Use with caution !
-m | --merge: Add/Append equivalent data files and lists
-s | --scan: Gather simulations per scan series (and merge equivalent data sets)
-so | --scan-only: Create scan series but does not merge data
--verbose: Verbose mode

EXAMPLES

Typical usage (put translated files in outdir): mxformat indir -d outdir
Merge two equivalent simulations dir1 and dir2 into dir3: mxformat --format=Matlab dir1 dir2 -d dir3

BUGS

mxformat can only handle text data sets. Data sets generated with binary files can not be translated.

Additionally, as mxformat works by identification of specific keywords in each data file, if these keywords match some file or component names, the meta data used to identify the simulation might be guessed wrong. Anyway, the data set will still be exact.

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

AUTHOR

Erik B Knudsen, Peter Kjaer Willendrup, Kim Lefmann, and Søren Schmidt