TPC mapping class added; new digit reader based on fast ALTRO decoder implemented...

[u/mrichter/AliRoot.git] / MUON / READMEmchview.txt

// $Id$

/*! \page README_mchview Tracker visualisation program

A visualisation program, \link mchview.cxx mchview \endlink, is now available to display, in two dimensions
 (3D visu being done within the EVE framework), the tracker chambers. 
 
\section mchview_install Installing the program

\em mchview should be installed together with the rest of AliRoot. Two points should be noted though.
 \em mchview is using two external files to run properly. One is a resource file $HOME/.mchviewrc, used
 to "configure" the program and keep some history of the user interaction with it (e.g. the list of recent
 data sources used). The other one is a Root file, padstore.root (default name, can be changed with the resource file), 
 which contains lots of precomputed information (like the contours that are being displayed, the geometry transformations,
 etc...). By default, \em mchview will look for this file in the current directory. If it's not there, it will
 ask if it's OK to create it. Be warned that this will take a while (but is only done once). 
 If you install a new version of \em mchview, it is recommended to delete this file first, before lauching \em mchview again.
 
\section mchview_navigation Navigating the display

When starting \em mchview (and after the padstore.root file has been created for the first time), 
you'll be presented with two tabs. The first one allow to navigate within the detector, and the 
second one to select data sources to be displayed.
The first tab offers a global view of the 10 tracking chambers. On the right you'll see
 a color palette (used in the display of data sources, see later). On the top (from left to right) are
 navigation buttons (backward and forward), and radio buttons to select the kind of view you'd like : you can
 view things for a given cathode or for a given plane. Note that in some instances those buttons maybe inactive.
On the bottom are three groups of radio buttons, labelled "responder", "outline" and "plot", followed by data source buttons (see later) :
 Each group will contain a number of buttons corresponding to different view levels of the detector (e.g. detection element, manu, buspatch, etc...).
 In \em mchview jargon, what is displayed on screen is called a "painter". The meaning of responder, outline and plot is as follow :
 
 - responder (only one selected at a time) is the type of painter that responds to mouse events. When you mouse over responder painters, they'll
 be highlighted (bold yellow line around them), and some information about them will be displayed in the top right corner.
 If you click on a responder painter, a new view will open to show only this painter. If you meta-click (button2 on a mouse, or alt-click on a Mac for instance)
 on a responder painter, a new view will open, showing the clicked painter and its "dual" (the other cathode or other plane, depending on how the first one
 was defined).
 
 - outline (multiple selection possible) indicates which painter(s) should be outlined. When starting the program, only manus are outlined, but you
 can outline the detection elements, the chambers, etc...
 
  - plot (see later about plotting and data sources) indicates at which level you want to see the data.
   
On the bottom left is a group button used to select which data source should be displayed (empty until you select a data source, see next section).
Next to it will be a list of buttons to select exactly what to plot from a data source (once you've selected a data source only).

Note that whenever you click on a painter and get a new view, you get use the navigation buttons (top left) to go forward and backward, as in 
a web browser for instance. Note also that the \em mchview menu bar contains a "History" menu where you can see (and pick a view) all the views that were opened.

Even before selecting something to plot, at this stage you could use the program to familiarize yourself with the detector structure (aka mapping).

\section mchview_datasource Specifying the data source

The second tab of the \em mchview allows to select one or several data sources. 
Each data source, in turn, will provide one or more "things" to be plotted.
The number of "things" actually depends on the data source.
For instance, a raw data source will allow to plot the mean and the sigma of the pad charges.

Be warned that this part of the program is likely to evolve, as you'll for sure notice that the interface is quite crude for the moment.

From top to bottom, you'll see group of frames used to :

- select from a list of recently used source

- select a raw data source (either by typing in its full pathname, or opening a file dialog). The second text field in this group is to specify the
location of the OCDB to be used (if any). If that field is not empty (and the corresponding entry is correct, of course), the raw data will be calibrated.

- select an OCDB data source (pedestals, gains, capacitances)

In all the frames, once you've selected or entered the needed information, you'll click on the "Create data source" button,
and a new data source line will appear in the bottom of that tab (and in also in the first tab, that data source will now 
be selectable for plotting). Each data source line indicates the short name of the data source, the full path, and a list of buttons to run, stop, rewind and
remove. Run/Stop/Rewind is only selectable for data sources where the notion of event means something (e.g. for pedestals it won't).

Note that all the file paths can be local ones or alien ones, if you have a correctly installed alien, and you use a short wrapped to call the \em mchview program.
For instance :
<pre>
alias mchl $HOME/mchview.alien
</pre>

where mchview.alien is a little script :
<pre>
#!/bin/sh
test=`alien-token-info | grep -c expired`
if [ $test -gt 0 ]; then
  echo "Token expired. Getting a new token"
  alien-token-destroy
  alien-token-init
elif [ ! -e /tmp/gclient_env_$UID ]; then
  echo "Getting a token"
  alien-token-init
fi
if [ ! -e /tmp/gclient_env_$UID ]; then
  echo "No token. Exiting"
  exit
fi
source /tmp/gclient_env_$UID
export alien_API_USER=youralienuserid # only needed if different from your local username
mchview $*
</pre>

---------

IMPORTANT WARNINGS

The remove button is currently not working...

In principle, you could have several raw data sources running at the same time. This is NOT currently working. You can have several data sources opened
 at the same time, but not running at the same time. (this has to do with AliRawReader not being thread-safe for the moment).
 
Once you have one or more data sources added, you can go back to first tab and start looking at the data ;-)

This chapter is defined in the READMEmchview.txt file.

*/