Configuration

This section explains how to create the configuration files required by TeraPy.

Contents

• Configuration
  • Main configuration settings
  • Configuration files
    • devices.ini
    • events.ini
    • filters.ini
    • Sample files

Main configuration settings

By default, TeraPy expects to find the following folders in the execution folder

execution folder/
       backup
       config
       data
       filters
       modules

This structure can be altered by specifying alternative folders in a file called terapy.ini, placed in the execution folder.

This file must have the following structure :

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
        <config scope="terapy">
                <default_path value="backup">
                <config_path value="config">
                <user_path value="data">
                <filter_path value="filters">
                <module_path value="modules">
                <refresh_delay value="0.2">
        </config>

Missing entries will be replaced by default values. TeraPy checks that the given folders exist, and if not reverts back to execution folder. The function of these directories is:

• default_path: path where files are saved by default, for instance for backup files or automatic save feature
• config_path: folder with default configuration files (see Configuration files below)
• user_path: path where TeraPy will open file dialogs
• filter_path: folder containing custom filter bank files
• module_path: folder containing custom modules (see Developer’s guide for details)

In addition to directories, terapy.ini contains

• refresh_delay: delay, in seconds, to wait before refreshing the interface. Useful on slow systems or for fast measurements, where updating the interface may slow down the measurement process.

Alternatively, terapy.ini can be placed inside the config_path (this requires that config be present in the execution folder).

Configuration files

The configuration folder (the one given by config_path) can contain files, which will define the default state of several interface modules. Namely:

• devices.ini: hardware devices, which will be loaded on startup
• events.ini: default scan event sequences
• filters.ini: default filter banks

All of them are XML files. Their structure is described below.

devices.ini

This file contains a list of devices, which TeraPy will attempt to load on startup. Place here the default hardware configuration of your experiment. The structure of this file should be :

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
       <config scope="devices">

               <input driver="driver name" handle="instrument address" name="display name">
                       <property some_property="some value"/>
               </input>

               <axis driver="driver name" handle="instrument address" name="display name" axis="axis number (integer)">
                       <property some_property="some value"/>
               </axis>

       </config>

Input devices are specified by <input> tags and axis devices by <axis> tags. Properties depend on the specific driver and should be set according to the Device drivers section.

See the sample devices.ini for an example.

events.ini

This file contains measurements sequences, which will appear in the scan event list on startup. It has the following structure :

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
       <config scope="events">
               <events>
                       <item name="sequence name" class="Sequence">
                               <item class="scan event class 1" name="display name 1" some_property="some value"/>
                               <item class="scan event class 2" name="display name 2" some_property="some value">
                                       <item class="scan event class 3" name="display name 3" some_property="some value"/>
                               </item>
                               ...
                       </item>
               </events>
       </config>

The file can describe one or several scan sequences. Each item in the sequence is represented by an <item> tag. Properties depend on the scan event class and should be set according to the Scan events section.

To ease the creation procedure, you can save sequences that you created within TeraPy graphical user interface and copy them within your own events.ini. See Scan events to learn how to do that.

See the sample events.ini for an example.

filters.ini

This file contains the default filter banks for post-processing canvases. Its structure is:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
       <config scope="filters">
               <filters name="Filter bank name" dimension="data dimension to apply to (int)">
                       <item class="filter class 1" name="filter display name 1" some_property="some value"/>
                       <item class="filter class 2" name="filter display name 2" some_property="some value"/>
                       ...
               </filters>
       </config>

Several filter banks can be placed in the same file, each corresponding to a separate <filters> entry. The dimension property sets the data dimension, to which the filter bank applies (e.g. 1D data -> dimension="1"). If, for a given dimension, more than one bank is present, TeraPy takes the last one in the file.

Each filter in a filter bank corresponds to one <item> tag. Properties depend on the filter class and should be set according to the Post-processing filters section.

See the sample filters.ini for an example.

Sample files

Sample configuration files are available in the sample folder in the TeraPy source package. You can also download them separately here:

• sample devices.ini
• sample events.ini
• sample filters.ini