Con-file
From Applied Optics Wiki
CON-FILE(5) c_scan configuration file CON-FILE(5)
NAME
con-file - configuration file for c_scan(1)
DESCRIPTION
c_scan(1) uses a configuration file called a con-file. By convention,
this configuration file should be given a ".con" suffix, e.g.
expt.con. A con-file consists of a set of actions to be performed.
Each action usually describes a specific task to be performed, usually
by a specific piece of hardware. However it is possible for a task not
to involve any hardware at all (e.g. waiting for a key press), it may
involve several tasks for a specific piece of hardware (setting up the
parameters of a signal generator) or it may involve a specific task
involving several pieces of hardware (performing higher order aberra‐
tion correction).
PARAMETERS
There are two types of action in the con-file: a child or a sibling.
The difference between a child and a sibling is that if the parent
action consists of some sort of loop (termed a scan in c_scan terminol‐
ogy) then the child action will be executed at each step in the scan,
whereas a sibling action will only be executed at the end of the scan.
Each (parent) action can have only one child action. If the action
involves a scan, it can additionally have one (and only one) sibling
action. This is not such a limitation as it initially appears to be
("How do I do TWO things at each scan step, then, eh?") because of
course that single child/sibling action can contain another child
action.
Due to historical reasons, a child action is usually referred to in a
con-file as just an action, and a sibling action is referred to as a
branch. However, the words child and action are interchangeable, as
are sibling and branch. Within an action that does NOT contain a scan,
all four terms are freely interchangeable.
The end of any sort of action (whether child or sibling) is denoted by
the word end. However, it should be noted that if you put the word
"end" before the next action (whether child or sibling) then that
action will be ignored. In practice, therefore, an "end" statement
marks the end of each "family tree," and there should be one "end" for
each member of that family tree. Think of the "end" statement as a
closing curly bracket ( "}" ) in your C/C++ code. See examples below.
The only action command that is common to most of the different sorts
of action is the save command. This command saves the data acquired in
any of the actions (children or siblings) that are below/part of that
action. If the action in which the "save" command is given contains a
scan, then the data from the child action (and any actions below the
child action) will be saved at each scan step; the data from any sib‐
ling (branch) action will be saved at the end of the scan. Usually, the
"save" command goes quite high up the tree.
EXAMPLES
This manual page describes the format of a c_scan con-file only, and
does not aim to describe any of the (many and varied) actions them‐
selves. To find out how to write an action for a specific piece of
hardware or a specific task, see the manual pages of the actions listed
in the SEE ALSO section.
Example 1
The general format of a c_scan con-file is as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------
action action_name
...
(instructions for that action)
save
...
action another_action_name
...
(instructions for the second action)
...
end
end
------------------------------------------------------------
Note the use of tabs to differentiate between actions, to improve read‐
ability.
Example 2
A slightly more complex example, involving both child and sibling
(branch) actions:
------------------------------------------------------------
action action_name
...
(instructions for that action)
scan start finish step
save
...
action another_action_name
...
(instructions for the second action)
(these will be executed at every point in the scan of the
action above)
...
end
branch third_action_name
...
(instructions for the third action)
(these will be executed at the end of the scan of the
first action)
...
end
end
------------------------------------------------------------
SEE ALSO
c_scan(1)
c_count(3), c_script(3), c_timer(3), c_keypress(3), c_user(3)
c_stage(3), c_move(3), c_restore(3), c_pci_stage(3), c_idac(3), c_inch‐
worm(3), c_tank
c_a2d(3), c_pc26at(3), c_pci_a2d(3)
c_pci_d2a(3)
c_tek_trace_scope(3)
c_agilent_trace_scope(3)
c_eth_ft_scope(3), c_eth_measure_scope(3), c_eth_trace_scope(3)
c_gpib_ft_scope(3), c_gpib_scope_utils(3), c_gpib_trace_scope(3)
c_gpib_sig_gen(3)
c_slm_utils(3), c_slm_scan(3), c_correct(3)
c_parport(3)
Linux OCTOBER 2004 CON-FILE(5)
Manual page con-file(5) line 24/148 (END)
