FrameDataDump

Description:

The program will take data stored in a Frame file and output it to a binary file. It works on only a single channel of data at a time. The binary file can be written in the same format in which it was stored in the Frame file. Otherwise it can be converted to a floating-point number or a short integer. It is also possible to use this program to view the contents of a frame file or redirect this stream to a plain text file. First I will give a description of the parameters that can be input and then I will give some usage examples. A log of the program run will be made in the same directory as the output file with a .txt added to the end of the file name. There is some useful information put there in order to keep record of the binary files, since you can’t tell anything about the data from the binary file alone.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or have found any bugs please feel free to contact me at chawkins@ufl.edu.

Parameters:

The parameters can be provided in any order, but there must NOT be a space after the switch letter(s). The format of all the parameters is switch followed by the option that applies to the switch. The switch will be capital if there is an option to follow and lowercase if there is no option needed. Here is a list of the parameters currently available (anything contained in <> is a required option for that parameter; anything contained in [] is an non-compulsory option for that parameter):

-I<path> --The path to the frame directory as well as any file search parameters or a single file name. If search parameters are used the option must be in single quotes, ie -I'path/*'

-O<path> --The path to the file in which to output the data

-C<channel> --The channel to extract data from

-N<samples> --The number of samples to extract, -1 for all available points

-T<seconds> --The number of seconds of data to extract. Use in lieu of -N

-Sn<samples> --The number of samples to skip from the frame files before output

-St<seconds> --The number of seconds of data to skip. Use in lieu of -Sn

-Sf<files> --The number of complete frame files to skip before output

-D<#> [file] --Output frame library debug info to file; if file is stdout, output will be to the screen; # = debug level = 1(min) to 4(max) (note the space between the number and the file name)

-z --Place zeros for any time gaps between frames

-d --Display sample values to the screen in lieu of writing a file

-s --Force short int's to be written to the binary file

-f --Force float's to be written to the binary file

-a --Supress all output to standard out except that of the time series
This is useful to output data to an ASCII file.

Usage Examples:

• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q
  This is the most simple use of the program. It will take all the files in the /ligo/data/ directory (make sure there are nothing but frame files in the directory) and output all available points to the file /ligo/test.out. The type of the data (float, short, etc.) will be indicated on the screen.
• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q -N1024
  This will do the same as the previous example, except it will only output 1024 samples to the binary file.
• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q -T5
  This will do the same as the first example, except it will only output 5 seconds worth of data.
• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q -N1024 -Sn1024 -Sf10
  This will skip 10 frame files from the given directory (make sure there are enough files in the directory), then skip 1024 samples, and then output 1024 samples to the binary file.
• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q -N1024 -d
  This will display 1024 samples to the screen. The -O option will be ignored if -d is provided.
• FrameDataDump -I/ligo/data -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q -N1024 -d -a > data.txt
  This will still ignore any binary output file information given and will redirect the screen output to data.txt. The -a is added so that the text file contains only the 1024 samples requested.
• FrameDataDump -I’/ligo/data/L-67382727*.F’ -O/ligo/test.out -CH2:LSC-AS_Q
  This will output all samples in the files matching the search parameters provided for the input frame files.