[Ifeffit] Re: Athena won't read my NSLS x10c data

Bruce Ravel bravel at anl.gov
Mon May 15 13:48:51 CDT 2006


On Monday 15 May 2006 12:58, you wrote:
> Dear Bruce,
>
> I downloaded the ifeffit-1.2.8.exe installer from
> cars.uchicago.edu/ifeffit/download.html to my PC running Windows XP version
> 2002, SP1. I can launch Athena (version 0.8.046 obtained through the
> download) using either the desktop icon or the runner.exe, but when I try
> to open one of my data files from NSLS beamline X10c, I get the message:
> "filename could not be read by ifeffit as data file" My understanding from
> reading on your website is that Athena should pre-process my data file so
> it can be read by ifeffit. The version of Athena at the light source had no
> problem reading my data files. Is there something I can do with this new
> version to allow it to read my files or do I need to get the old version
> from my colleagues at NSLS? I've attached one of my data files that could
> not be opened by this version of Athena. Thanks for any suggestions you can
> offer!

Hi Nancy,

This is a good mailing list question, so I am taking the liberty of CCing my
response to the list.

Not so long, I changed (hopefully improved) how Athena interacts with
strangely formatted data.  (NSLS X10C most certainly falls in the category of
beamlines with strangely formatted data.)  Now, Athena uses a plugin
architecture to recognize and process strange data.  This feature was
implemented in Athena 0.8.045 and is described in some detail here

  http://cars9.uchicago.edu/iffwiki/HoraeVersion057

and in excruciating detail here

  http://cars9.uchicago.edu/iffwiki/AthenaFiletypePlugins

The bottom line is that you need to enable the X10C plugin by going to the
Setting menu, selecting "Plugin Registry", then enabling the X10C plugin by
clicking its button on.  The plugin registry is persistent -- that is, it
remembers which plugins are enabled between sessions.  You should only need to
enable the X10C plugin once.

It would seem that the version of Athena at the beamline either had this
feature enabled or was older than version 0.8.045.

I certainly had no trouble reading that data file once I had enabled the X10C
plugin on my computer.

B

P.S. The current version of Athena 0.8.049.  It is a bit of mystery to me why
so many people tell the runner never to update their software.  It's your
computer and your choice, obviously, but it's a mystery to me nonetheless.  To
change your runner setting my hand, see:
   http://cars9.uchicago.edu/iffwiki/IfeffitOnWindows/WinUpdater
If the value of "next_checktime" in updater.ini is set to something like
"never" or "next year", then it's guaranteed that you'll soon be using an
out-of-date version of Athena.


-- 
 Bruce Ravel  ---------------------------------------------- bravel at anl.gov

 Molecular Environmental Science Group, Building 203, Room E-165
 MRCAT, Sector 10, Advanced Photon Source, Building 433, Room B007

 Argonne National Laboratory         phone and voice mail: (1) 630 252 5033
 Argonne IL 60439, USA                                fax: (1) 630 252 9793

 My homepage:    http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel 
 EXAFS software: http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel/software/




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