make_se HEADAS help file

NAME

make_se -- translate RXTE PCA GoodXenon or Transparent mode events into XTE/SE files

USAGE

         make_se -[dilp]

DESCRIPTION

make_se v.0.20 is a script to allow the user to create XTE/SE (Event) data files from a list of input files which may contain Good_Xenon Mode data files and/or Transparent Mode data files. As with all XTE Perl scripts, will work from either a single command-line entry, or a simplified Q/A session.

MAKE_SE is a Perl script which allows the user to create sensible Event Files from a list of Good_Xenon or Transparent Mode files. The script checks the list to ensure that it contains a consistent set of data, reading the DATAMODE and TSTART keywords from the FITS files themselves, ignores files that do not contain Good_Xenon or Transparent data, subgroups the rest of the list, checks the times, then enters each subgroup as input to the relevant FTOOL (XENON2FITS or TRANS2FITS).

The output is a set of N FITS Event files, where N is the number of subgroups. All necessary information can be supplied by the user as switches on the command line, and the script can/will take sensible defaults in the absence of overriding user input. Alternatively, the script can be run interactively, in which case the user will be prompted for important parameters not supplied as switches.

As it preserves the paths of all the individual files, the tool can accept an arbitrary large file list from XDF and churn through it, processing all the Good_Xenon and Transparent mode data and ignoring everything else - although some user cunning (and use of the Logfile) may be necessary to keep track of which data is in which output file.

PARAMETERS (actually SWITCHES/FLAGS) (grouped by function):

-i {file}: provide name of ASCII file containing list of data files (assumed default: 'fits_files.txt').
-p {file}: provide root filename for product files - i.e., 'make_se -p paris' will create files paris_X0, paris_X1 ...paris_X(N-1), where X=t/gx, for Transparent/GoodXenon data respectively, and N is the number of groups of data files in the input file (assumed default: 'event').
-d: Take default values for all parameters not set on the command line.
-l: logfile switch. Currently, logging is the default (in a file make_se.log), and -l will disable this logging.
-h: Print this help information.

EXAMPLES

make_se -i dax -p sisko: take as input the ASCII file 'dax' and process it to create a bunch of N Event Data files called sisko_X0, sisko_X1 ... where X=t/gx, for Transparent/GoodXenon data respectively, and N is the number of groups of data files in the original 'dax' file.
make_se -d: will take the file 'fits_files.txt' and create Event Data files event_X0, event_X1, etc, where X=t/gx for Transparent/ GoodXenon data respectively.
make_se: will prompt the user for the input file and output root filename.

NOTES

MAKE_SE is intended as a 'fast' tool to minimize the amount of FTOOLing around for the user with straightforward data analysis requirements. It is not intended to replace or reproduce the full functionality available from the individual FTOOLS. However, I am open to suggestions about how to improve the script to meet commonly-occuring data analysis needs.

The XENON2FITS and TRANS2FITS tools themselves display a lot of debugging information when they run. This output is suppressed in MAKE_SE. If you want to see it, take the Perl code and change the 'runcom' command to a 'yakker' command.

BUGS

Please report problems to xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov.