HOWTO update EMCAL Objy DB from calibration ASCII files

This page will teach you how to use the emcDB program to write calibration data ASCII files into the PHENIX EMCAL Objectivity databases.

Disclaimer: the emcDB program is only a convenient tool to update/dump the EMCAL databases. It is not a bullet-proof program ! It can for sure be improved. If you have special requests, do not hesitate to contact me (aphecetc@in2p3.fr).

Reminder

So far, we have 16 EMCAL calibration databases, corresponding to 8 calibration data "flavours" (there are 2 DBs per flavour : one tag-DB and one data-DB). The database names are of the form : calib.emc.XYZ.pdb, where X is the data flavour :

• Gains : (relative) Gain values
• Gains : (relative) Gain values
• Pedestals : Pedestal values, Run1 version (3 ped. per amu cell)
• Pedestals5 : Pedestal values, Run2 version (5 ped per amu cell)
• QAs : Quality & Assurance values
• LCTofs : Least-Count ToF values
• WalkTofs : Walk ToF values
• TofT0s : ToF-T0 drift values

Y is Tag (for Tag-DB) or Cal (for data-DB), and Z is a sequence number (0000 for the moment).

In the following, databases are referred to by the flavour name (e.g. Gains).

Using the emcDB program

Pre-run check-list

You must set the OO_FD_BOOT environment variable to the PHENIX Federation boot file :

setenv OO_FD_BOOT ${PHENIX_FD_BOOT}

Getting help on the emcDB program

You can get the syntax by doing:

> emcDB --help
emcDB 
      --dump [db full name] 
        Dump DB on screen. 
      --bankID [int] (use with --dump only) Specify a bankID to look for 
      --update [directory name] 
        Read all calibration data files in the directory 
        and write them into DB.
      --forceDate "year,month,day,hour,minute,second]" 
        used with --update : specify the start-of-validity 
        of all the data to be read from file and written 
        into DB.
      --batch Non-interactive mode. Nothing asked to the user.
      --help 
        This message.

Examples: 
  emcDB --dump calib.emc.Gains
  emcDB --update /afs/rhic/phenix/phnxemc/EMC/m_080701/ToF
        --forceDate "2001,08,01,12,45,00" 
 emcDB --help

Browsing what is in a given flavour database

Use the following syntax :

emcDB --dump calib.emc.[flavourName]

Putting calibration ASCII files into the Objy DB

The general syntax is :

emcDB --update directory

where directory is the path to the calibration data files. Please note that official ASCII calibration files are usually to be found somewhere under /afs/rhic/phenix/phnxemc.

The above command will read all calibration files to be found under directory and will put them into the relevant database. Special note on pedestals : depending on the number of pedestal-calibration files for one FEM (3 or 5), a different database will be filled (calib.emc.Pedestals or calib.emc.Pedestals5). It should be automatic.

31-Aug-2001 Due to a possible problem in PHTimeStamp::operator >> , please always use the --forceDate option (see below), as the timestamp specified in the ASCII files themselves is currently not properly read out.

Special note on ToF-related calibrations

The ToF directory usually contains 3 calibration flavours : the walk corrections, least-count, and t0-drift ones. If you'd like to update only one of them, here's the procedure to follow :

1. Make a fresh somewhere/ToF directory
2. Copy the relevant flavour you'd like to put in the DB, e.g. :

   cp /yourplace/ToF/*WALK* somewhere/ToF
   

3. Then use emcDB as usual :

   emcDB --forceDate "year,month,day,hour,minute,second" 
         --update somewhere/ToF
   

Specifying the date : the --forceDate option

Usually, start-of-validity dates for the calibration data are fetch from the ASCII files themselves. If you want to override those, use the --forceDate option of the emcDB program. It takes a date string, in a format which is the one of the PHTimeStamp constructor :

> emcDB --forceDate "2001,08,01,12,45,00" 
  --update /afs/rhic/phenix/phnxemc/EMC/m_080701