> A new feature has been implemented in revision 4561 which allows runs with a 
> certain duration. To use this, one has to set the variaable
> 
> /Logger/Run Duration
> 
> to a non-zero value in seconds. After a run lasted for this duration, it gets 
> stopped automatically by the logger. If the auto-restart flag is on, this allows 
> sequences of automatically started and stopped runs with all then have the same 
> duration.

A similar scheme has been implemented to pose a certain duration on subruns. This can 
be controlled by the variable

/Logger/Subrun duration

when set to a non-zero value in seconds.

A new feature has been implemented in revision 4561 which allows runs with a 
certain duration. To use this, one has to set the variaable

/Logger/Run Duration

to a non-zero value in seconds. After a run lasted for this duration, it gets 
stopped automatically by the logger. If the auto-restart flag is on, this allows 
sequences of automatically started and stopped runs with all then have the same 
duration.

> I set "/Analyzer/ODB Load" to true and analyzed a run in offline mode. After
> that, I found the start time and stop time in /RunInfo did not reflect the
> correct time as in online. How do I retrieve the correct start/stop time from
> the ODB in offline mode?

Most trees in the ODB are not loaded with "/Analyzer/ODB Load", since you might 
want to have the start/stop time of the offline analysis there for example 
(although I agree that the online start/stop time is more interesting). So you 
have several options:

- modify mana.c. There is a function odb_load(), which first locks the whole ODB 
and then unprotects "/Experiment/Run Parameters" for example. Just add three more 
lines for "/Runinfo".

- write a run summary when running online. After each run, write a summary with 
start/stop time, number of events, settings etc. into some file. I usually do this 
in the EOR routine of the online analyzer and write directly into a CSV file which 
I can import directly into Excel. There I can make filtering depending on certain 
parameters, like show me all runs with more than x events where setting y was 10.

- extract the ODB from the .mid file with "odbhist -e filename.mid" and look into 
that.

- The time stamp of each event is in UNIX time form (seconds since 1.1.1970), so 
you now exactly when each event was recorded.

Hope one of this helps...

- Stefan

Hi All,

I set "/Analyzer/ODB Load" to true and analyzed a run in offline mode. After
that, I found the start time and stop time in /RunInfo did not reflect the
correct time as in online. How do I retrieve the correct start/stop time from
the ODB in offline mode?

Thanks!

Jimmy

I encountered many warning while building MIDAS (svn r4556). Please see the
attached log file. Most of them are caused by type conversion from string to
"char*".
Though I can ignore all the warning without any problem, I still hate to see
them. :-)

> > Ok, I added a command
> > 
> > odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8][40]"
> > 
> > which works now. Please update to SVN revision 4555 of odbedit.c
> > 
> > - Stefan
> 
> If I want to create only one string, should I write like this:
> 
>   odbedit -c "create STRING Test[] [256]"
> 
> OK. I need it. I will try the new odbedit.

"create STRING test[1][256]" works.

> Another problem while using odbedit.
> I tried the batch mode of "odbedit". I created a key as "/A_Str" by mistake and 
> wanted to delete it. Then "odbedit" failed to accept the "Return" key. Please see 
> the screen-shot attached. :-(

This bug has been fixed in the latest repository.
I encountered it in svn-r4488.

Add installation commands. Please see the attachment.

/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/src/history_odbc.cxx: In member function 'virtual int 
SqlODBC::GetNumRows()':
/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/src/history_odbc.cxx:589: error: cannot convert 'SQLINTEGER*' 
to 'long int*' for argument '2' to 'SQLRETURN SQLRowCount(void*, long int*)'
/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/src/history_odbc.cxx: In member function 'virtual const char* 
SqlODBC::GetColumn(int)':
/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/src/history_odbc.cxx:638: error: cannot convert 'SQLINTEGER*' 
to 'long int*' for argument '6' to 'SQLRETURN SQLGetData(void*, SQLUSMALLINT, 
SQLSMALLINT, void*, long int, long int*)'
make[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/midas-static.dir/src/history_odbc.cxx.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/build'
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/midas-static.dir/all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/DAQ/bot/midas/build'

> Ok, I added a command
> 
> odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8][40]"
> 
> which works now. Please update to SVN revision 4555 of odbedit.c
> 
> - Stefan

If I want to create only one string, should I write like this:

  odbedit -c "create STRING Test[] [256]"

OK. I need it. I will try the new odbedit.

Another problem while using odbedit.
I tried the batch mode of "odbedit". I created a key as "/A_Str" by mistake and 
wanted to delete it. Then "odbedit" failed to accept the "Return" key. Please see 
the screen-shot attached. :-(

> I tried to use odbedit to set the "/System/Prompt" to "%h:%e:%s %p> " and got a
> problem: pressing "Return" doesn't work any more. But "[%h:%e:%s]%p> " works fine.
> Please see the attachment.

I fixed that problem in SVN revision 4556. It occurred when the prompt does start with a 
'%' which nobody tried before...

I write some configure file to build MIDAS using CMake. The usage is simple:
1. Unzip the attachment, copy "CMakeLists.txt" and directory "cmake" into the
midas source tree.
   $ cp -rp CMakeLists.txt cmake/  <PATH-TO-MIDAS>/
2. make a separate directory, such as "build". It's a good habit to build a
project without polluting the source tree. :-)
   $ mkdir build
3. Executing cmake
   $ cd build && cmake <PATH-TO-MIDAS>
4. Make
   $ make

Or, you can generate Xcode project files:
  $ cmake -G Xcode <PATH-TO-MIDAS>
or using visual studio
  $ cmake -G "Visual Studio" <PATH-TO-MIDAS>
(I havn't Visual Studio and windows, so the above command is not tested.)
or using other IDEs, such as KDevelop3, Eclipse, etc, just type:
  $ cmake -G "KDevelop3" <PATH-TO-MIDAS>
or
  $ cmake -G "Eclipse CDT4" <PATH-TO-MIDAS>


I test the configure file with GNU make and CMake 2.6.4 on Debian Lenny. I
havn't add installation commands now. Maybe later. If anyone interests in it, I
may check it again. Anyway, I'm using it.

I tried to use odbedit to set the "/System/Prompt" to "%h:%e:%s %p> " and got a
problem: pressing "Return" doesn't work any more. But "[%h:%e:%s]%p> " works fine.
Please see the attachment.

> Hi,
> I am writing shell scripts to create some tree structure in an ODB. When 
> creating an array of strings, the default length of each string element is 32 
> characters. If odbedit is used interactively to create the array of strings, 
> the user is prompted to enter a different length if desired. But if the 
> command odbedit is called from a shell script, I did not succeed in passing 
> the argument to get a different length.
> I tried:
> odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8][40]"
> Or:
> odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8] 40"
> Or:
> odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8] \n 40"
> etc. all produce an array of 8 strings with 32 characters each.
> I haven't tried all possible syntaxes, but I suspect the length argument is 
> dropped. If it has not been fixed in a later release than the one I am using, 
> could this problem be looked at?

Ok, I added a command

odbedit -c "create STRING Test[8][40]"

which works now. Please update to SVN revision 4555 of odbedit.c

- Stefan

> Dear All,
> 
> I'm using SL5 and MIDAS rev 4528. Occasionally, when I stop a run in odbedit, 
> a timeout would occur: 
> [midas.c:9496:rpc_client_call,ERROR] rpc timeout after 121 sec, routine 
> = "rc_transition", host = "computerB", connection closed
> Error: Unknown error 504 from client 'Frontend' on host computerB
> 
> This error seems to be random without any reason or pattern. After this error 
> occurs, I cannot start or stop any run. Sometime restarting MIDAS can bring 
> the system working again, but sometime not.
> 
> Another transition timeout occurs after I change any ODB value using the web 
> interface:
> [midas.c:8291:rpc_client_connect,ERROR] timeout on receive remote computer 
> info: 
> [midas.c:3642:cm_transition,ERROR] cannot connect to client "Frontend" on host 
> computerB, port 36255, status 503
> Error: Cannot connect to client 'Frontend'
> 
> This error is reproducible: start run -> change ODB value within webpage -> 
> stop run -> timeout!

A few hints for debugging:

- do the run stop via odbedit and the "-v" flag, like

[local:Online:R]/> stop -v

then you see which computer is contacted when.

- Then put some debugging code into your front-end end_of_run() routine at the 
beginning and the end of that routine, so you see when it's executed and how long 
this takes. If you do lots of things in your EOR routine, this could maybe cause a 
timeout.

- Then make sure that cm_yield() in mfe.c is called periodically by putting some 
debugging code there. This function checks for any network message, such as the 
stop command from odbedit. If you trigger event readout has an endless loop for 
example, cm_yield() will never be called and any transition will timeout.

- Make sure that not 100% CPU is used on your frontend. Some OSes have problems 
handling incoming network connections if the CPU is completely used of if 
input/output operations are too heavy.

- Stefan