> > I hope people find this program useful. If you have any feedback (patches, bug
> > reports, requests for improvements), please post them as replies to this forum
> > message.
> 
> I wouldn't mind putting this into the midas distribution. Put it under utils/, add
> an entry to the Makefile, and fix that warning:
> 
> 
> mhdump.cxx: In function `int readHstFile(FILE*)':
> mhdump.cxx:161: warning: comparison between signed and unsigned integer expressions

Done and done.

The program mhdump, a standalone decoder for midas history files, is now in midas svn.

K.O.

> Linking CXX executable bin/mh2sql
> CMakeFiles/mh2sql.dir/utils/mh2sql.cxx.o: In function `main':
> /opt/DAQ/repos/bot/midas/utils/mh2sql.cxx:150: undefined reference to `MakeMidasHistoryODBC()'

Yes, I am in the process of changing the midas history interface and accidentally committed a version of 
mh2sql (utility for converting MIDAS history .hst files to SQL database) that uses the new interface.

This is now fixed in svn rev 4571.

The new C++ interface to the MIDAS history is in include/history.h and implementations for data storage 
using both midas .hst files and SQL (ODBC/MySQL) database are also committed (history_midas.cxx
and history_sql.cxx). The file history_odbc.cxx will be removed after some more testing of the new 
interface.

(All the new code is not activated yet, pending more testing).

K.O.

Dear Midas experts,

I noticed that a check was added to mfe.cxx in 1961af0d6:

+      /* check for consistent common settings */
+      if ((eq_info->read_on & RO_STOPPED) &&
+          (eq_info->eq_type == EQ_POLLED ||
+           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_INTERRUPT ||
+           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_MULTITHREAD ||
+           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_USER)) {
+         cm_msg(MERROR, "register_equipment", "Events \"%s\" cannot be read when run is stopped (RO_STOPPED flag)", equipment[idx].name);
+         return 0;
+      }

This commit was by Stefan in May 2022.

A commit few days later, 28d9c96bd, removed the "return 0;", and updated the
error message to:

"Equipment \"%s\" contains RO_STOPPED or RO_ALWAYS. This can lead to undesired side-effect and should be removed."

So such FEs can run but there is still an error at start up. The 
documentation at https://daq00.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/ReadOn_Flags
states with RO_STOPPED "Readout Occurs" "Before stopping run".
Which seems to indicate that the removing the RO_STOPPED bit from a SC FE
would just result in an additional read not happening just prior to a run
stop. However reading scheduler() in mfe.cxx I see in the the main loop:

 if (run_state == STATE_STOPPED && (eq_info->read_on & RO_STOPPED) == 0) 
    continue;

So it seems to me that the a EQ_PERIODIC equipment needs RO_STOPPED to be set
otherwise it will not read out data while there is no DAQ run.

Can someone explain the purpose of this check and error message? Perhaps it
was put in place with only DAQ FEs, not SC FEs in mind? And should the 
documentation in the wiki actually be "s/Before stopping run/While run is stopped/"?

Thanks,

Nick.

I just discovered https://bitbucket.org/tmidas/midas/issues/338/mfec-ro_stopped-is-now-forbidden

> Dear Midas experts,
> 
> I noticed that a check was added to mfe.cxx in 1961af0d6:
> 
> +      /* check for consistent common settings */
> +      if ((eq_info->read_on & RO_STOPPED) &&
> +          (eq_info->eq_type == EQ_POLLED ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_INTERRUPT ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_MULTITHREAD ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_USER)) {
> +         cm_msg(MERROR, "register_equipment", "Events \"%s\" cannot be read when run is stopped (RO_STOPPED flag)", equipment[idx].name);
> +         return 0;
> +      }
> 
> This commit was by Stefan in May 2022.
> 
> A commit few days later, 28d9c96bd, removed the "return 0;", and updated the
> error message to:
> 
> "Equipment \"%s\" contains RO_STOPPED or RO_ALWAYS. This can lead to undesired side-effect and should be removed."
> 
> So such FEs can run but there is still an error at start up. The 
> documentation at https://daq00.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/ReadOn_Flags
> states with RO_STOPPED "Readout Occurs" "Before stopping run".
> Which seems to indicate that the removing the RO_STOPPED bit from a SC FE
> would just result in an additional read not happening just prior to a run
> stop. However reading scheduler() in mfe.cxx I see in the the main loop:
> 
>  if (run_state == STATE_STOPPED && (eq_info->read_on & RO_STOPPED) == 0) 
>     continue;
> 
> So it seems to me that the a EQ_PERIODIC equipment needs RO_STOPPED to be set
> otherwise it will not read out data while there is no DAQ run.
> 
> Can someone explain the purpose of this check and error message? Perhaps it
> was put in place with only DAQ FEs, not SC FEs in mind? And should the 
> documentation in the wiki actually be "s/Before stopping run/While run is stopped/"?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Nick.

> I noticed that a check was added to mfe.cxx in 1961af0d6:
> 
> +      /* check for consistent common settings */
> +      if ((eq_info->read_on & RO_STOPPED) &&
> +          (eq_info->eq_type == EQ_POLLED ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_INTERRUPT ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_MULTITHREAD ||
> +           eq_info->eq_type == EQ_USER)) {
> +         cm_msg(MERROR, "register_equipment", "Events \"%s\" cannot be read when run is stopped (RO_STOPPED flag)", equipment[idx].name);
> +         return 0;
> +      }
> 
> 
> Can someone explain the purpose of this check and error message? Perhaps it
> was put in place with only DAQ FEs, not SC FEs in mind? And should the 
> documentation in the wiki actually be "s/Before stopping run/While run is stopped/"?

Indeed you have two types of events handled by mfe.cxx: Slow control events (EQ_SLOW or EQ_PRIODIC) and triggered events (EQ_POLLED or 
EQ_INTERRUPT or EQ_MULTITHREAD or EQ_USER). For slow control events it can make sense to read them also when the run is stopped, that's why you 
can specify RO_STOPPED or RO_ALWAYS. This does however not make sense for triggered events. Reading triggered events when the run is stopped 
invalidates the concept of runs (= read triggered events only during a run). We had cases where people mixed this up, so the warning was added. 
If you have a slow control event you want to read when the run is stopped, make sure it is of type EQ_SLOW or EQ_PERIODIC.

Stefan

> > I noticed that a check was added to mfe.cxx in 1961af0d6:

This is the reason I recommend against using mfe.c based frontends. There was never any
proper documentation on how they work and what different settings in ODB common
and elsewhere do. My attempts to document it by reverse-engineering were only partially
successful. Since then a number of changes was made that were also hard-to-impossible
to document.

I recommend that all use the new c++ tmfe frontend, which was designed for easy documentation,
and explanation. See tmfe.md for full documentation.

(pending improvements is to integrate TMEvent support, add the data-transmit thread and event fifo).

K.O.

The latest version of mfe.c has a problem where poll_event() is called before
frontend_init() and this causes a crash because in poll_event() we try to access
VME before it is initialized in frontend_init(). K.O.

> The latest version of mfe.c has a problem where poll_event() is called before
> frontend_init() and this causes a crash because in poll_event() we try to access
> VME before it is initialized in frontend_init(). K.O.

Oops, that sneaked in when doing the last modification to display the frontend status. 
I refactored register_equipment() so that frontend_init() gets called before 
poll_event().

A little advertised feature of the modifications needed support the msysmon program is 
that MIDAS equipment names can support the injecting of the hostname of the system 
running the frontend at runtime (register_equipment(void)).

https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Equipment_List_Parameters#Equipment_Name

A special string ${HOSTNAME} can be put in any position in the equipment name. It will 
be replaced with the hostname of the computer running the frontend at run-time. Note, 
the frontend_name string will be trimmed down to 32 characters.
Example usage: msysmon


EQUIPMENT equipment[] = {

  { "${HOSTNAME}_msysmon",   /* equipment name */    {
      EVID_MONITOR, 0,      /* event ID, trigger mask */
      "SYSTEM",             /* event buffer */
      EQ_PERIODIC,          /* equipment type */
      0,                    /* event source */
      "MIDAS",              /* format */
      TRUE,                 /* enabled */
      RO_ALWAYS,            /* Read when running */
      10000,                /* poll every so milliseconds */
      0,                    /* stop run after this event limit */
      0,                    /* number of sub events */
      1,                    /* history period */
      "", "", ""
    },
    read_system_load,/* readout routine */
  },
  { "" }
};

The JSON RPC branch has been merged into main MIDAS. Other than adding new functions, there are no changes to existing MIDAS functionality.

This is the current JSON RPC schema: (from the MIDAS Help page)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autogenerated schema for all MIDAS JSON-RPC methods
------------------------------------------------------------------------
cm_exist?      | calls MIDAS cm_exist() to check if given MIDAS program is running
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | name           | string         | name of the program, corresponding to ODB /Programs/name
               |          | unique?        | bool           | bUnique argument to cm_exist()
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status         | integer        | return status of cm_exist()
------------------------------------------------------------------------
cm_shutdown?   | calls MIDAS cm_shutdown() to stop given MIDAS program
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | name           | string         | name of the program, corresponding to ODB /Programs/name
               |          | unique?        | bool           | bUnique argument to cm_shutdown()
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status         | integer        | return status of cm_shutdown()
------------------------------------------------------------------------
db_copy?       | get copies of given ODB subtrees in the "save" json encoding
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | paths[]        | array of ODB subtree paths, see note on array indices
               |          |                | array of       | string 
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | data[]         | copy of ODB data for each path
               |          |                | array of       | object 
               |          | status[]       | return status of db_copy_json() for each path
               |          |                | array of       | integer
               |          | last_written[] | last_written value of the ODB subtree for each path
               |          |                | array of       | number 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
db_create?     | get copies of given ODB subtrees in the "save" json encoding
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params[] | array of ODB paths to be created
               |          | array of       | arguments to db_create() and db_resize()
               |          |                | path           | string  | ODB path
               |          |                | type           | integer | MIDAS TID_xxx type
               |          |                | array_length?  | integer | optional array length, default is 1
               |          |                | string_length? | integer | for TID_STRING, optional string length, default is NAME_LENGTH
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status[]       | return status of db_create() for each path
               |          |                | array of       | integer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
db_get_values? | get values of ODB data from given subtrees
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | paths[]        | array of ODB subtree paths, see note on array indices
               |          |                | array of       | string 
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | data[]         | values of ODB data for each path, all key names are in lower case, all symlinks are followed
               |          |                | array of       | any    
               |          | status[]       | return status of db_copy_json() for each path
               |          |                | array of       | integer
               |          | last_written[] | last_written value of the ODB subtree for each path
               |          |                | array of       | number 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
db_paste?      | write data into ODB
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | paths[]        | array of ODB subtree paths, see note on array indices
               |          |                | array of       | string 
               |          | values[]       | data to be written using db_paste_json()
               |          |                | array of       | any    
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status[]       | return status of db_paste_json() for each path
               |          |                | array of       | integer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
get_debug?     | get current value of mjsonrpc_debug
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | any            | there are no input parameters
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | integer        | current value of mjsonrpc_debug
------------------------------------------------------------------------
get_schema?    | Get the MIDAS JSON-RPC schema JSON object
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | any            | there are no input parameters
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | object         | returns the MIDAS JSON-RPC schema JSON object
------------------------------------------------------------------------
null?          | RPC method always returns null
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | any            | method parameters are ignored
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | null           | always returns null
------------------------------------------------------------------------
set_debug?     | set new value of mjsonrpc_debug
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | integer        | new value of mjsonrpc_debug
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | integer        | new value of mjsonrpc_debug
------------------------------------------------------------------------
start_program? | start MIDAS program defined in ODB /Programs/name
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | name           | string         | name of the program, corresponding to ODB /Programs/name
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status         | integer        | return status of ss_system()
------------------------------------------------------------------------
user_example1? | example of user defined RPC method that returns up to 3 results
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | arg            | string         | example string argment
               |          | optional_arg?  | integer        | optional example integer argument
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | string         | string         | returns the value of "arg" parameter
               |          | integer        | integer        | returns the value of "optional_arg" parameter
------------------------------------------------------------------------
user_example2? | example of user defined RPC method that returns more than 3 results
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | arg            | string         | example string argment
               |          | optional_arg?  | integer        | optional example integer argument
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | string1        | string         | returns the value of "arg" parameter
               |          | string2        | string         | returns "hello"
               |          | string3        | string         | returns "world!"
               |          | value1         | integer        | returns the value of "optional_arg" parameter
               |          | value2         | number         | returns 3.14
------------------------------------------------------------------------
user_example3? | example of user defined RPC method that returns an error
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | params   | arg            | integer        | integer value, if zero, throws a JSON-RPC error
               | -------------------------------------------------------
               | result   | status         | integer        | returns the value of "arg" parameter

K.O.

By request from Renee, I increased the MIDAS BANKLIST_MAX from 64 to 1024 and
after fixing a few buglets where YB_BANKLIST_MAX is used instead of (now bigger)
BANKLIST_MAX, I can do a full dump of ND280 FGD events (96 banks).

I also noticed that "mdump -b BANK" did not work, it turns out that it could not
handle 32bit-banks at all. This is now fixed, too.

svn rev 4624
K.O.

I converted mdump file i/o from older mdsupport library to newer midasio library 
and it can now read .mid, .mid.gz, .mid.lz4 and .mid.bz2 files. Output should be 
identical to what it printed before, if you see any differences, please report 
them here or on bitbucket. K.O.

> > > the update of mhttpd to mongoose version 6.16 was committed to the develop branch of midas.

current code looks for the mbedtls library in ../mbedtls (next to midas)

if cmake misdetects it, turn it off by setting NO_MBEDTLS (same as NO_ROOT & co)

if you do want to build mhttpd with mbedtls, do this:

cd .../midas
cd ../
git clone https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls.git
cd mbedtls
git submodule update --init ### this will populate the "crypto" directory
make ### if "python2" is missing, building of test suite programs will fail, but the libraries needed for midas will be built

cd ../midas
make cmake...

K.O.

I had some quick look at the new mongoose code and didn't find anything I dislike. Did a quick test of the proxy which worked and is nice to have. 
Agree with all KO said about authentication.

So if there are no complaints, I would suggest that we move the summary of this thread into the official documentation.

Stefan

manalyzer was updated to latest version. mostly multi-threading improvements from 
Joseph and myself. K.O.

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to post two pull requests, if not, please let me know where I should be submitting them

Both are fairly small changes, please see them listed below (more details written on the PRs themselves)


- Enable ROOT's thread safety when running in multithreaded mode

This helps avoid users having to write their call to a global thread lock when calling ->Fill() on ROOT histograms and Trees
https://bitbucket.org/tmidas/manalyzer/pull-requests/5


- Add command argument to specify an IP of the root HTTP server to bind to

This was a problem I painted around when at ALPHA (quickly hardcoding the right external IP address into the local build. Obviously a bad habit)
https://bitbucket.org/tmidas/manalyzer/pull-requests/6

> - Enable ROOT's thread safety when running in multithreaded mode
> This helps avoid users having to write their call to a global thread lock when calling ->Fill() on ROOT histograms and Trees
> https://bitbucket.org/tmidas/manalyzer/pull-requests/5

merged by hand. (pull request shows a "rejected", bitbucket has no "merged manually" button).

also noted this change in the documentation: README.md

K.O.

We are considering to remove the analyzer framework mana.cxx from MIDAS. It 
currently has some compiler warnings and we wonder if we should fix them which 
would take some time or just remove the file. We have now to much more modern 
analyzer frameworks "manalyzer" and "ROOTANA" which should be used instead.

Is anybody still using the mana.cxx framework?

/Stefan

Ok, no relevant complains so far, so I removed mana and rmana from the CMake build 
process, but left the file mana.cxx still in the repository for educational 
purposes ;-)

Stefan

> Ok, no relevant complains so far, so I removed mana and rmana from the CMake build 
> process, but left the file mana.cxx still in the repository for educational 
> purposes ;-)

+1

K.O.