SL/EA/LG - January 7, 1999

( Version 2.0 on CERNSP )

The BEAMPLT program is a utility, implemented originally on VM/CMS and now ported to CERNSP, that automatises the preparation of optics drawings for the SPS secondary beams, starting from standard Transport outputs. No user intervention should be necessary apart from the specification of scales and paper formats. The default plots are monochrome, but colour plots are possible.

The BEAMPLT program is a stripped-down version of BEAMOPT, which provides more details and realistic magnet apertures, but requires a Beatch output and significantly more operator intervention.

The program should be very easy to use, but all ideas, comments and suggestions for improvement are welcomed. Also at the moment the program is in its very first version and remaining small bugs may still exist. Please report them to the author!

The BEAMPLT program is a utility, implemented originally on VM/CMS and now ported to CERNSP, that automatises the preparation of optics drawings for the SPS secondary beams. The program takes its input information exclusively from a Transport output. An example of a BEAMPLT drawing is shown in Figure 1.

The package consists of the following files:

All these files reside, like the other SL-EA specific utilities, on the SL/EA group account in folder /afs/cern.ch/user/e/agroup/public, which you have probably anyway attached automatically all the time through your .tcshrc login-file. The graphics package used is the HIGZ interface to GKS.

The optics drawing is prepared in the form of a Postscript file, starting from a Transport output file. This Transport file can be perfectly standard, with only the following (minor) exceptions:

1. The transport output should contain the table of optical coefficients, that is generated by the card " 13. 41. ; ".
2. The file should be in folder ~/private/transout .

Once you have prepared a suitable Transport output file, you can invoke the BEAMPLT programme simply by typing beamplt. As a result a panel will show up on your screen. An example is shown in Figure 2.

******************** BEAMPLT JOB SUBMISSION PANEL ********************


 Selected Transport input file :	    ....... 

                                                                               



 Paper format :    A4L    Length scale :      10.0    m  per cm
 Size of names :   0.20   Transverse scale :  20.0    mm per cm 

 Optics term :   R11       R12       R33       R34       R16       R36
 Scale factor :  1.0       1.0       1.0       1.0       1.0       1.0
                (mm/mm)    (mm/mr)   (mm/mm)    (mm/mr)   (mm/pct)  (mm/pct)

 Col/BW (C/B)   B               Workstation type   5005

 Comment on drawing:   ................................................

 Print on 866-2_d11_ps ?   Y

                                                                                

 <CR>:Run                   <PF1>:Run                  <PF3>:Quit

First you have to specify the filename of theTransport output file. Note that only magnetically active elements are shown on the plot, i.e. dipoles, quadrupoles, sectupoles and higher-order multipoles. In addition the 'targets' at the start and at the endof the beam are indicated by small vertical lines. The name of each element on the plot is taken from the comment in Transport. Therefore it is a good habit to specify adequate names as comments (such as B3, Q18, TRIM4) in the Transport files.

You must specify the scale factors to be applied to the individual trajectories. The default factor is always 1.0. In case you specify a scale factor 0.0 for one of the trajectories, the trajectory in question will not be drawn. The scale factors specified are indicated on the left hand side of the first page of the plot.

The paper format and layout is specified in files called beamplt.axx, where the filetype axx indicates the paper format. Available types are a4p, a4l and a3l. Other files may be created by the user. Their structure is exactly the same as for BEAMOPT, except for one additional line at the end, specifying the space reserved for scale information on the first page of the plot. From the paper size and the length scale the number of pages is calculated. The maximum number of pages is 10.

Normally the title of your plot, printed below the scale in the middle of the page, is derived from the title of your Transport run, i.e. from the first line of your Transport input deck. However, you may override this title in the panel by any string of up to 50 characters. Note that this string is interpreted by HIGZ and allows therefore special and/or greek symbols. For a consult the HIGZ manual for a list of symbols and control characters.

The default line styles (and black colours) are defined in a file beamplt.monochr. Colour plots can be selected in the BEAMPLT panel by overwriting the default B by a C in the appropriate place. In that case the file beamplt.colours is used instead.

By default the plot is printed immediately on your default Postscript printer (probably the 866_2_d11_ps printer). For colour plots or A3 size plots this would not work. For such plots you have to do the xprint to e.g. 866_1_a04_cj yourself or print the files from your Macintosh of PC using Drop•PS.

A final option is the workstation type in HIGZ. The default type, 7878, is correct for Macintoshes with a vt100 emulator, as well as for NCD X-terminals. For other terminal types you may have to change this number. Please consult the HIGZ manual for details.

Sometimes two elements are so close that their symbols or text labels overlap. The program writes the name of the element only once if two elements of the same name are so close that on the plot their distance becomes smaller than 1.5 times the character size.

Normally the postscript file can be printed on any Postscript compatible laserprinter connected to Ethernet and declared on the Springer service, by typing

xprint -Pprinter-name filename.ps

In building 866 the printers that we commonly use are called 866_2_d11_ps (in the EA archives), 866_1_ps and 866_1_a04_cj (in the helio room on the first floor).

When you print on 866_1_a04_cj, please make sure (before printing) that the correct paper and paper format have been selected on the printer. Unfortunately in the case of the Lexmark colourjet printer, this can only be done locally.