evt2root

This program converts files generated by the DAQ (.evt files) to file read by ROOT (.root files).

Description: Takes .evt files from a list and converts them to ROOT format. The file evt_files.lst specifies the location and name of the ouput ROOT file on the first line. Only one ROOT file is generated. The second line is the directory where all the data files are located. The list of run numbers is the remainder of the file. This script also needs a library where the detectors classes are defined.

Version - evt2root_NSCL11_mADC.C

Version used by Florida State University, generalized to include unpacking of Mesytec ADC modules. It takes all types of modules in the same way and unpacks it. This is the current version for use with SPS data.

Requirements

The following files are required for evt2root to run.

• 2016_detclass.h
• VM_BaseClass.cpp
• VM_Module.cpp
• evt_files.lst

Execution

To run evt2root, enter the following commands.

root -l
.L VM_BaseClass.cpp+
.L VM_Module.cpp+
.x evt2root_NSCL11.C+

This list of commands is executed by the file rootinput.C and can be executed as follows.

root -l -q rootinput.C

Manual mode

Concatonate several .evt files into one .root file. To run, edit the file evt_files.lst and pass rootinput.txt to ROOT. The file evt_files.lst should be of the form

Output ROOT file: <output_dir>/filename.root
Data directory: <input_dir>
0001
0002
0003
0004

with the list of .evt included. In this example, files 0001--0004 are read in from the input directory and output to filename.root in the output directory. The data from all four files will be combined together into a single output file.

Batch mode

Convert several .evt files to individulally. The file data.cpp allows the user to convert a list of files in batch mode. The use of this code will generate a seperate ROOT file for each run. The location of the data files (input) and ROOT files (output) are specified in the code. Any modifications require re-compiling the program with the following command.

g++ data.cpp -o data.out

Once up to date, the file is run with the following command.

./data.out

The program runs evt2root individually on the files listed in runs.lst. The user has option of deleting the .evt files after conversion. For each run listed in runs.lst, a new version of the file evt_file.lst is generated. The commands run for each individual conversion are listed in rootinput.txt.

The run-to-run changes in runs.lst and evt_file.lst are excuded by .gitignore. To force the updated files to be saved to the repository, use the command git add -f foo.bar.

Requires:

• data.cpp
• runs.lst
• rootinput.C

Output:

• evt_files.lst

Data structure

The SPS detectors are read out in the following manner.

ADC

The signals read out by CAEN ADCs and fill the ADC. branches of the DataTree.

TDC

Not currently used. Data will fill the TDC. branches of the DataTree. The CAENHit detector class is used.