CHAPTER 2 - THE 'READ PARAMETERS FILE' OPTION

2.1 INTRODUCTION

When the option is selected, the following prompt is output:

File name (default ext=.ldm):

The user replies with the name of the required LDM parameters file; if no file extension is given, an extension of .ldm is assumed. A blank reply will cancel the request. The program checks that the file exists and can be opened; if there is an error, an error message will be output and the prompt will be repeated.

The data are then read from the file and are checked by the program. Errors will be flagged. Values are reset for all the parameters shown in parameter tables 1 and 2. The LDM parameter value defaults values will be set for all parameters not explicitly given in the LDM data file. The current pack and plate will be set to one.

In addition to the data items used by the program, other LDM parameter values will be read in and stored e.g. the film parameters n1od, baseod, g1od etc. Values of such parameters may be inspected or reset via the command window if required.

The following points should also be noted:

1. When the 'read parameters file' option is selected, a check is made on the status of any spots currently integrated and a warning is output if any spots have veen integrated but not saved to an output file (for further details see Appendix 15 ). When a new parameters file is read in, the integrated intensities list and associated integration flags are cleared.

2. Default values are reset for all the LDM and extended LDM parameters prior to reading in the new data. Soft limit, spot size determination and spot search box size parameters are also reset to their default values.