spec - Local Sector 7 web page

polled devices, spec needs to perform an action, such as starting amotor backlash move, when the device is finished with its current business.Without automatic hardware polling, a call to the wait() functionis necessary. The default is for this mode to be on. Areason to turn itoff may be to reduce the amount of debugging output during hardwaredebugging."check_file_names" — The check-file-names option can prevent you from (accidentally)creating files with names containing nonstandard characters.When enabled, if a file name passed to the on() , open() or fprintf()functions contains any of the characters ()[]{}|$’‘*?;!&" , thespace character, any control characters or any characters with theeighth bit set, and the file doesn’t already exist, spec will print an errormessage and reset to command level. By default, this mode is on."elog_timestamp" — The time interval for the optional time stamps for theelog error file capability is set using this option. The units of the"elog_timestamp" parameter are minutes. The default value is fiveminutes. Note, time stamps are only added before a command or errormessage is logged, so that the interval between time stamps can begreater than that specified if no commands are being typed or errorsgenerated."flush_interval" — The flush-interval parameter controls how often specflushes output to the hard disk or other output device. Traditionally,spec flushed output after each print command. However, assome usersreport that this frequent flushing introduces considerable delays whenthe output device is to an NFS-mounted file system, the flushing intervalcan now be controlled. The "flush_interval" parameter specifieshow many seconds to allow between output buffer flushing. The defaultvalue is 0.5 seconds. If the interval is set to zero, the traditional frequent-flushingbehavior will be restored. Output to the screen is stillflushed immediately. Output is also flushed each time the main specprompt is issued."HKL_rounding" — Traditionally, spec rounded values for H , K ,and L (andother geometry values derived from motor positions) to five significantdigits for configurations using reciprocal space calculations. As ofrelease 4.03.01, the rounding is now turned off by default. It can beturned on using the command spec_par("HKL_rounding", 1e5) wherethe argument indicates the magnitude of the rounding, i.e., one part in1e5, for example. Note, values with an absolute value less than 1e-10are still rounded to zero whether or not the optional rounding is turnedon.INTERIM WORK-IN-PROGRESS (8/16/01) NOT FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION REFERENCE MANUAL 77