MeshTV Command Line Interface Manual

Overview

MeshTV is an interactive program for visualizing and analyzing scientific data. MeshTV reads SILO 1 data files, which allows it to run on many hardware platforms. MeshTV handles 1D, 2D, and 3D data and provides a variety of operations on the data, enabling it to be both a visualization tool and a data analysis program. A full description of the SILO data format for MeshTV can be found in the MeshTV-SILO Manual 2 , and instructions for writing SILO files can be found in the SILO User's Guide 3 .

While MeshTV has a Command Line Interface (CLI), most people prefer to use MeshTV's Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is described in the MeshTV User's Manual 4 . If you are just starting MeshTV for the first time, you might want to use the GUI for awhile to get a feeling for how the program works. You might also want to read the MeshTV Getting Started Manual 5 . The MeshTV Getting Started Manual describes important MeshTV concepts and assumptions, and it also contains a tutorial for the GUI.

This manual details the various commands supported by MeshTV as they are accessed via the Command Line Interface. Users might want to use the CLI for production (batch) jobs, or to access commands which have yet to be implemented in the GUI.

Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in the command summaries:

italic	An option or parameter to be replaced by the user with an appropriate value.
`typeface`	Command names and options. These are given to MeshTV exactly as shown.
[ ]	Arguments enclosed in square brackets are optional. The brackets are not part of the argument.
\|	The "pipe" symbol indicates "or", so if two arguments are separated by the pipe symbol, this means one or the other is appropriate.

Many of the commands use commas to separate options, as in:

bnd var=material, lc=red

These commas are optional.

Real numbers ending in zero can be entered with or without the decimal point. For example, 0 can be entered as 0 , 0. , or 0.0 .

MeshTV Execute Line

MeshTV can be run in command line mode (without the GUI). When used in this way, the program name is meshtvx rather than meshtv . To run MeshTV in command line mode, type the following at a UNIX^TM prompt:

meshtvx [options]

options are:

`-banner`	Assigns banners for PostScript^TM output
`-geometry`	Set the size of the MeshTV Output window. Specify the height, width, and the x,y position of the top left corner. For example, 500X500+300+0.
`-nowin`	Do not open output windows. This is useful for the production (batch) mode of operation.
`-n`	End the MeshTV prompt with a newline character. This is useful when MeshTV is run from within a script.
`-noinfo`	Do not output MeshTV informational messages.
`-nowarn`	Do not output MeshTV warning messages.
`-q`	Quiet mode. Do not output informational or warning messages. This is equivalent to using the `-noinfo` and `-nowarn` options.
`-ppm` rootname	Write all plots in ppm format to the file family, the first file of which will be named rootname 0000.ppm.
`-ps` rootname	Write all plots in PostScript^TM format to the file family, the first file of which will be named rootname 0000.ps.
`-rgb` rootname	Write all plots in SGI rgb format to the file family, the first file of which will be named rootname 0000.rgb.
`-rps` rootname	Write all plots in Raster PostScript^TM format to the file family, the first file of which will be named rootname 0000.ps.
`-s` filename	Specify a filename from which to read commands. filename is a file containing MeshTV commands.
`-tif` rootname	Write all plots in tiff format to the file family, the first file of which will be named rootname 0000.tif.
`-res` number	The X and Y resolutions for saved and printed images. Only one number is provided since the image must be square. Used only with the `-ps` , `-rgb` , `-rps` , or `-tif` options.
file	Open the SILO file named file . Multiple files can be specified if they are members of the same family. Files in the same family share the same base name followed by increasing numbers, as in file0000.silo, file0001.silo, and file1001.silo.
initfile	Open a MeshTV init file. The init file which is always opened if it exists in the user's home directory is .meshtvinit. Other init files can be created and specified on the command line. Multiple files can be specified. An init file must begin with a `#', and it contains valid MeshTV commands. A pre-existing init file at some locations is "cale", so issuing the following command, `meshtvx cale` , would give MeshTV a Cale feel. Cale is a physics simulation code released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Commands contained in a file can be input to MeshTV via the C Shell redirection facility.

meshtvx [options] < command_file

Commands generated from a program can be piped to MeshTV.

program | meshtvx [options]

MeshTV Operators

MeshTV's operators are accessed via the defvar command and the pop option, rather than via separate commands of their own. The following table lists MeshTV's operators and the corresponding arguments to the appropriate command.

Operation	Command	Argument
Arbitrary slice	defvar	aslice
Cutplane	defvar	gslice
Erase	pop	clipp
Index select	defvar	insel
Orthogonal slice	defvar	oslice
Reflect (the data)	defvar	reflect
Reflect (the picture)	pop	reflectp
Reflect (another method)	pop	symmetry

MeshTV Production Mode of Operation

MeshTV can be run in a production (batch) environment where a script program, for example, supplies plot commands in a file from which MeshTV generates plots as output files of various formats. In this case, no output window needs to exist, so the -nowin option might be used. The source command invoked from within MeshTV, or the redirection of a command file on the execute line, can be used to supply the plot commands. The foutput command or the -ps execute line option can be used to direct plots to a PostScript^TM file. Some examples of production mode usage follow.

MeshTV Example: nowin, ps, redirection

meshtvx -nowin -ps prob prob.silo <prob.log >/dev/null

Commands in file prob.log and SILO file prob.silo are used to generate plots which are written to the PostScript^TM file family which starts with prob0000.ps. Plots are not sent to an output window. All MeshTV messages are redirected to the "great bit bucket in the sky" (/dev/null) rather than being sent to the user.

MeshTV Example: nowin, -n, interactive

meshtvx -nowin -n 1--> foutput rootname=prob2 2--> open prob200000.silo Current DB is: prob200000.silo `2D rectilinear file' 3--> source prob2.log 4--> open prob200100.silo Current DB is: prob200100.silo `2D rectilinear file' 5--> source prob2.log 6--> quit
Commands in file prob2.log and data in SILO files prob200000.silo and prob200100.silo are used to generate plots which are written to the PostScript^TM file family which starts with prob20000.ps. Plots are not sent to an output window. The newline character ends the MeshTV prompt.

MeshTV Example: nowin, -q, interactive

meshtvx -nowin -q 1-->open prob3.silo 2-->foutput rootname=prob3 3-->source prob3.log 4-->foutput rootname=prob4 5-->source prob4.log 6-->quit
Commands in file prob3.log and data in the SILO file prob3.silo are used to generate plots which are written to the PostScript^TM file family which begins with prob30000.ps. Ditto for prob4. Plots are not sent to an output window. The prompt does not include the newline character. No warnings or informational messages are sent.

If invalid commands are sent to MeshTV, an error message will be returned to the standard error ("standard err"). This message will begin with the string "MeshTV Error:"

Whenever MeshTV is run, whether from the command line or via the GUI, it will output a log of the commands it received during the session. This log will be named "%meshtv.log " You can use this log to rerun MeshTV, either from within the code by issuing the source command, or by using the redirection method mentioned earlier. The only restriction is that you must rename the file, or MeshTV will attempt to read from and write to the same file, and that would cause problems.

Command Summaries

The command summaries which follow describe the usage of every command in MeshTV. Each command summary is broken into five sections -- Synopsis, Arguments, Description, Examples, and See Also.

The Synopsis section contains a brief summary of the command along with its arguments. The Arguments section contains a description of each argument supported by the command. The Description section provides a more thorough explanation of what the command does. The Examples section demonstrates sample uses of the command. The See Also section refers the reader to any related commands or documents which might also be of interest.

Note that these commands can be issued via the GUI by using the Command Line window. If these commands are issued from the GUI, all text output will go to the Printer Icon Output window. If these commands are issued from the Command Line Interface version of MeshTV, output goes to the standard output ("standard out"), which is usually the shell window in which MeshTV was invoked.

If you issue these commands from the Command Line Interface window in the GUI, the GUI's other windows will not correctly reflect the changes. For example, if you type "animate fps=5.0", the animate window will not reflect that change. In general, if you use the GUI, you should issue commands via the GUI's windows whenever possible.

1. A high-level, portable interface that was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to address difficult database issues, such as different, incompatible file formats and libraries, most of which used non-standard features of the Cray compilers.

2. MeshTV-SILO Manual, To Be Released.

3. SILO User's Guide, UCRL-MA-118751

4. MeshTV User's Manual, To Be Released.

5. MeshTV Getting Started Manual.