PlotMS Documentation

Casapy Interface to the Plotms Task

• user starts casapy then invokes plotms:

$ casapy
CASA <2>: plotms(vis='/home/uniblab/casa/trunk/test/Plotms/Maw/maw.ms')                                                                   
  Out[2]: True

• arguments are listed here
• This runs $CASAPATH/python/2.7/plotms_cli.py:
  • ./build/tasks/tasks.py:81:from plotms_cli import plotms_cli as plotms
  • result = plotms()
  • what is plotms()?
    • from task_plotms import plotms
      • $CASAPATH/python/2.7/task_plotms.py (source: gcwrap/python/scripts/task_plotms.py)
        • from taskinit import *
          • $CASAPATH/python/2.7/taskinit.py
          • from casac import *
          • pmtool = casac.plotms
          • pm = pmtool()
      • gcwrap/build/tools/casac.py: plotms = casac.plotms.plotms
      • task_plotms.plotms sets arguments using (for example) pm.setShowGui( showgui ) (this must be the first call in task_plotms for plotms ctor)
        • setShowGui calls launchApp(), which executes (execlp) casaplotms (PlotMSDBusApp::APP_NAME = "casaplotms") if display is set, app.dbusName() is empty, or dbus service is not available
          • dbusName is something like "edu.nrao.casa.plotms_529" where 529 is casaplotms pid
        • task_plotms calls to set other arguments are carried out via DBus XML calls
      • then it calls pm.update(), which returns True/False which is returned to plotms_cli
• swig files are in gcwrap/build/tools/; swigged file is plotms.py, installed in $CASAPATH/python/2.7/__casac__/plotms.py
• this calls plotms methods in gcwrap/tools/plotms/plotms_cmpt.cc
  • launchApp() starts casaplotms process if not already running
  • QtDBusXmlApp constructs an XML message and transmits it over DBus
• PlotMSDBusApp receives XML message and updates the plotms model/state
  • Each plotms parameter or group of parameters is one DBus XML call
  • When all params are set, plotms calls update() (task_plotms -> plotms_cmpt -> PlotMSDBusApp::update()) which calls PlotMSApp::addOverplot to plot

Basic UML Diagrams (not comprehensive)

These diagrams give the developer a feeling for the layout of the plotms code (code/plotms), which also depends on the code in code/graphics/GenericPlotter and code/casaqt

PlotMS Architecture

• PlotMS Architecture Overview:
  

PlotMS Threads

• PlotMS Cache, Draw, and Export Threads:
  

PlotMS Plotter

• PlotMS QPPlotter Architecture:
  

Plotms Documentation Files

• gcwrap/tasks/plotms.xml
  • defines output of help(plotms) in casapy
• gcwrap/tools/plotms/plotms.xml
• gcwrap/build/tools/casaplotms.xml
• gcwrap/python/scripts/task_plotms.py
• code/plotms/apps/casaplotms/casaplotms.cc (cli args different from plotms within casapy!)
  • defines output of casaplotms -h and --help to describe available arguments

Plotms Documentation Links

• Task Reference Manual
• Casaplotms
• CASA Cookbook and User Reference (html)
• CASA Cookbook and User Reference (pdf)

Plotms Architecture Review

• PlotmsArchitectureReview

-- PamFord - 2014-09-05