Log menu commands

The File menu contains commands for opening and saving Log Windows, and other log-related commands

Open Log command (Log menu)

Use this command to open a Log Window for recording messages from the program. Once the window is open, some messages will be logged there instead of presented in message boxes. You can control how much output goes to the window by selecting Verbose in various menus (Focus, Tasks, Tilt Series).  Adding text to this window becomes progressively slower the more it contains, which can significantly slow down long-term acquisition that writes to the log.  The program will thus periodically prune the beginning of the text in the window after saving it to file.  See Autoprune Log Window for details.

Save Log command (Log menu)

Use this command to save the contents of the Log Window to a file. You will enter the Save As dialog box to specify the file, which will have the default extension .log. Once the window has been saved, selecting this command will save it again to the same file as the last time that it was saved.

Save Log As command (Log menu)

Use this command to save the contents of the Log Window to a different file from one already specified. You will enter the Save As dialog box to specify the file, which will have the default extension .log. Once you save to a file with this command, using the Save Log command will save to this file.

Read & Append command (Log menu)

Use this command to append the contents of the Log Window to an existing log file. You will enter the File Open dialog box to select a file. The program will then read in the contents of this file, place it before any text already in the Log Window, then write the window back out to the file.  If pruning has already happened, you will be warned that pruned lines will not be included and asked if you want to continue.  You will be able to choose either an RTF or a plain text file.  If you choose an RTF fle, any formatting of the existing log will be lost upon saving, even though it may appear to be present in the window.  To minimize this loss, use this command immediately after starting.

Save & Autosave Log command (Log menu)

When this command is toggled on, the program will save the log to a file immediately and then save it every minute if it has changed.  If no file is defined yet, a file chooser dialog will open with a default name based on the date and time.  If this setting is already on when starting the program, the chooser dialog will open with that default name at the end of the startup actions.  If the log window is closed and reopened, the chooser dialog will come up to define a name at the next autosave, provided that the program is not busy.  This will not happen if the log is kept closed.

Autoprune Log Window command (Log menu)

Use this command to set the amount of text that will be retained in the Log Window when the program prunes text from the beginning of the window.  Pruning keeps the program from running progressively slower as more text is added to the log.  Enter the minimum number of lines to be left in the window if lines average 40 characters each.  If lines are shorter than 40, on average, then more will be kept.  You can enter 0 instead to disable pruning. Internally, the pruning is based on the number of characters in the window.   Pruning occurs when the number of characters reaches twice the minimum.  Lines are pruned to the half-way point and written to a file.  If a log file has not been defined yet, they are written to a file 'AUTOPRUNETEMP.log' in the system directory (the one with properties and calibrations files).  When saving to a selected file, pruned lines are copied from this temporary file to the new file.  Similarly, pruned lines are copied when using Save As to save to a different file.  After pruning, the first line in the window will show the file that the pruned lines can be found in.  Pruning will not occur when the log is being saved as RTF, so this command is disabled when saving as RTF is selected and still possible.

Use RTF Format to Save command (Log menu)

Use this command to select whether the log is saved as plain text or in an RTF file, which will preserve colors and styles like bolding. Do not use RTF for a log that will grow to over 10,000 lines in an extended acquisition.  Pruning is not possible with RTF files, and adding lines to the log will take progressively longer for larger logs.  RTF files would be suitable for running batch tilt series when every series gets its own log. The format may also be unsuitable even for shorter logs if Save & Autosave Log is set, because RTF files have to be written entirely each time, whereas new lines are appended to plain text logs.   If a log window has already been pruned, it cannot be saved as RTF and will be saved as plain text despite this setting.  Conversely, if you start saving an RTF file and then unselect this option, the existing file will continue to be saved as RTF.

Continuous Save command (Log menu)

Use this command to control whether each line of output to the Log Window is saved immediately to a log file. If there is no log file open when you turn this on, you will be prompted to open one the next time output is sent to the log window.  This command is primarily for debugging purposes and could slow down program operation.

Use Monospaced Font command (Log menu)

Use this command to control whether text is displayed in the log window with a monospaced (fixed width) font or a proportionally spaced font.

Reset Log Position command (Log menu)

Use this command to make the log window visible in the upper left corner of the display with its current size, or a minimum size if that size if smaller than the minimum.

Open Secondary Log command (Log menu)

Use this command to open a secondary log window.  The program will first ask if you want to read in an existing log file.  If you answer Yes, a file chooser will open for specifying the file to read in.  Otherwise, you will be asked for a name to place in the title bar, and an empty window will open.  Secondary logs are distinguishable by having a pale yellow background and 'SECONDARY Log:' in the title bar plus this name or the name of the file read in. If a file is already open in a secondary log, selecting it again will just raise to existing log to the foreground.  Secondary logs were added to provide a way to view logs conveniently from the Multiple Grid Operations dialog. There is currently no ability to save to a different file, no protection against closing a log with unsaved changes, and no script access to these logs. Such functionality can be added if needed.

Save Secondary Log command (Log menu)

Use this command to save a secondary log window.  It operates on the last log window that had focus, so click on the desired log window before selecting the menu item.  If the window contains a log that was read to a file or has already been saved to a file, it will simply be saved back to that file.  Otherwise, a file chooser will open for specifying the file to save into.  After saving, the title bar will show the name of that file.