The calculator is currently written as a python jupyter notebook. In the long run, this should be converted to a standalone application, but the notebook is a great way to collect the first experience and perform the initial development cycle.

There are several ways you can run the calculator, either by using a proper python environment locally or by making use of the binder service (see https://mybinder.org/ for more information on binder itself) to run the notebook on a remote service in the browser window.

Running the spectrum calculator in your browser

Click the below Binder image to launch a Jupyter Notebook with the spectrum calculator without the need to download or install anything locally on your machine.

Note that it will take a few minutes to set up the remote python environment, so please be patient.

Running the notebook locally

Prerequisites

In order to run the notebook locally on your computer, you need to set up a python environment with the necessary packages. At the moment, these include

python=3
ipympl
ipywidgets
jupyter
matplotlib
numpy
xraydb
xrt

Download the spectrum calculator

Download the spectrum calculator either by cloning the git repository (requires a local git installation)

git clone https://gitlab.psi.ch/tomcat/spectrum_calculator.git

or by downloading the zip file with the latest version:

https://gitlab.psi.ch/tomcat_public/spectrumcalculator/-/archive/master/spectrumcalculator-master.zip

Installing conda

The easiest way to create a dedicated python environment is by installing Anaconda (https://anaconda.org/) or miniconda (https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html) on your system. This provides you with the conda environment management system.

Install and activating the spectrum calculator environment

This step is optional, but if you like, you can install a dedicated conda environment for the spectrum calculator that comes with the correct packages already configured.

Using the command line

Locate the environment.yml file in this repository and run the following command:

conda env create -f environment.yml

This will create a new environment called spectrum_calculator. Once the installation has finished, you then need to activate this environment:

conda activate spectrum_calculator

Using Anaconda-Navigator

When using the Anaconda-Navigator, you can also install the new environment via the GUI interface. Open the Anaconda-Navigator application, then select the Environments tab in the left navigation bar. Click on the Import button at the bottom of the environments list.

In the dialog window, navigate to the environment.yml file. The name of the environment will be inserted automatically. The click Import and wait for the installation to finish.

Now you can always activate this environment by selecting it in the environments list.

Start the jupyter notebook server

In the python environment you would like to use to run the spectrum calculator, you now need to start the jupyter notebook server:

jupyter-notebook

If using the Anaconda-Navigator, you can also click on the play symbol next to the spectrum calculator environment and select Open with Jupyter Notebook.

Now either a browser will open automatically with the correct window, or you have to copy and past the generated html link to your browser to open the jupyter notebook service.

Inside the jupyter window in your browser, navigate to the spectrum_calculator.ipynb and start the notebook.