Hypermet-PC - ConvertCAM


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Converter utility for Canberra's CAM format

At the time when the HYPC code was written, Canberra used a former specification of CNF files. This has been modified recently, and the new files (to our knowledge) are only accessible through the preinstalled Genie VDM, which is a Windows driver. This driver cannot be used by a DOS based program like Hypermet-PC. Therefore you might be unable to load the recently acquired CNF files to Hypermet properly.

To solve this incompatibility, a free of charge converter utility is made available. This transforms the contents of the CNF files to S100 MCA format (this is the primary file type of Hypermet-PC). The program supports the conversion of the spectrum itself (with 16k or less channels), the energy calibration, acquisition date and time, live and true time and a comment string up to 26 characters. You can use the resulting MCA file to evaluate with Hypermet.

It takes the complete (!) CNF file path as command line argument and creates the corresponding MCA file at the same place.

 
oConvertCAM.jpg

The program's window during the conversion.

WARNING: The program requires the Genie VDM (part of the Genie 2000 acquisition system) and some Visual Basic 6 DLLs installed.

You might adjust the time zone shift in the INI file to get correct acquisition time.

If you need to convert multiple files at once, you may prefer the Batch version of the converter shown here:


ConvertCAMBatch.JPG


Files:

How to set up the file association to the command-line version of ConvertCAM?

The following procedure describes the process under Windows XP English. This makes you able to convert the CNF files to S100 MCA format by a simple double-click on the CNF file. (On Windows 9x systems the windows are slightly different.)

Step1: Open My Computer by clicking on the desktop icon and choose Tools > Folder Options menu:

Step1.JPG

Fig.1.


Step2: Go to the File Types tab. If the CNF extension is already associated with SpeedDial, click Delete...

Step2.JPG

Fig.2.

... and confirm by pressing Yes in the appearing Message Box.

Step3.JPG

Fig.3.


Step3: Create a new file association between ConvertCAM and CNF Files by clicking on New button of the Window shown in Fig.4. Specify the extension CNF, press OK.

Step4.JPG

Fig.4.

Click on button Advanced... of the Window shown in Fig.2. You get to the following window: 

Step6a.JPG

Fig.5.


Step4: Click on New, and fill in the Textboxes as follows: (the actual path of the ConertCAM.exe may be different).
WARNING: If the path contains space(s), it should be put within quotation marks:
C:\Programs\ConvertCAM.exe %1, but "C:\Programs Files\ConvertCAM\ConvertCAM.exe" %1.

Step5.JPG

Fig.6.

Press OK. As a result, you should see a screen like this:

Step6.JPG

Fig.7.

NOTE: If multiple programs are associated to the CNF file type, ConvertCAM should be selected as default. This can be done in the above window, by selecting the ConvertCAM line and clicking the "Set default" button. ConvertCAM should appear thereafter in boldface.


Step5: To change the icon representing the CAM Files, click on Change icon... and Browse, locate the ConvertCAM.exe, 
press OK.

Step7.JPG

Fig.8.

Close all opened windows.

DONE!

Options

 The program has three options, each adjustable in the INI file:

1) TimeZone: This is an empirical time shift to fix a bug of Hypermet PC. For some reasons, Hypermet does not decode the time-zone flag of the MCA correctly, that results in a time-bias of 4 hours in our lab. (Also depends on the daylight saving time.) You should modify this value to have correct time in "COLLECTED AT" field of Hypermet.

2) If Truncate8=1, the converter creates an MCA with 8-character-long, truncated filename. This helps to avoid confusing LOG and SET files, like "XXXXXX~1.LOG", "XXXXXX~2.SET". If zero, the complete filename is preserved.

3) If OverrideTimeStamp=1, the file creation time of the CNF is cloned to the MCA file, with a 1-second shift. Whenever the files are sorted by time in a directory, the MCA file will directly follow the corresponding CNF file.
 
If you need further assistance in using and configuring this converter, write a mail to László Szentmiklósi.