x4i - The EXFOR Interface

Date: 20 May 2022

Author: David Brown

Description: x4i provides a python interface to the EXFOR library, allowing users to search for and then translate EXFOR files into an easy to understand (and then plot) form.

Detailed instructions are provided in https://github.com/brown170/x4i/blob/main/doc/x4i/user-guide/x4i.pdf

Easiest installation: using pip & git

Install the package:

pip install git+https://github.com/brown170/x4i -v

Acquire, install and index the EXFOR file
```
install-exfor-db
```

This version of the installation process automatically installs the 2021-03-08 version of the EXFOR database.
As x4i must rebuild the database, installation may take some time. install-exfor-db has other options that may be accessed with the built-in help (install-exfor-db -h).

Installation from a tarball distribution (not recommended)

Unpack the distribution
Installation options:
- Installation with pip (You can delete the x4i project once this is complete)
```
pip install path/to/x4i/pyproject.toml/directory
```
- Editable pip installation (Don't delete the x4i project folder as this is continued to be used as code source)
```
pip install -e path/to/x4i/pyproject.toml/directory
```

Source installation from git (only needed when working on development versions)

This assumes that you will be editing the project in some fashion. This installation does not automatically include the IAEA data files. You will need to download them yourself as described in step 3. below.

Clone the project

git clone https://github.com/brown170/x4i.git

Installation options:
- Editable installation using pip:
```
pip install -e path/to/x4i/pyproject.toml/directory
```
Acquire, install and index the EXFOR file
```
install-exfor-db
```

How do I import new EXFOR data?

The IAEA distributes the EXFOR files in a variety of ways as of the time of writing.
At this time, all have equivalent content, but different arrangements of data:

https://github.com/IAEA-NDS/exfor_master.git
https://github.com/IAEA-NRDCNetwork/EXFOR-Archive.git
https://www-nds.iaea.org/nrdc/exfor-master/ - this is the main master, and all contents combined in one file
https://www-nds.iaea.org/nrdc/exfor-master/entry/, specifically https://www-nds.iaea.org/nrdc/exfor-master/entry/entry.zip
https://github.com/vzerkin/EXFOR-Archive

The repo at https://github.com/IAEA-NDS/exfor_master.git is our default scheme, as encoded via setup-exfor-db-index. Other options have not been fully implemented.

Note, the previous distribution of the EXFOR x4toc4 master has apparently been discontinued.

Changes since LLNL release (x4i-1.0)

Update installation instructions (David Brown <dbrown@bnl.gov>, 2021-06-16T12:22:06)