Isotope Explorer user's manual

Isotope Explorer user's manual

Technical issues

This section deals with issues that are of little concern to the regular user, but which may be of interest for the advanced user.

Data transfer

When Internet database is selected in the Configuration menu, Isotope Explorer transfers the data with TCP/IP from a server.

Nuclear data
The transfer of a data set is performed with a GET command in HTTP from 128.3.253.100 (csa5.lbl.gov) or 130.235.92.5 (outis.lucas.lu.se).

The file CATALOG0.LOG contains a list of the available data sets. This file should be deleted at regular intervals. It is then automatically replaced by a new file from the server.

Reference data
Reference Keynumbers are decoded with a database program running on 128.3.252.64 (nsdssr.lbl.gov).

For author searches, the file AUTHORS0.DIC is needed. This file is created the first time it is needed from the file AUTHORS0.LIS, which is transferred from the server. These files should be deleted at regular intervals. They is then automatically replaced by new files from the server.

Security

Since Isotope Explorer can transfer files via the Internet, one may ask whether this is safe or if viruses can be transferred this way. The answer is that nothing is absolutely certain (except that nothing is absolutely certain), but Isotope Explorer is at least as safe as Web browsers. Here are some facts that may allow you to judge the security:

All files transferred are ASCII files, which can not carry viruses
There is no unseen information sent from the client to a server. All hardware/software information sent with a bug report (Help, Report problem) is visible to the user, and can be edited if the user so chooses.

The ISOEXPL.INI file

Most program parameters can be changed from within the program with the Configuration menu. If requested, these values are saved for the next Isotope Explorer session in the ISOEXPL.INI file resident in the program directory. This file consists of a number of named sections which contain the parameter name and its value separated with a =. (The table is not yet complete.)

Section	Parameter name	Value	Meaning
[General]	Debug	0/1	Debug mode off/on
	CWD	C:/ISOEXPL	Program directory
[ENSDF database]	UseInternetDB	yes/no	Internet/local ENSDF data
	CatalogDir	E:/PCENSDF	ENSDF data directory
[NSR DATABASE]	UseInternetNSR	yes/no	Internet/local NSR data
	NSRDir	E:/NSR	NSR data directory
[Setup Window]	Maximized	yes/no
	XYHW	1,1,429,624
[Recent Files]	NumberOfFiles	0-6	Number of recently used files
	File1	filename	Name of recently used file
	...	...

Comments to: F Chu (program), P Ekström (manual)