Managing Multiple Data Sets

The python FIREreader.py code will convert your hdf5 data set into a format that is readable by Firefly. The converted data for Firefly is placed within the "data" directory within a sub-directory defined either by the snapshot number, or by the user-defined FIREreader.dataDir. The python code also creates a file named "startup.json" in the "data" directory. This file is the first thing read into Firefly, and tells Firefly where to find the rest of the data files; it simply contains the name of the directory where your data resides.

If startup.json does not exist, Firefly will display a button that will allow you to select the directory containing the files you want to load (the directory must contain a filelist.json file). You may choose to simply remove the startup.json file, or set the option in FIREreader.py to not create that file automatically. In that case, you will always need to select a data directory when Firefly launches.

If you already have a data set loaded and displayed in Firefly, you can load a new data set from within the user interface by clicking on the "Load New Data Button". Again, you will need to choose a directory that contains your json data files (and filelist.json).

Note, some browsers may show a default warning message that you are about to upload many files to the site and to only do so if you trust the site. Please allow Firefly to upload these files.

Also, note that for most browsers, you will only be able to select a directory that is within your data directory. Please keep your json files there or adding symbolic links within the data directory pointing to elsewhere on your local disk, e.g.,

$ ln -s /home/mydirectory/snapdir_XXX  

If you have multiple data sets available on your computer and prefer to have a menu of these data files to choose from at the start of Firefly, you can manually edit the startup.json file to create a list of directories. For instance, FIREreader.py may create a startup.json file that contains the following:

{"0":"data\/snapdir_001"}

You could edit this to contain the following:

{"0":"data\/snapdir_001"
 "1":"data\/snapdir_002"
 "2":"data\/snapdir_003"
 "3":"data\/snapdir_004"}

With this startup.json, you would see a button when Firefly loads that, when clicked, will allow you to choose which data set to display. In general, this method may be useful if you are running Firefly on a remote computer that contains all your data and port forwarding to your local browser (which can only see your local file system).