OS X Crystallography Applets


Download a disk image (about 1 Mbyte) with them and put the Xtal folder in /Applications or other appropriate directory.


                   
NEW: Make your crystallography applications clickable!

If you have ever wanted to click on your data files to see them displayed, start CCP4i without a terminal, or drag and drop a CNS input file to edit or execute it, here's what you need to do.                     


The following description assumes:  

(1) You have X11.app installed and running
(2) You have the relevant software installed via fink (unless noted otherwise)

If you have installed into a different location than /sw, you will need to edit a script inside the application to make changes.

These are very basic OS X applications that you might find useful to run some unix crystallography programs.  I made them using a freeware utility called Platypus, available from here.

You can put them anywhere that suits you.  I recommend something like /Applications/Xtal, and the descriptions below assume that location, but there is nothing special about it.


These are essentially wrappers to shell scripts that open and run programs when you double-click them.  However, they have two other advantages:

1.  You can drag and drop files onto them that you want to open with the program.  (Specific examples are described below).

2.  You can use the Finder File> Get Info (or command-I) on a selected file to set the program to open it.


Examples:


ipdisp allows you to either drag an image file onto it to open it up, or else, in combination with the Get Info open-with option set to this program, allows you to double-click on an image file and open it.

(I have made this particular version specific for ALS-type CCD images, but by editing the file /Applications/Xtal/ipdisp.app/Contents/Resources/script 
you can set this with whatever flags you need.  This is also an easy way to make your own -- just copy the application, rename it, and edit /Applications/Xtal/yourname.app/Contents/Resources/script
to suit your needs).




Here is what I have made so far:


Please feel free to suggest others or make your own and send them to me for distribution to others.


ccp4 --


ccp4i -- double-click this and it starts ccp4i   
(assumes ccp4 installed via fink)


ipdisp -- drag and drop a CCD image (see above for other options) to open it, or set it to open all your CCD images.
(assumes ccp4 installed via fink)




molecular viewers --


molmol -- double-click it to open, drag and drop a pdb file to load that structure when opening, or set it to open specific pdb files. 
(assumes molmol installed via fink)


rasmol  -- double-click it to open, drag and drop a pdb file to load that structure when opening, or set it to open specific pdb files. 
(assumes rasmol installed via fink)

launch_o -- this one isn't mine, and it is more versatile and programmable in that it lets you set the path to where O is installed. It launches O, and can also be enabled to do drag-and-drop, and supports double-clicking a binary.o database file if you first set that file type to open with this application. (The author is James Stroud.) Download launch_o from here.



cns --


These two are designed to work with the Logan Donaldson distributed CNS version that installs in /usr/local as well as the extra hacks I put in.  See this page for more details.

cns_edit -- drag and drop an input file, foo.inp, and it will open that file in the CNS web editor.  You must install one of my cns_edit OS X hacks in order for this to work, available here.

cns_solve  -- drag and drop a foo.inp file to have cns_solve execute it.  This will first cd into the directory in which you have foo.inp, and it will then execute cns.  It will produce a log file called foo.log in the same directory.  It requires CNS to be installed according to the instructions given here. Specifically, it refers to the cns executable in /usr/local/cns_solve_1.1/bin/cns  so you must either have a copy there or a symbolic link to it with this name.  Alternatively you can edit the script file contained within.



Download a disk image (about 1 Mbyte) with them and put the Xtal folder in /Applications or other appropriate directory.





Back to Crystallography on OS X


Valid HTML 4.01!