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    <style> .red {color:red} </style>
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    <style> .cyan {color:cyan} </style>
    <style> .magenta {color:magenta} </style>
    <style> .orange {color:orange} </style>
    <style> .brown {color:brown} </style>
    
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.. _mdf4:

MDF4
====

asammdf tries to emulate the mdf structure using Python builtin data types.

The *header* attibute is an OrderedDict that holds the file metadata.

The *groups* attribute is a dictionary list with the following keys:

* data_group : DataGroup object
* channel_group : ChannelGroup object
* channels : list of Channel objects with the same order as found in the mdf file
* channel_conversions : list of ChannelConversion objects in 1-to-1 relation with the channel list
* channel_sources : list of SourceInformation objects in 1-to-1 relation with the channels list
* data_block : DataBlock object
* texts : dictionay containing TextBlock objects used throughout the mdf

    * channels : list of dictionaries that contain TextBlock objects ralated to each channel
    
        * name_addr : channel name
        * comment_addr : channel comment
        
    * channel group : list of dictionaries that contain TextBlock objects ralated to each channel group
    
        * acq_name_addr : channel group acquisition comment
        * comment_addr : channel group comment
        
    * conversion_tab : list of dictionaries that contain TextBlock objects related to TABX and RTABX channel conversions
    
        * text_{n} : n-th text of the VTABR conversion
        * default_addr : default text
        
    * conversions : list of dictionaries that containt TextBlock obejcts related to channel conversions
    
        * name_addr : converions name
        * unit_addr : channel unit_addr
        * comment_addr : converison comment
        * formula_addr : formula text; only valid for algebraic conversions
      
    * sources : list of dictionaries that containt TextBlock obejcts related to channel sources
    
        * name_addr : source name
        * path_addr : source path_addr
        * comment_addr : source comment
        
The *file_history* attribute is a list of (FileHistory, TextBlock) pairs .

The *channel_db* attibute is a dictionary that holds the *(data group index, channel index)* pair for all signals. This is used to speed up the *get_signal_by_name* method.

The *master_db* attibute is a dictionary that holds the *channel index*  of the master channel for all data groups. This is used to speed up the *get_signal_by_name* method.

API
---

.. autoclass:: asammdf.mdf4.MDF4
    :members:
    
MDF version 4 blocks
--------------------
    
.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2
   
   v4blocks