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<section id="getting-started">
<h1>Getting Started<a class="headerlink" href="#getting-started" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>This section covers how to obtain the software, and how to unpack and
install it, and how to configure it.</p>
<section id="obtaining-survex">
<h2>Obtaining Survex<a class="headerlink" href="#obtaining-survex" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The latest version is available from the <a class="reference external" href="https://survex.com/download.html">Survex website</a>. It is freely redistributable, so you are
welcome to get a copy from someone else who has already downloaded
it, and you can give copies to others.</p>
<p>If you want some sample data to experiment with, you can download some from the
Survex website too: <a class="reference external" href="https://survex.com/software/sample.tar.gz">https://survex.com/software/sample.tar.gz</a></p>
</section>
<section id="installing-survex">
<h2>Installing Survex<a class="headerlink" href="#installing-survex" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The details of installation depend greatly on what platform you
are using, so there is a separate section below for each platform.</p>
<section id="linux">
<h3>Linux<a class="headerlink" href="#linux" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Pre-built versions of Survex are available for some Linux distributions. See
the <a class="reference external" href="https://survex.com/download.html?platform=linux">Survex for Linux download page</a> on
our website for up-to-date information.</p>
<p>You’ll need root access to install these prebuilt packages. If you don’t have
root access you will need to build from source (see the next section).</p>
</section>
<section id="macos">
<h3>macOS<a class="headerlink" href="#macos" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>The easiest way to install a recent release of Survex on macOS is by using the
Homebrew package manager. If you don’t already use Homebrew, you’ll need to
install it first. See the <a class="reference external" href="https://survex.com/download.html?platform=macosx">macOS download page on the website</a> for installation
instructions.</p>
</section>
<section id="other-versions-of-unix">
<h3>Other versions of UNIX<a class="headerlink" href="#other-versions-of-unix" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>For other UNIX versions you’ll need to get the source code and compile it on
your system. Unpack the sources and read the file called INSTALL in the top
level for details about building from source.</p>
</section>
<section id="microsoft-windows">
<h3>Microsoft Windows<a class="headerlink" href="#microsoft-windows" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>This version comes packaged with an installation wizard. Just run the
downloaded installer package and it will lead you through the installation
process. Since Survex 1.4.9, this pre-built version requires a 64-bit
version of Microsoft Windows 7 or later.</p>
<p>Survex 1.4.8 and later support installing for all users (which requires
administrator rights) or just for the current user (which doesn’t). If
installed for just the current user, other user accounts won’t see the file
associations, menu entries, desktop icons, etc for Survex.</p>
<p>Note that if you have an existing installation the installer will see it and
try to upgrade it, and if that installation was done with administrator rights
(which any installation of 1.4.7 or earlier will be) you’ll also need
administrator rights to upgrade. To change to a non-admin installation you
need to first uninstall the existing admin install (which will need admin
rights) then install the new version.</p>
<p>The survey viewer that’s part of Survex is called aven, and uses OpenGL for 3d
rendering.</p>
<p>If you find that 3D rendering is sometimes very slow (e.g. one user reported
very slow performance when running full screen, while running in a window was
fine) then try installing the OpenGL driver supplied by the manufacturer of
your graphics card rather than the driver Microsoft supply.</p>
<p>The installer creates a Survex group in the Programs sub-menu of the Start menu
containing the following items:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Aven</p></li>
<li><p>Documentation</p></li>
<li><p>Uninstall Survex</p>
<p>Icons are installed for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.svx</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pos</span></code> files, and
also for Compass Plot files (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.plt</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.plf</span></code>) (which Survex can read).
Double-clicking on a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.svx</span></code> file loads it for editing. To process it to
produce a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code> file, right click and choose “Process” from the menu -
this runs aven to process the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.svx</span></code> file and automatically load the
resultant <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code> file. All the Survex file types can be right clicked on
to give a menu of possible actions.</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.svx</span></code></dt><dd><dl class="simple">
<dt>Process</dt><dd><p>Process file with aven to produce <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code> file (and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file)</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code></dt><dd><dl class="simple">
<dt>Open</dt><dd><p>Load file into Aven</p>
</dd>
<dt>Print</dt><dd><p>Print the file via Aven</p>
</dd>
<dt>Extend</dt><dd><p>Produce extended elevation</p>
</dd>
<dt>Convert to DXF</dt><dd><p>This entry used to be provided to allow converting to a DXF file
(suitable for importing into many CAD packages) but this functionality
is now available from inside Aven with the ability to control what is
exported, and this entry was dropped in 1.2.35.</p>
</dd>
<dt>Convert for hand plotting</dt><dd><p>This entry used to be provided to allow converting to a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pos</span></code> file
listing all the stations and their coordinates, but this functionality
is now available from inside Aven with the ability to control what is
exported, and this entry was dropped in 1.2.35.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code></dt><dd><dl class="simple">
<dt>Open</dt><dd><p>Load file into Notepad</p>
</dd>
<dt>Sort by Error</dt><dd><p>Sort <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file by the error in each traverse</p>
</dd>
<dt>Sort by Horizontal Error</dt><dd><p>Sort <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file by the horizontal error in each traverse</p>
</dd>
<dt>Sort by Vertical Error</dt><dd><p>Sort <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file by the vertical error in each traverse</p>
</dd>
<dt>Sort by Percentage Error</dt><dd><p>Sort <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file by the percentage error in each traverse</p>
</dd>
<dt>Sort by Error per Leg</dt><dd><p>Sort <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.err</span></code> file by the error per leg in each traverse</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</li>
</ul>
</section>
</section>
<section id="configuration">
<h2>Configuration<a class="headerlink" href="#configuration" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<section id="selecting-your-preferred-language">
<h3>Selecting Your Preferred Language<a class="headerlink" href="#selecting-your-preferred-language" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Survex has extensive internationalisation capabilities. The language used for
messages from Survex and most of the libraries it uses can be changed. By
default this is automatically picked up from the language the operating system
is set to use (from “Regional Settings” in Control Panel on Microsoft Windows,
from the LANG environment variable on UNIX). If no setting is found, or Survex
hasn’t been translated into the requested language, UK English is used.</p>
<p>However you may want to override the language manually - for example if Survex
isn’t available in your native language you’ll want to choose the supported
language you understand best.</p>
<p>To do this, you set the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SURVEXLANG</span></code> environment variable. Here’s a list of
the codes currently supported:</p>
<table class="docutils align-default">
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Code</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Language</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>en</p></td>
<td><p>International English</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>en_US</p></td>
<td><p>US English</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>bg</p></td>
<td><p>Bulgarian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>ca</p></td>
<td><p>Catalan</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>de</p></td>
<td><p>German</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>de_CH</p></td>
<td><p>Swiss German</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>el</p></td>
<td><p>Greek</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>es</p></td>
<td><p>Spanish</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>fr</p></td>
<td><p>French</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>hu</p></td>
<td><p>Hungarian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>id</p></td>
<td><p>Indonesian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>it</p></td>
<td><p>Italian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>pl</p></td>
<td><p>Polish</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>pt</p></td>
<td><p>Portuguese</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>pt_BR</p></td>
<td><p>Brazillian Portuguese</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>ro</p></td>
<td><p>Romanian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>ru</p></td>
<td><p>Russian</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>sk</p></td>
<td><p>Slovak</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p>zh_CN</p></td>
<td><p>Chinese (Simplified)</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Here are examples of how to set this environment variable to give messages in
French (language code <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fr</span></code>):</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt>Microsoft Windows</dt><dd><p>For MS Windows proceed as follows (this description was
written from MS Windows 2000, but it should be fairly
similar in other versions): Open the Start Menu, navigate
to the Settings sub-menu, and open Control Panel. Open
System (picture of a computer) and click on the Advanced
tab. Choose <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Environmental</span> <span class="pre">Variables</span></code>, and create a new
one: name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SURVEXLANG</span></code>, value <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fr</span></code>. Click <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">OK</span></code> and the new
value should be effective immediately.</p>
</dd>
<dt>UNIX - sh/bash</dt><dd><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SURVEXLANG=fr</span> <span class="pre">;</span> <span class="pre">export</span> <span class="pre">SURVEXLANG</span></code></p>
</dd>
<dt>UNIX - csh/tcsh</dt><dd><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setenv</span> <span class="pre">SURVEXLANG</span> <span class="pre">fr</span></code></p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>If Survex isn’t available in your language, you could help out by providing a
translation. The initial translation is likely to be about a day’s work; after
that translations for new or changed messages are occasionally required.
Contact us for details if you’re interested.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="using-survex">
<h2>Using Survex<a class="headerlink" href="#using-survex" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>Most common tasks can now be accomplished through <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code> - processing survey
data, viewing the processed data, printing, exporting to other formats, and
producing simple extended elevations.</p>
<p>A few tasks still require you to use the command line; some functionality
which is available via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code> is also available from the command line, which
allows it to be scripted.</p>
<p>The command line programs that come with Survex are:</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cavern</span></code></dt><dd><p>Processes survey data. Since Survex 1.2.3 you can process <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.svx</span></code>
files by opening them with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code>, so you don’t need to use
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cavern</span></code> from the command line if you don’t want to, but it’s still
available for users who prefer to work from the command line and for
use in scripts.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">diffpos</span></code></dt><dd><p>Compares the positions of stations in two processed survey data files
(<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pos</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.plt</span></code>, etc).</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dump3d</span></code></dt><dd><p>Dumps out a list of the items in a processed survey data file (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.3d</span></code>,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.plt</span></code>, etc). <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dump3d</span></code> was originally written for debugging, but can
also be useful if you want to access processed survey data from a script.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extend</span></code></dt><dd><p>Produces extended elevations - this is probably the most useful of these
command line tools. Since Survex 1.2.27 you can produce simple extended
elevations from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code> using the “Extended Elevation” function. However
the command line tool allows you to specify a spec file to control how the
survey is extended, which you can’t currently do via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code>.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sorterr</span></code></dt><dd><p>Reorders a .err file by a specified field.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">survexport</span></code></dt><dd><p>Provides access to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aven</span></code>’s “Export” functionality from the command line,
which can be useful in scripts. Added in Survex 1.2.35.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</section>
</section>
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<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">Getting Started</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#obtaining-survex">Obtaining Survex</a></li>
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