GUI History

GUI History

groot records semantic GUI actions to .gui_history by default. This is separate from ROOT's .gint_history: .gint_history records prompt text, while .gui_history records analysis operations such as markers, fits, zooms, projections, and canvas actions.

The file uses JSON Lines. Each line is one compact JSON object, and every record uses the same top-level sections:

Section	Purpose
time	Local timestamp for the action.
action	Stable action name, such as fit.gaus or projection.create.
context	Canvas and pad names.
event	ROOT event code, key code, printable key, and selected object name.
object	Primary object name, class, source file, and ROOT/internal path.
parent	Parent object provenance, commonly used for projections.
range	X/Y ranges used by zooms, fits, pans, and gates.
projection	Projection axis, output name, gate limits, and background limits.
fit	Fit model and measured fit quantities when available.
marker	Marker type and position.
display	Display toggles such as log scale and residual visibility.
extra	Action-specific fields that do not yet have a structured slot.

Missing values are written as null. This keeps each action record predictable even when a section is not relevant to that action.

Recorded Actions

Current journaled actions include:

Action	Meaning
canvas.open	A GCanvas was created.
canvas.close	A GCanvas was closed outside interpreter shutdown.
prompt.help	The prompt handled ? or help before passing input to ROOT.
marker.add	A primary, fit, background, cut, or projection marker was added.
markers.clear	Markers were removed from a histogram.
hist.zoom	The visible histogram range was changed from markers.
hist.unzoom	The histogram axes were restored to their full range.
hist.pan	A GCanvas arrow-key pan shifted the visible X range.
hist.rebin	A GH1D was rebinned by the interactive rebin factor.
hist.unbin	A GH1D was unbinned by the interactive unbin factor.
hist.draw_copy	Shift-click opened a clean draw-copy in a new canvas.
hist.clear_helpers	Fits, markers, residual state, Sumw2, and peak markers were cleared.
background.show	A calculated GH1D background was drawn.
background.toggle	GH1D background display/removal state was toggled.
fit.gaus	A Gaussian fit was created from marker limits.
fit.photopeak	A photopeak fit was created from marker limits.
fit.double_gaus	A double-Gaussian fit was created from fit markers.
residuals.toggle	Residual display was toggled for a GH1D.
peaks.show	Searched peaks were displayed.
projection.create	A 1D projection was created from a 2D histogram or parent projection.
projection.background	A projection background range was marked.
projection.navigate	Up/down arrow navigation drew another remembered projection.
projection.show_x	ROOT's native TH2::SetShowProjectionX(1) was enabled.
cut.mode	2D marker vertices were switched into cut-building mode.
cut.create	A TCutG was created from cut markers.
pad.logy.toggle	Log Y display was toggled on a 1D pad.
pad.logz.toggle	Log Z display was toggled on a 2D pad.

Inspecting History

From the groot prompt:

gui_history()
gui_history(40)
gui_history("fit")
GGuiHistory::Print(20, "projection")

The inspector prints compact summaries of the most recent matching records. For raw JSONL lines, use:

auto lines = GGuiHistory::Recent(20);
auto fit_lines = GGuiHistory::Recent(20, "fit");

For summary strings without printing:

auto summary = GGuiHistory::Summary(20);

Controls

Useful prompt controls:

GGuiHistory::SetEnabled(false);
GGuiHistory::SetEnabled(true);
GGuiHistory::SetPath("my.gui_history");
GGuiHistory::Clear();

Configuration keys can be set in .gintrc:

Gui.HistSize: 10000
GGuiHistory.File: .gui_history
GGuiHistory.Enabled: 1

Gui.HistSize limits .gui_history to the most recent N semantic action records. Set it to 0 or a negative value to disable trimming.