Update readme file

README.md

@@ -2,3 +2,105 @@ python-handel
 =============
 
 A python binding for the [handel](http://support.xia.com/default.asp?W381) library.
+
+
+System requirements
+-------------------
+
+The handel DLL files need to be available in `PATH` (`/usr/local/bin` in Cygwin for instance).
+
+Python compatibility:
+
+- python 2.7
+- python 3.6
+
+
+Python requirements
+-------------------
+
+Run requirements:
+
+- cffi
+- numpy
+- configparser
+
+Test requirements:
+
+- mock
+- pytest
+- pytest-cov
+
+Those requirements are automatically handled by `setuptools`.
+
+
+Installation
+------------
+
+Run:
+
+``` console
+$ python setup.py install
+```
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+Example usage:
+
+``` python
+>>> from handel.interface import *
+>>> init('xmap.ini')
+>>> start_system()
+>>> get_detectors()
+['detector1']
+>>> get_modules()
+['module1']
+>>> get_module_type('module1')
+'mercury'
+>>> get_channels()
+(0,)
+>>> start_run(0)
+>>> stop_run(0)
+>>> get_run_data(0)
+array([13260, 52275,   256, ...,     0,     0,     0], dtype=uint32)
+```
+
+
+Tests
+-----
+
+Run:
+
+``` console
+$ python setup.py test
+```
+
+This also publishes an HTML coverage report in the `htmlcov` directory.
+
+
+Continuous intergration
+-----------------------
+
+This project is automatically tested using Gitlab CI.
+
+The tests are run for python 2.7 and 3.6
+
+The coverage report are published [here](http://bliss.gitlab-pages.esrf.fr/python-handel/).
+
+
+TODO
+----
+
+- Parsing of the weird XIA INI file format.
+
+- Missing tests:
+  * get_module_number_of_channels(alias)
+  * get_module_channel_at(alias, index)
+  * get_module_channels(alias)
+  * get_channels()
+
+
+Contact
+-------
+
+Vincent Michel - vincent.michel@esrf.fr