What is CIFTools.js

CIFTools.js is a library for handling CIF files as defined by the specification here. It provides tools for reading and writing CIF files. Additionally, it supports an efficient binary encoding of CIF, called BinaryCIF.

Getting Started

CIFTools.js can be used both in the browser and on server (with Node.js). It is recommended to use TypeScript for building apps based on CIFTools.js (or any other non-trivial JavaScript app for that matter), because you will get code completion and type checking.

Check the examples directory for several basic use cases. For a more complicated use case, please check the mmCIF reader in the LiteMol project.

Short example

In browser, include the library:

<script src="CIFTools.js" />

In Node.js:

var CIFTools = require('./lib/CIFTools.js/'); // or just 'CIFTools' if you place it in the /node_modules directory. 

To parse text CIF, use:

var parsed = CIFTools.Text.parse(inputString);

For BinaryCIF, use:

var parsed = CIFTools.Binary.parse(inputArrayBuffer);

To get data from the result:

if (parsed.isError) {
    // report error:
    console.log(parsed.toString());
    return;
}

var data = parsed.result.dataBlocks[0];
var _atom_site = data.getCategory('_atom_site');

var Cartn_x = _atom_site.getColumn('Cartn_x');

// gets a float value from the 1st row
var floatValue = Cartn_x.getFloat(0);

// the last residue sequence id
var intValue = _atom_site.getColumn('label_seq_id').getInteger(_atom_site.rowCount - 1);

var stringValue = data.getCategory('_entry').getColumn('id').getString(0);

Building

Install Node.js (tested on version 6.6.0).

npm install -g gulp
npm install
gulp

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.

Support

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email the author or use the GitHub forum.