vice.mdf
========

Obtain a ``fromfile`` object from a VICE output containing the metallicity
distribution function of stars.

**Signature**: vice.mdf(name)

Parameters
----------
name : ``str``
	The full or relative path to the output directory. The '.vice'
	extension is not required.

Returns
-------
mdf : ``fromfile`` [VICE ``dataframe`` derived class]
	A subclass of the VICE dataframe designed to handle simulation output.

Raises
------
* IOError [Only occurs if the output has been altered]
	- The output file is not found.
	- The output file is not formatted correctly.
	- Other VICE output files are missing from the output.

Notes
-----
VICE normalizes metallicity distribution functions to a probability
density, meaning that the area under the distribution is always equal to
one. The value of the distribution in some bin times that bin's width
denotes the fraction of stars with metallicities in that bin.

.. note:: For abundances [X/H] and abundance ratios [X/Y] that in the
	simulation never achieve a value in the user-specified binspace, the
	distribution will be ``NaN`` in all bins.

.. note:: For an output under a given name, the metallicity distribution
	function is stored in an ascii text file under name.vice/mdf.out. This
	allows users to open these files without VICE if necessary.

.. seealso:: vice.core.dataframe.fromfile

Example Code
------------
>>> import vice
>>> example = vice.mdf("example")
>>> example.keys()
	[“dn/d[sr/h],”,
	“dn/d[sr/fe],”
	“bin_edge_left,”
	“dn/d[o/h],”
	“dn/d[o/fe],”
	“dn/d[fe/h],”
	“bin_edge_right,”
	“dn/d[o/sr]”]
>>> example["bin_edge_left"][:10]
	[-3.0, -2.95, -2.9, -2.85, -2.8, -2.75, -2.7, -2.65, -2.6, -2.55]
>>> example[60]
	vice.dataframe{
		bin_edge_left --> 0.0
		bin_edge_right -> 0.05
		dn/d[fe/h] -----> 0.0
		dn/d[sr/h] -----> 0.0
		dn/d[o/h] ------> 0.0
		dn/d[sr/fe] ----> 0.06001488
		dn/d[o/fe] -----> 0.4337209
		dn/d[o/sr] -----> 0.0
	}