Overview of Client Tools
Kenneth Evans, Jr.
August 23, 2004
Part of the EPICS “Getting Started” Lecture Series
Argonne National Laboratory
A U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science Laboratory
Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy Operated by The University of Chicago
EPICS Software
• For software development EPICS is divided into several parts
• Base
- Build system and build tools
- Common and OS-interface libraries
- Channel Access client and server libraries
- Static and run-time database access routines
- Database processing code
- Standard record, device and driver support
• Extensions
- Channel Access clients
- Other tools that typically run on workstations
• Support Modules
- Record, device, and driver support
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EPICS Overview
Tools
MEDM MEDM Client Client Client MEDM
Channel Access
Server IOC IOC IOC
Meter Power Supply Camera
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Tools Covered in This Presentation
• Command-Line Tools
- caget, caput, camonitor, cainfo
• MEDM
• ALH
• Probe
• StripTool
• HistTool
• SGA
• ADT
• EPICS WIN32 Extensions
• Pocket PC Applications
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More Information
• There is a wealth of information in the EPICS web pages
- [Link]
• Each of the Extensions covered here has its own page with
much additional information
- Including tar files of the latest releases
• The are many other tools described there as well
• The Extensions executables are typically located at
- …epics/extensions/bin/<platform>/<executable
- e.g. /usr/local/epics/bin/solaris-sparc/medm
- Platforms are solaris-sparc, linux-x86, win32-x86, etc.
• The Base command line tools are typically at
- …epics/base/bin/<platform>/<executable>
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EPICS Extensions Web Page
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Command-Line Tools
• There are several versions of these tools
• We will discuss the ones that comes with EPICS Base
- Starting with Base 3.14.6
- These should become the standard ones
• The tools we will cover are:
- Caget
- Gets the value of one or more process variables
- Caput
- Sets the value of one process variable
- Camonitor
- Monitors the value changes of one or more process variables
- Cainfo
- Gets information about one or more process variables
• All accept –h to display usage and options 7
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Caget Example
• Get the values of two process variables
caget S35DCCT:currentCC S:SRlifeTimeHrsCC
• Returns
S35DCCT:currentCC 102.037
S:SRlifeTimeHrsCC 7.46514
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Caput Example
• Set the value of a process variable
caput Xorbit:S1A:H1:CurrentAO 1.2
• Returns
Old : Xorbit:S1A:H1:CurrentAO 0
New : Xorbit:S1A:H1:CurrentAO 1.2
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Camonitor Example
• Monitor two process variables
camonitor evans:calc evans:bo01
• Returns
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:04.623245 1
evans:bo01 2004-08-05 17:23:04.623245 On
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:05.123245 2
evans:bo01 2004-08-05 17:23:05.123245 Off
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:05.623245 3
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:06.123245 4
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:06.623233 5
evans:calc 2004-08-05 17:23:07.123183 6
• Use Ctrl-C to stop monitoring
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Cainfo Example
• Get information about a process variable
cainfo S35DCCT:currentCC
• Returns
State: connected
Host: ctlapps4l188:5064
Access: read, no write
Data type: DBR_DOUBLE (native: DBF_DOUBLE)
Element count: 1
• Currently there is not as much information as with Probe or
PvInfo in MEDM
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MEDM
• Stands for Motif Editor and Display Manager
• The principal human interface to the control system
• What you see on the television monitors around the site
• Used by most of the technical staff
• Used worldwide at many facilities
• Both runs and creates control screens
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MEDM Screens
• And thousands of others
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MEDM
• MEDM will be covered more fully in another session
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ALH
• Stands for Alarm Handler
• Important GUI application in the Control Room
• Brings alarms to the operators’ attention
- It dings and flashes
• Allows the operator to globally acknowledge alarms
• Provides a hierarchical display
- Allows managing alarms in overview or in detail
• Provides guidance for handling specific alarms
• Logs alarms and displays alarm history
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Flash Demos
• The demos in this presentation use Flash
• The Flash Player is installed on most computers
• If you do not see the demos, try right clicking where they
should be and check if Play is selected
• If there is no right-click menu, you do not have the Flash Player
• If the version on the right-click menu is not 7 or above, you
may have trouble with the slides, particularly advancing them
- The advance arrow at the bottom left of the slide may work
• You can get or update the Flash Player via the link at:
- [Link]
- It is a Plug-in for Netscape/Mozilla and an ActiveX Control for IE
- You need the IE version for PowerPoint
- (Use IE to visit the link)
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ALH Demo
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ALH
• ALH will be covered more fully in another session
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Probe
• Simple way to get information about a single process variable
• Combines the features of caget, caput, camonitor, and cainfo in
a graphical interface
• Very useful in diagnosing problems
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Probe Demo
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StripTool
• Plots process variables in real time on a strip chart
• Widely used
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StripTool Demo
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HistTool
• An easy way to get a histogram of a process variable
• Drag and drop a process variable name from MEDM
• As many times as you want
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HistTool Demo
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SGA
• Stands for Simple GIF Animator
• Use it to make animated GIFs for MEDM
• You need to already have
the images
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SGA Demo
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ADT
• Stands for Array Display Tool
• A way to display arrays of single process variables
- Such as BPM or vacuum readings around the ring
- Not waveforms
• Configurable menus
and displays
• Uses SDDS
extensively
• Many features
• Primarily used by
Physicists
• Will not be covered
further in this
presentation
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EPICS WIN32 Extensions
• Package of the important EPICS applications
- Built to run on Windows
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EPICS WIN32 Extensions
• Require Hummingbird Exceed
- Arguably the best Windows X Server
- The only viable source of Motif libraries for Windows
- Possible to use other Windows X Servers but it is not supported
• There is an InstallShield installer located at
- [Link]
- You usually want the latest version there
• The installation is easy and should not mess up your computer
• Uninstalling them is also easy
- If you be sure to stop all running programs first
- Closing Exceed stops all except CaRepeater
• Read the README before starting!
• Historical Note: The EPICS Logo was designed for and first
used with the installer for the EPICS WIN32 Extensions
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Pocket PC Applications
• EPICS has been ported to the Pocket PC
• Two EPICS applications are available
- ProbeCE
- BeamDisplay
• There are better ways to access
EPICS with a Pocket PC
- E.g. Citrix Metaframe
- Can give access to all the
EPICS WIN32 Extensions
- Covered in the presentation
on Remote Access
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Virtual Linac
• The Virtual Linac includes examples and startup scripts for
- MEDM
- StripTool
- Probe
- ALH
• You can use the other tools with it as well
• You are encouraged to go out and play with it
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Thank You
This has been an
APS Controls Presentation
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Thank You
This has been an
APS Controls Presentation
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