Instructions for building and using synApps_R4.6 synApps is a collection of custom EPICS software (source code, EPICS databases, client scripts, executables, etc.) intended to support most of the requirements of an x-ray laboratory or synchrotron-radiation (SR) experiment station. Several instances of this application can work together to support an entire SR beamline. synApps is also intended to underly additional software that may be station or beamline specific. This release of synApps is compatible with EPICS release 3.13.7 and later. The distribution is setup to build under EPICS R3.13.9 using Tornado 2.02. synApps includes software developed by the Beamline Controls & Data Acquisition and Accelerator Controls groups of the Advanced Photon Source (APS); by developers in APS Collaborative Access Teams -- notably, Mark Rivers (CARS-CAT); and by developers in the EPICS collaboration outside of the APS. Aside from databases, SNL programs, and the like, synApps contains the following code: record support motor stepper and servo motors, "soft" motor scaler scaler bank scanparm scan parameters for use with the sscan record table 6-degree-of-freedom optical table transform like an array of calc records, with output links scalcout variant of calcout record extended to handle string expressions, links, and values. busy utility record: calls recGblFwdLink only when its VAL field makes a transition to zero. swait replaces the wait record in base. This version uses a modified version of recDynLlib that supports dbNotify command completion. It uses ca_put_callback to do puts, instead of ca_put. sscan Replaces the scan record in base. This version uses EPICS' execution-tracing (i.e., ca_put_callback()) to determine when positioners and detectors are finished. sseq string-sequence record. This is a modified version of the seq record in base. This version can link to/from either string or numeric PVs. serial generic serial record vme generic vme record gpib generic GPIB record mca support for the Canberra AIM multichannel analyzer and the Struck SIS380x multichannel scaler. ddfanout Like the dfanout record. Modified to use double, rather than long. camac Generic camac record dxp Support for dsp-based ADC for multichannel analyzer epid extended PID record for fast feedback genSub generalized subroutine record device support device(ai,GPIB_IO,devAiGP307Gpib,"Vg307 GPIB Instrument") device(ai,GPIB_IO,devAiHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(ai,GPIB_IO,devAiKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(ai,INST_IO,devAiVXStats,"VX stats") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiBunchClkGen,"APS Bunch Clock") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiHeidND261,"Hideos ai HeidND261") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiIcbMpf,"MPF ICB") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiIp330Scan,"ip330Scan") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiLove,"Love Controller via MPF") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiMKS,"HPS SensaVac 937") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiQuadEM,"quadEM" device(ai,VME_IO,devAiStrParm,"Hideos ai stringParm") device(ai,VME_IO,devAiVaroc,"ESRF Varoc SSI Encoder Iface") device(ai,VME_IO,devIK320Ai,"Heidenhain IK320") device(ai,VME_IO,devIK320GroupAi,"Heidenhain IK320 Group") device(ao,GPIB_IO,devAoHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(ao,GPIB_IO,devAoKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(ao,INST_IO,devAoVXStats,"VX stats") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoBunchClkGen,"APS Bunch Clock") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoDAC128V,"dac128V") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoEurotherm,"Hideos ao Eurotherm") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoIcbMpf,"MPF ICB") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoLove,"Love Controller via MPF") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoQuadEM,"quadEM") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoStrParm,"Hideos ao stringParm") device(ao,VME_IO,devAoVMI4116,"VMIVME-4116") device(bi,GPIB_IO,devBiGP307Gpib,"Vg307 GPIB Instrument") device(bi,GPIB_IO,devBiHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(bi,GPIB_IO,devBiKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiAvme9440,"AVME9440 I") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiBunchClkGen,"APS Bunch Clock") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiIpUnidig,"Greenspring IP-Unidig") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiLove,"Love Controller via MPF") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiStrParm,"Hideos bi stringParm") device(bi,VME_IO,devBiXy240,"XYCOM-240") device(bo,GPIB_IO,devBoGP307Gpib,"Vg307 GPIB Instrument") device(bo,GPIB_IO,devBoHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(bo,GPIB_IO,devBoKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(bo,VME_IO, devBoIpUnidig,"Greenspring IP-Unidig") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoAvme9440,"AVME9440 O") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoBunchClkGen,"APS Bunch Clock") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoLove,"Love Controller via MPF") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(bo,VME_IO,devBoXy240,"XYCOM-240") device(dxp,VME_IO,devDxpMpf,"MPF DXP") device(epid,CONSTANT,devEpidSoft,"Soft Channel") device(epid,VME_IO,devEpidMpf,"MPF EPID") device(gpib,GPIB_IO,devGPIB,"GPIB (NI or HIDEOS)") device(longin,GPIB_IO,devLiHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(longin,GPIB_IO,devLiKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(longin,VME_IO, devLiIpUnidig,"Greenspring IP-Unidig") device(longin,VME_IO,devLiA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(longin,VME_IO,devLiHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(longin,VME_IO,devLiStrParm,"Hideos li stringParm") device(longout,GPIB_IO,devLoHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(longout,GPIB_IO,devLoKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(longout,VME_IO,devLoA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(longout,VME_IO,devLoHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(longout,VME_IO,devLoIp330Config,"ip330Config") device(longout,VME_IO,devLoStrParm,"Hideos lo stringParm") device(mbbi,GPIB_IO,devMbbiHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(mbbi,GPIB_IO,devMbbiKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiAvme9440,"AVME9440 I") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiIcbMpf,"MPF ICB") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiLove,"Love Controller via MPF") device(mbbi,VME_IO,devMbbiXy240,"XYCOM-240") device(mbbo,GPIB_IO,devMbboHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(mbbo,GPIB_IO,devMbboKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devIK320Dir,"Heidenhain IK320 Sign") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devIK320Funct,"Heidenhain IK320 Command") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devIK320ModeX3,"Heidenhain IK320 X3 Mode") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboA32Vme,"Generic A32 VME") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboAvme9440,"AVME9440 O") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboHP10895LaserAxis,"HP interferometer") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboIcbMpf,"MPF ICB") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboQuadEM,"quadEM") device(mbbo,VME_IO,devMbboXy240,"XYCOM-240") device(mca,CONSTANT,devMCA_soft,"Soft Channel") device(mca,VME_IO,devMcaMpf,"MPF MCA") device(mca,VME_IO,devSTR7201,"Struck STR7201 MCS") device(motor,CONSTANT,devMotorSoft,"Soft Channel") device(motor,VME_IO,devE500,"E500") device(motor,VME_IO,devESP300,"ESP300") device(motor,VME_IO,devIM483PL,"IM483PL") device(motor,VME_IO,devIM483SM,"IM483SM") device(motor,VME_IO,devMCB4B,"ACS MCB-4B") device(motor,VME_IO,devMDrive, "MDrive") device(motor,VME_IO,devMM3000,"MM3000") device(motor,VME_IO,devMM4000,"MM4000") device(motor,VME_IO,devOMS,"OMS VME8/44") device(motor,VME_IO,devOms58,"OMS VME58") device(motor,VME_IO,devPM304,"Mclennan PM304") device(motor,VME_IO,devPM500, "PM500") device(motor,VME_IO,devV544,"Highland V544") device(scaler,VME_IO,devScaler,"Joerger VSC8/16") device(scaler,VME_IO,devScalerCamac,"CAMAC scaler") device(scaler,VME_IO,devScalerSTR7201,"Struck STR7201 Scaler") device(serial,VME_IO,devSerial,"Hideos/MPF Serial") device(stringin,GPIB_IO,devSiGP307Gpib,"Vg307 GPIB Instrument") device(stringin,GPIB_IO,devSiHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(stringin,GPIB_IO,devSiKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(stringin,VME_IO,devSiMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(stringin,VME_IO,devSiMpfRead,"MPFread") device(stringin,VME_IO,devSiMpfWriteRead,"MPFwriteRead") device(stringin,VME_IO,devSiStrParm,"Hideos si stringParm") device(stringout,GPIB_IO,devSoHeidAWE1024,"Heidenhein Encoder") device(stringout,GPIB_IO,devSoKeithleyDMM199,"KeithleyDMM199") device(stringout,VME_IO,devIK320Parm,"Heidenhain IK320 Parameter") device(stringout,VME_IO,devSoEurotherm,"Hideos so Eurotherm") device(stringout,VME_IO,devSoMPC,"MPC via MPF") device(stringout,VME_IO,devSoMpfWrite,"MPFwrite") device(stringout,VME_IO,devSoStrParm,"Hideos so stringParm") device(swait,CONSTANT,devSWaitIoEvent,"Soft Channel") driver support driver(drvBunchClkGen) driver(drvE500) driver(drvESP300) driver(drvGpib) driver(drvIK320) driver(drvIM483PL) driver(drvIM483SM) driver(drvMCB4B) driver(drvMDrive) driver(drvMM3000) driver(drvMM4000) driver(drvMz8310) driver(drvOms) driver(drvOms58) driver(drvPM304) driver(drvPM500) driver(drvV544) driver(drvXy240) driver(drvXy566) miscellaneous C code dbLoadRecords Adds an optional trailing argument to dbLoadRecords(), so that you can prepend a path to the database file using a variable defined in iocxxx/cdCommands. For example: dbLoadRecords("stdApp/Db/yySseq.db","P=xxx:,S=Sseq2", std) dbLoadTemplate Allows you to use dbLoadTemplate() to load a .substitutions file that uses templates located in other directories. You can do this in the .substitutions file as follows: dbLoadTemplate("motor.substitutions") where motors.substitutions contains the line: file motorApp/Db/motor.db, motor and 'motor' is defined in cdCommands. sCalcPerform, sCalcPostfix String-expression evaluation support, similar to, and mostly backward compatible with support in base for numeric expressions. recDynLink Backward compatible extension of the dynamic-link software in base. Extension supports ca_put_callback(). autosave Automatic parameter save and boot-time restore. saveData Saves scan data to files on an NFS-mounted disk. How to use synApps ------------------ synApps is not a complete software installation in itself. To use synApps, you must acquire and build EPICS base and other modules on which synApps depends. Here's a list of the modules and the version with which synApps is known to work. EPICS baseR3.13.7 or later 3.13 release bitBus1-4 Needed by mpfGpib allenBradley1-7 if you intend to connect with Allen Bradley PLC's ipac2-4 required by mpf mpf1-10 required by mca, dac128V, ip, ip330, love, motor, quadEM, mpfGpib, mpfSerial mpfGpib1-4 required for GPIB support mpfSerial1-4 required for serial support Here's a list of the modules included in synApps: camac1-3 CAMAC support dac128V1-4 IndustryPack DAC ip1-4 various serial devices ip3301-7 IndustryPack ADC ipUnidig1-3 IndustryPack digital I/O love1-3 Love controllers mca5-5 multichannel analyzers motor4-8 motors quadEM1-1 4-channel electrometer std1-4 optics, scans, scalers, calculations, autosave, etc. utils miscellaneous tools xxx4-5 sample user-application directory Although synApps is distributed as a single 'support' directory, it's normally used as a two-part system: the 'support' tree, and a 'user' tree. The support tree can be installed on a read-only file system, along with EPICS base and other modules, and used from there by the user tree, which begins as a copy of the module 'support/xxx', and is customized/extended by the end user to particular applications and sets of hardware. To support many VME-based systems, you might create several user trees, each supporting several crates, and link all of those trees to the support tree. Here's what a complete installation might look like (much detail omitted) with all the files you will have to edit before you can build or boot a crate: support/ allenBradley1-7/ camac1-3/ config/ CONFIG MASTER_RELEASE <-- EDIT to build Makefile <-- EDIT to build ... dac128V1-4/ documentation/ utils/ ip1-4/ ip3301-7/ ipUnidig1-3/ ipac2-4/ love1-3/ mca5-5/ motor4-8/ motor4-8/ mpf1-10/ mpfGpib1-4/ mpfSerial1-4/ quadEM1-1/ std1-4/ xxx4-5/ ioc/ 1bm/ Makefile bin/ config/ dbd/ iocBoot/ Makefile nfsCommands <-- EDIT to boot ioc1bma/ 13element.cmd <-- EDIT to boot 13element.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot 3element.cmd <-- EDIT to boot 3element.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot MPFconfig.cmd <-- EDIT to boot Makefile <-- EDIT to boot auto_positions.req <-- EDIT to boot auto_settings.req <-- EDIT to boot autosave/ < chmod a+w,g+s> basic_motor.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot cdCommands ip330Scan.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot motor.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot picMot.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot saveData.req <-- EDIT to boot scanParms.substitutions <-- EDIT to boot st.cmd <-- EDIT to boot st1.cmd <-- EDIT to boot st1_mpfserver.cmd <-- EDIT to boot st_mpfserver.cmd <-- EDIT to boot ioc1bmb/ release.pl start_epics_1bma <-- EDIT to run MEDM start_epics_1bmb <-- EDIT to run MEDM 1bmaApp/ 1bmbApp/ 1id/ . . . 1) Building and configuring a user tree ======================================= If you have a built copy of EPICS base 3.13.7 or later, then building synApps should be very simple: 1) Either get all the external modules on which synApps depends from their web sources (see support/config/README) and modify them according to the procedures in support/config/README, or just untar the already-modified copies of those distributions from the support/MOD_TAR directory. The modules are expected to be in the support directory, along with the synApps modules. 2) Edit support/config/Makefile to set the variable SUPPORT. SUPPORT should be the full path to the synApps support directory. 3) Edit support/config/MASTER_RELEASE to set the variable EPICS_BASE. 4) Edit motor4-8/motorApp/Makefile to select the motor support you want to build. 5) in support/config, run the same GNU Make executable used to build EPICS base. You may need $(EPICS_BASE)/bin/ in your path. When executed in the support/config directory, make will go to all of the modules support/config/Makefile knows about and edit the config/RELEASE files in those modules so that they all build from the same versions of EPICS base and other known modules. Once synApps' support directory has built without errors, the xxx module will have been configured so that you can use it to build a user tree to support your crates. Make a copy of the support/xxx directory, cd to the top-level directory and run changePrefix to change the PV-name prefix from xxx to whatever you want. (Note you must have support/utils in your path.) Here's what I do: cd $(SYNAPPS)/support/xxx gnumake clean uninstall tar cvf ../xxx.tar * cd $(SYNAPPS)/ioc mkdir 1bm cd 1bm tar xf $(SYNAPPS)/support/xxx.tar changePrefix xxx 1bma gnumake To put a second application, 1bmb, into 1bm, I run the following commands: cd $(SYNAPPS)/ioc mkdir temp cd temp tar xf $(SYNAPPS)/support/xxx.tar changePrefix xxx 1bmb cd $(SYNAPPS)/ioc mv temp/1bmbApp/start_epics_1bmb 1bm mv temp/1bmbApp 1bm mv temp/iocBoot/ioc1bmb 1bm/iocBoot rm -rf temp cd 1bm gnumake Edit the files marked "EDIT to boot" above to agree with your hardware, to load the databases you want, etc., set up the VME processor's parameters to load from the software just configured, and boot the crate. If you don't know how to do this, read on. 2) Setting up the crate ====================================================================== Ensure that $(EPICS_BASE)/bin//startCArepeater gets run when your workstation boots. If you have no way of doing this, you can run it manually or put the command in your .login file. Setup your host system to work with the EPICS processor. See the "VxWorks Programmer's Guide" if you have a copy. Here's what we do: Add a user named with the password . The user has nothing in its home directory, and very few priviledges. Connect an ethernet cable to the processor. Setup the workstation to use a serial port at 9600 baud. Connect a serial cable from the workstation to the VME processor's "Console" port. Start up an "xterm" on the workstation and type cu -lttya (On some workstations we must type "cu -lcua/a".) This gets the xterm communicating with the crate processor. Turn the crate on. The crate processor says "Press any key to stop auto-boot..." and a number counting down from 7. Pressing a key gets the prompt "[VxWorks Boot]:" Type "p" to see the current boot parameters, type "c" to change them. Here are sample boot parameters boot device : ei processor number : 0 host name : server file name : /usr/local/vxWorks/T202/mv2700 inet on ethernet (e) : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:fffffe00 inet on backplane (b): host inet (h) : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx gateway inet (g) : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx user (u) : ftp password (pw) (blank = use rsh): flags (f) : 0x0 target name (tn) : iocxxx startup script (s) : /home/server/USER/epics/xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd other (o) : 3) Fitting synApps to a particular set of VME hardware ====================================================== This happens in the user tree. Generally, you must tell "EPICS" what hardware is in your crate, and what addresses, interrupt vectors, etc. you have DIP-jumpered your hardware to use. You also must specify which motors any slit, table, monochromator, etc. control software is to use. If you use serial or GPIB, you must match port names to hardware devices, set serial-port parameters, and specify GPIB addresses. For any IndustryPack modules, you must specify the IP carrier and slot into which you've loaded those modules. In a complete job of fitting synApps to a VME crate's hardware, all of the following files will be touched: xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd specifies installed hardware, loads desired software xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/motor.substitutions specifies motors xxxApp/iocBoot/iocxxx/scanParms.substitutions attaches scan parameters to selected PV's xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_positions.req xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_settings.req specifies PV's to be saved/restored automatically xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/saveData.req identifies PV's used by the saveData software, and identifies sscan records to be monitored for data xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/bootParms a copy of the boot parameters (in case the VME processor crashes in a way that erases nonvolatile memory) If you have the appropriate hardware, you may also want to customize the following files: xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/13element.substitutions 13-element MCA xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/3element.substitutions 3-element MCA xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/picMot.substitutions picomotors xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/ip330Scan.substitutions IndustryPack ADC module 3.1) xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd ------------------------------ The distribution copy of this file contains commands to load nearly all of the compiled software in synApps. But it loads only those databases consistent with a very minimal set of VME hardware. This file is probably worth studying. It is reasonably well commented, and it contains dbLoadRecords() commands for most of the EPICS databases in synApps. 3.2) Motors ----------- To load more motors, add lines to the file xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/motor.substitutions. If you want the new motors to work with the AllStop button ("xxx:allstop.VAL"--see the top-level medm display xxx.adl), select the appropriate version of all_com_?.db, or edit and load a customized version of the database. (As delivered, xxxApp loads the database all_com_16.db, which supports 16 motors. support/std/stdApp/Db contains versions for various numbers of motors.) If you want to manage positions and settings of the new motors using the "Save", Restore", and "Compare" buttons on the supplied top-level medm display, edit the files xxx/xxxApp/op/burt/settings.req and xxx/xxxApp/op/burt/positions.req. If you want the VME crate automatically to save positions and settings of the new motors, and restore them when the crate reboots, add lines to the files xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_settings.req and xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_positions.req. 3.3) Slits ---------- To use a pair of motors to control a slit, search for "2slit.db" in xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd, and edit the dbLoadRecords() command you'll find there. The example in st.cmd loads two copies of 2slit.db intended for use as the horizontal and vertical members of a four-jaw slit. The medm displays 2slit*.adl and 4slit*.adl are involved in these applications. The slit database makes the following assumptions about the two motors attached to the individual slit leaves: 1) Both of them have the same engineering units. 2) Their .VAL fields are in the same coordinate system. I.e., if the slit is closed, both motors have the same value. 3) The APS standard beamline coordinate system is used. Positive Z is the beam direction; positive Y is upward; positive X is outward from the storage ring. So then, if I open a slit, one motor's .VAL field increases and the other's decreases. The 2slit.db database allows users to move either the slit virtual motors or the actual motors, and it keeps all the readback values current regardless of how the actual motors got moved or recalibrated. But it does not automatically reset the slit *drive* values when the actual motors are used. This must be dome manually, using the "SYNC" button on the 2slit.adl display. Pressing this button causes the database to read the actual motor drive values and set the slit drive values accordingly. To recalibrate slit positions, press the "Set" button. This automatically presses the "Set" button of both motors the slit software talks to, and the user/dial offsets of those motors actually implement the recalibration. There is a new, experimental slit database in synApps which uses soft motor records as the user/client interface. This allows clients that know how to control a motor also to control a slit, with some limitations. We hope to use soft motor records in front of other positioners (e.g. monochromators, optical tables, insertion devices, and DAC channels) in the future. 3.4) Optical tables ------------------- Optical tables are controlled by a custom EPICS record (the "table" record), used in the database table.db and controlled via medm displays table*.adl. Table virtual motors behave in much the same way as do slit virtual motors. However, the table software does not use user/dial offsets in the underlying motor to implement recalibration (it can't, since it works through a nonlinear transform). Instead, the table maintains its own offsets for all of the six coordinated motions it implements. Pressing the "Set" button causes new table positions to modify the offsets instead of moving the table (which is exactly the way motor and slit calibration works). In addition to a "Sync" button, which reads motor positions and calculates the table positions from them, the table display has an "Init" button, which zeros all offsets before doing a "sync" operation. It also has a "Zero" button, which manipulates all the table offsets to make the current table positions zero without moving or recalibrating any motors. 3.5) Monochromators ------------------- Several varieties of crystal monochromators are supported in synApps: two constant-offset "channel-cut" monochromators, a high-resolution double-crystal monochromator, and a spherical-grating monochromator. Most are supported by databases paired with State Notation Language (SNL) programs, and several medm displays. The EPICS databases kohzuSeq.db, SNL program kohzuCtl.st, and medm displays kohzu*.adl (also kohzu*.gif) are involved in control of two varieties of high-heat-load monochromators. The EPICS database hrSeq.db, SNL program hrCtl.st, and medm displays hSeq*.adl are involbed in control of the high-resolution double-crystal monochromator. The spherical grating monochromator is supported by the database SGM.db and the displays SGM*.adl. 3.6) Filters ------------ The APS standard user filters combine several motors and solenoids to control the placement of filter material in the beam path. The databases filterMotor.db and filterLock.db, and the medm displays *filter*.adl are involved in this application. 3.7) Basic run-time programming ------------------------------- Impromptu coordinated motions and other bits of run-time programming are handled by what we call a "userCalc" (actually just a swait record with a nice Medm interface) or a "userTransform" (actually just a transform record with a nice medm interface). We normally load ten of these into each EPICS processor, and the users type in expressions to be evaluated, and link inputs and outputs, as needed to glue existing objects together to do what they want done at the moment. Here are some examples of the tasks that have been accomplished with userCalcs and userTransforms: - turn off hardware feedback control of a monochromator crystal when beam drops below a user-specified level. The userCalc monitored the EPICS PV that contains the value of the positron beam-current, and drove a DAC channel (used as a digital i/o bit) that enabled hardware feedback. - support the ubiquitous theta/two-theta coordination by slaving the two-theta motor's .VAL field to the theta motor's .VAL field. - talk to a motor through a nonlinear transformation, e.g., energy-to- Bragg-angle. - close slow feedback loops--e.g., to adjust a monochromator crystal to suppress third-order diffraction through the high-heat-load monochromator. - move multichannel-analyzer regions of interest automatically as the incident beam energy changes. - save and automatically subtract shutter-closed offsets from scaler data. 3.8) string-expression support ------------------------------ Run-time programming involving strings and/or numbers can be done with userStringCalcs, which resemble userCalcs closely, but differ in significant details. A package containing two stringCalcs and a generic serial record (called a "serial O/I block") is also available for run-time programming of simple serial-device support. There is also a GPIB O/I block. 3.9) sequence support --------------------- Run-time programming of sequences is possible using the new sseq record and related medm displays yySseq.adl 3.10) multiple-step measurement ------------------------------- Up to four measurement steps involving positioners, detectors, and end calculations (e.g., to support dichroism experiments) can be done with the 4step.db database and the related medm display, 4step.adl. The entire measurement sequence can be involved in a scan by treating the 4step database as you would treat the scaler or mca software. 4) Using synApps ================ 4.1) Boot parameters -------------------- See xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/bootParms for sample boot parameters. 4.2) MEDM --------- See the MEDM Operator's Manual for detailed information on the special needs of this Motif program. I'll assume those needs have been met. Edit the file xxx/start_epics_xxx to so it sets the environment variable EPICS_APP to the directory that contains xxxApp. If you plan to run MEDM on a workstation that isn't on the same subnet as the ioc's, you'll need to uncomment and edit the definition of the environment variable EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST. In principle, you should be able to name only the broadcast address for the subnet that contains the ioc's, but if this doesn't work, you can put in the IP addresses of all the ioc's you want to connect with, separated by spaces, as follows: setenv EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST "164.54.53.126 164.54.53.127" To bring up the top-level medm display for synApps software, cd to xxx and type "start_epics_xxx" (e.g., start_epics_1bma). This script locates the directories that might have medm-display files and includes them in the environment variable EPICS_DISPLAY_PATH, cd's to xxxApp/op/adl, and runs MEDM with the default top-level display file. 4.3) autosave/restore --------------------- You must give the crate write permission to xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/autosave so it can write the files auto_positions.sav and auto_settings.sav there. It's also helpful to set the autosave directory's 'group' bit so that files the crate writes will be owned by the owner of the directory instead of by . Normally, I do this: chmod a+w,g+s autosave To modify the list of PV's that are saved and restored, edit the files xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_settings.req and xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/auto_positions.req The autosave software is started by the lines "create_monitor_set(..." in xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd. The restore happens during iocInit as a result of function calls inserted into initHooks.o, which is loaded by xxx/iocBoot/iocxxx/st.cmd. 4.4) saveData ------------- saveData is a CA client that monitors sscan records and saves scan data to files on as NFS-mounted disk. The software is configured with the file iocBoot/iocccc/saveData.req, which needs no special attention unless you want to specify modify the list of EPICS PV's whose values are to be saved with every data file. To do this, look for the string "[extraPV]" in the file, and edit the list of PV's immediately following that string. If an entry in this list contains only the PV name, saveData will describe the PV, in the data file, using the .DESC field of the record that contains that PV. If a string follows the PV name, saveData will use the string instead. Miscellaneous executables, loose ends ===================================== doSed changePrefix ------------ These are for the application developer's convenience in changing EPICS prefixes in a user tree. You must be in the top level of the user tree to run changePrefix. Example of use: cd $(SYNAPPS)/ioc/1bm changePrefix xxx 1bma copyAdl ------- Look for .adl files and copy them to a directory Example of use: copyAdl $SYNAPPS/support adl_files ============================================== synApps is available in prebuilt form, on request. The prebuilt version does not have to be built again unless you want to add or modify C code or database definition (.dbd) code, or to run it on hardware other than that for which it was built. If you need merely to modify startup files, databases, medm displays, autosave files, and the like, then you don't need to build synApps, nor do you need to have built EPICS base to use prebuilt synApps. Further, if you don't have to build synApps, and you don't have other reasons for wanting to build base or extensions, then you don't need a VxWorks developer's license to use the prebuilt distribution. You still need a VxWorks target license for each VME processor, of course. =============================================================================== Tim Mooney (mooney@aps.anl.gov) Beamline Controls & Data Acquisition Group Advanced Photon Source 01/29/04