CSS Synoptic Display Comments Kay Kasemir, July 2009

2Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Synoptic Display Studio (SDS) Generic display manager for CSS – Compare EPICS edd/dm, medm, dm2k, edm, … Great Ideas – Generic Data Access Layer (DAL) for EPICS, Tine, Doocs, Tango, Simulated PVs, … – Every property of every widget can be ‘dynamic’ “Label” with static “Text” “Label” where “Text” updates with received PV data

3Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Use SDS as OPI for new projects?

4Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Basics EDM vs. SDS C++, Linux, X11 – Motif PV Layer – Channel Access Started 1999 Operational at SNS since ~2000, stable Java, SWT − Windows, Linux GTK, Mac OS X DAL − Channel Access Proposed 2004 Ongoing development/bug fixes

5Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Basic Editing: EDM vs. SDS Move, copy, resize, group, align, snap-to-grid Efficient yet less intuitive When editing multiple items, setting common properties is limited and awkward … plus rulers Familiar drawing program GUI (toolbar, …) When selecting multiple items, all common properties are easily configured Layer support

6Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Usability for Control System Sisplays EDM: Add Text Update – Select area, pick Text Update, enter PV Name, OK All EDM widgets with PV connectivity will by default – Show PV name on middle-button click – Show PV severity via e.g. border color – Use PV’s display limits as default range for “meter” widget etc. – Indicate ‘disconnected’ state via e.g. white-out appearance In SDS, this is accomplished via dynamic properties – ‘Text’: Link to PV’s value – Border color: Link to PV’s severity and connection state – Tool Tip: Show PV’s name – Very involved when done manually “Initializers” are meant to automate this – So far no agreement on handling of severity, ‘disconnected’ state

7Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Summary EDM – Used at SNS and other sites operationally for years – It is getting old? Should a new project still consider it? SDS – used at DESY – SNS so far considers it under development, not ready – Do you want to collaborate? Or are there fundamental problems?