1. Not Yet Another EPICS Display Manager!? Kay Kasemir, Xihui Chen kasemirk@ornl.govkasemirk@ornl.gov chenx1@ornl.govchenx1@ornl.gov Kobe EPICS Meeting October 2009

2. 2Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy EDM … serves us well at the SNS – Stable – Many deployed screens But: Somewhat dated, especially the ‘edit’ part: – Fixed-size configuration panels; pop up in unexpected places – Limited editing of shared properties for multiple widgets – Limited integration with other tools Keep maintaining it? – Coded in C++ for Unix, X11, Motif – Fedora dropped OpenMotif

3. 3Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Use CSS Synoptic Display (SDS)? Good Ideas – Java, SWT (Windows, Linux GTK, Mac OS X) – Eclipse Graphical Editor Framework (GEF) – Generic Data Access Layer (DAL) for EPICS, Tine, Simulated PVs, … Every widget property can be ‘dynamic’ “Label” with static “Text” Label with “Text” linked to PV

4. 4Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Are simple things simple? EDM: Add Text Update 1) Create Text Update 2) Enter PV Name 3) Save & Run EDM widgets with PV connectivity: Show the PV’s value (with units) Show PV name on middle-button click Reflect PV’s 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 SDS: Same 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 – Involved manual process – “Initializers” automate this, but we couldn’t reach EDM functionality

5. 5Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Re-think Dynamic Properties EDM describes meaning – “Text Update” for PV, “Alarm Sensitive” SDS’ dynamic properties implement representation – Text = value of PV – Border = red if value of PV’s severity is 2, yellow if …, white if severity is 3 or connection state is …

6. 6Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Concept for Best OPI, Yet (BOY) Prototype Best of SDS Java portability CSS integration Great GEF editing Best of EDM Simple things (Label, Text Update, …) are simple Configure the meaning, leave representation to tool Combined with Production-tested PV layer PV-triggered scripts can make everything dynamic

7. 7Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Basic “Editor” Perspective Navigator, Outline, Palette, Properties can be rearranged

8. 8Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Adding Widgets Select widget on Palette – Draw outline in display or drag/drop to display Configure Properties – Label ‘Text’ also editable via double-click – Can configure common properties of all selected widgets

9. 9Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Editor Features (GEF) Context menu, keyboard shortcuts: – Copy/cut/paste/delete – Change front/back order – Full undo/redo Snap to grid, geometry, align, distribute Duplicate widgets via Alt-Drag Select any types of widgets, edit common properties Zoom, Outline view Snap-to-Geometry

10. 10Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy PV Connectivity 1.Create “Text Update” 2.Enter “PV Name” EPICS CA, local, simulated, … 3.Save & Run Simple things are simple: By default, widgets use PV Metadata (units, precision, limits, …) and are sensitive to alarms (Note use of rulers to align widgets)

11. 11Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Macros Macros can be defined a)In CSS preferences b)As ‘display’ properties c)In actions that invoke related displays Use: a)$(macro_name) b)${macro_name} Every property is available as a macro; Example: Tooltip

12. 12Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Screen Navigation Idea: Minimize number of open screens. Similar to Web Browser links: – Default: Related displays replace the current display. – Optional open in ‘tabs’ or new window – Allow previous/next navigation over display history Displays in ‘Tabs’

13. 13Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Scripts… – are written in JavaScript – can be attached to any Display or Widget – are executed whenever one of the input PVs change – can read/write widget properties, PVs, open dialogs, access any Java code Example: Dynamic Visibility

14. 14Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy More Script Examples React to operator input, possibly correct it

15. 15Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy More Scripting Ideas Arbitrary ‘color rules’ Animation

16. 16Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Widgets … So far 23 widgets – More to come – Eclipse plug-in mechanism; add site-specific widgets Arc, polygon, … – Rotation – Fill-level Buttons – “Are you sure?” – Password

17. 17Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Grouping Container ‘Group’ in EDM: 1.Rectangle around widgets 2.Label on top of Rectangle for group name Looks OK, hard to edit/move Grouping Container Example: 1.Create from context of selected widgets, or drop widgets into it 2.Configure name, move, (auto-)size, even remove. 3.When moving widgets, highlight indicates if they’re still ‘inside’ container Optical feedback when moving widget in group

18. 18Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Linking Container Like EDM ‘embedded display’ Common EDM use: ‘Tabs’ 1.Invisible button writes to local PV 2.Rectangle etc. show/hide depending on value of that PV 3.Embedded display shows different file depending on PV Plan for OPI (not yet): Designated ‘Tab’ support

19. 19Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy XY Graph Widget Chart types: Line, Scatter, Bar, Steps, Area,... Five Zoom Types, Panning, Auto Scale Add/Remove Annotations, Undo/Redo, Take snapshot. Multiple axes: Linear, Log, Date/time Configure properties during runtime Generic SWT code, usable outside of CSS – Plan: Replace Data Browser’s plot

20. 20Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Transition from EDM Translator for basics in the works – Rectangles, Label, Text Update, Text Entry, … – Includes handling of colors Harder to translate: – “Tabs” simulated by invisible Message Buttons writing to local PVs, … – Rectangles that are really meant to create a ‘Group’ – Invisible related display buttons that could now be ‘actions’ attached to visible widgets

21. 21Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Summary Initial Demo available for download from http://ics-web.sns.ornl.gov/css/products.html http://ics-web.sns.ornl.gov/css/products.html Please try it out: – Online Help: CSS Menu Help/Help Content/CSS Applications/Display – Tutorial for first steps: See Online Help Send comments on issues or suggestions!