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This csh script is located in the directory $BFROOT/download/dch, and should be "sourced" (ie enter the command source $BFROOT/download/dch/dchSetup) before starting a DchMon display panel. The script currently serves two
purposes: it adds paths to the user's EPICS_DISPLAY_PATH variable, and it adds a few useful aliases. The search paths added by the script are the three directories in which DchMon displays are located. Right now these directories are:
- $BFROOT/download/dch/dl
$BFROOT/download/dch/DchMon/dl
$BFROOT/download/dch/HvCntrl/dl
Adding these paths to the EPICS_DISPLAY_PATH variable causes the computer to search these directories for any file names not found in the current directory when edd or dm are in use. It would be wise to update this list as
more directories are added to the DchMon collection. The format for appending a new directory to the search path is:
- setenv EPICS_DISPLAY_PATH ${EPICS_DISPLAY_PATH}:directory path
If in doubt, copying off of the examples already in the script always works.
This script also gives the user more aliases to use, one for the alarm handler, another for the archiver, and one for the main menu. The alias dchar will start up the
customized version of the archiver that was set up for DchMon purposes. This version automatically loads the various DchMon archiving files, as well as the DchMon channel glossary. Another alias added is dchalh, which loads the DchMon alarm handler. The final alias in the script is dchmain, which starts up the DchMon Main Menu, the main driver for the DchMon system.
This panel is the main user interface for the DchMon system and accesses all of the DchMon databases. It is currently invoked with the command dchmain. The four blue pop-up menu buttons are
related display callups. Each related display callup is connected to a set of detector monitor and control systems; as labeled, there are monitors for low voltage and temperature, as well as monitors and controls for the high
voltage system. The gas monitor system has yet to be implemented. The user may see the available panels for each database by clicking on the monitor and control system button with the right mouse button. A choice is made by holding down the right mouse
button (which brings up the menu), dragging the mouse down to the selection, and releasing the mouse button.
The red Quit EPICS button exits the user from the DchMon application. Thus clicking on this button will cause all child processes to be closed as well.
It should also be noted that holding the right mouse button on a "vacant" area of any EPICS panel will reveal a menu containing the following choices: exit display window, print display, and cancel. The
exit option does the same as any Kill Display (in the Main Menu panel it's labelled Quit EPICS) button: it closes the panel on which it is located, as well as closing any child processes. Print display
sends the current display panel to the user's default "lpr" printer. The cancel option simply removes the menu; no action is taken.
This panel monitors the different crate low voltages, with the crate number displayed in white in the top right-hand corner of the panel. The low voltages that are monitored are +12V, -12V, +6V, -6V, ground,
and threshold, as labelled. Directly above each label is a digital display of the labelled voltage, and above that is a "meter". The high and low limits of each meter are the tolerance limits, set via the HIHI and LOLO fields of
the record in the database. If the voltage is ideal, then the "needle" points vertically upward; any deviation from the ideal voltage causes a proportional movement of the needle from the vertical position.
Below the displays there is also a blue related display callup, labelled Simulation Screen. Clicking on this button brings up a simulation panel for the crate.
To the right of the Simulation Screen button is a red button labelled Kill Display, which does exactly as it says--it kills the current display. Like the Quit EPICS button on the Main Menu, clicking on
this button will not only kill the current display, but any screens--in this case the Simulation Screen--that have been called from the panel will also be killed. This is a general rule that applies to all EPICS applications.
The design of this screen is fairly similar to that of the Low Voltage Display Panel. The crate number is displayed in white text in the top right- hand corner, and the voltages being
controlled/monitored are labelled in white text below the digital displays. In the lower left-hand corner of the panel there is a dark blue choice button which allows the user to set the database to simulation or real mode, and to the right
is a red kill display button, which serves the usual purpose. If the database is set for Real Mode, the values displayed on this panel won't affect the values on the Low Voltage Display Panel; that is, the
simulation values aren't input to the rest of the database. Switching the crate into Simulation Mode results in the crate receiving simulated input in one of two ways: when the database is set up for subroutine simulated input, the
digital displays show the values generated by various subroutines; if the database is set for manual input, then the value of a variable is changed by typing into these displays. The simulation method is determined by the database
DchLowVolt.db and may be changed by modifying this database as instructed by the documentation on the GDCT screen. Any crate that is in simulation mode will display a warning on the Low Voltage Display Panel.
This panel displays the current temperature of each thermocouple being used to monitor the drift chamber. They are grouped according to the area they monitor: front, body, back, electronics, or remote. On the
bottom of the panel are two related display callups, and one Kill Display button. The leftmost related display callup accesses the various strip charts, or "history plots", of the thermocouples. The
thermocouples are grouped in the same manner for the strip charts as their displays are for the Temperature Display panel. The other related display callup, as labeled, brings up the Simulation Panel for the
temperature database.
These charts plot temperature versus time for each thermocouple. The pen colour used for graphing each thermocouple corresponds to the colour used for the same thermocouple's display on the
Temperature Display Panel. The name of the field each pen monitors is also displayed on the corresponding vertical axis, located on the left side of the plot.
Depressing the right-hand mouse button while over the charts reveals a menu of all available processes relating to the strip charts: pause strip chart, resume strip chart, print strip chart, and
cancel. Selecting the pause option causes the plot to cease updating until the resume option is chosen. While pause is selected, a buffer will collect up to 50 datapoints, so that when resume is
chosen the 50 most recent points will be plotted. This is also the case if part of the graphical display is obscured; the plots only update if they are in full view, otherwise the buffer collects the data, to be updated when the plots are no longer
covered. The print strip chart sends the current display of the plot to the user's default lpr printer. Selecting cancel removes the menu and results in no actions being taken.
On the bottom left of each graph's panel is a related display callup, which accesses all of the temperature panels:Temperature Display, Temperature Simulation Panel, and the five graphs. To the right of
this is a Kill Display button.
This panel has a layout that is similar to the Temperature Display panel, with the temperature of each thermocouple displayed digitally, and the thermocouple temperatures grouped by the area
they monitor. As with the low voltage database, the method used for simulation input may be either manual (user inputs the desired value into simulation panel) or subroutine-driven (simulation values are obtained from subroutines that generate
pseudo-random input). The method may be changed by modifying the DchTemp.db database as directed by the documentation displayed on the GDCT screen when DchTemp is opened.
A red warning will be displayed from all graphs and the Temperature Display Panel when the temperature database is set for simulation mode.
On the bottom of the panel is a related display callup that links to all of the graphical temperature displays. To the right of this is a dark blue choice button that allows the user to switch the temperature database into
real or simulation mode. To the right of this is a Kill Display button.
Since I did not design these databases, and there is already documentation available on this subject, the instructions of their use will not be included here. The User's Manual for the high voltage portion of the DchMon application is found at:
The $BFROOT/download/dch/HvCntrl/doc/ directory also contains other high voltage-related documentation, such as definitions of the parameters used in the database, description of the state machine
used, as well as the locations of all of the high voltage databases. Anyone who wants to use or modify these databases should read this documentation first.
As mentioned earlier, this database has yet to be implemented.
------- Suzanne Komili & Janis McKenna
March 12, 1996
Questions or comments? Send them to:
Suzanne Komili / University of British Columbia / suzannek@slac.stanford.edu - or - suzannek@unixg.ubc.ca
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