Channel Access Markup Language Plugin Installation and Configuration Instructions
Supported Operating Systems
Note: CAML does not support Internet Explorer, which is not
compliant to applicable W3C standards. CAML does work with Firefox,
Chrome and Safari. ORNL and CosyLabs, the originators of CAML, are
working on IE support.
If you haven't yet installed the Channel Access (CAML) browser
plugin,
download this
executable binary, exit the browser, and run
ARD_webCA_plugin_installer.exe. You will need admin privileges on the
machine. Start a new browser and view the page again. If the
installation fails or CAML annoys you somehow, download and run the Uninstaller.
The Installer works with Windows XP and EPICS R3-14-9 on x86 systems.
How to tell if the CAML plug-in is installed on Windows:
Go to
the browser's "Tools ... Add-ons ... Plugins" menu to see if "EPICS
Channel Access Plug-In 1.2.0" is listed. Alternatively check
C:\\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins to see if npca.dll is
present. On Windows, the installer must allow add a line describing
the plug-in to the Registry.
If you have installed the Channel Access (CAML) browser
plugin,
and still don't see updating PVs, then your EPICS
environment variables need to be reset to ARD values and then you will
need to restart the browser for the changes to take effect. In order
to view the LCLS PVs, you will need to revert the environment
variables to those settings. Here are some .exe programs that
accomplish the task for users with and without administrative
privileges. To see if the environment variables are set properly,
open the Control Panel, choose System, go to the Advanced tab and
click "Environment Variables." With ARD settings, you should see
opi00gtw04 as the EPICS_CA_SERVER value, while with LCLS settings the
value should be lcls-prod01.
If you haven't yet installed the Channel Access (CAML) browser
plugin,
download and run this
script as root. The script works on RHEL5 and RHEL4 on x86 with
EPICS R3-14-9 but has not been tested with other versions of EPICS.
(The script overwrites existing EPICS environment variables, but only
in the shell window where you run it.)
How to tell if the WebCA plug-in has installed on Linux:
Go to the browser's "Tools
... Add-ons ... Plugins" menu to see if "EPICS Channel Access Plug-In
1.2.0" is listed. Alternatively, check to see if libnpca.so has
appeared in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. If these conditions are met,
the plug-in is installed.
If you have installed the CAML plugin
and still don't see
updating PVs, then most likely your EPICS environment variables are
not properly set. (If you have run the plugin installation as root
and started the browser as a regular user, then your EPICS environment
variables won't be set.) Without root permissions, download this
script, close your browser, and run as a regular user with the
command "source resetCAMLepicsParameters.bash". Open a new browser
from the shell window where you have run the script, not from
a toolbar pulldown or a different shell window, and try viewing the
page again.
Alternatively, close your browser, download an alternative
script and use "source start_ARD_Web.bash" to open a new browser
session that provides a view of all the ARD PVs.
Troubleshooting and Support
If you still can't get the CAML PV view to work, please report the
following to Alison
Chaiken: