Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Benjamin Franksen <[email protected]> · Wed, 18 Jul 2001 17:35:24 +0200

Hello,

does anybody know a simple way to initialize an mbbo record with a
string (i.e. one of the configured xxST values)?

Setting DOL to the string value doesn't work, since epics tries to
interprete the string as a pv name.

Using the numerical value is a possibility, but it makes the
configuration file less readable, therefore less maintainable.

The only solution I found is to use an additional soft stringout record,
set its PINI=YES, VAL=<the string> and OUT to the VAL of the mbbo (PP
link).

General remark: Using DOL for a default value seems a crude solution.
Maybe record support (& definition) for the standard records should be
changed so that VAL is configurable. If VAL="", record support would use
DOL if it is a constant and use this value. I don't see that this would
break existing databases.

As think about it: I think, the new link support (3.15???) provides a
distinction between a string constant and a pv name (for link
configuration); is that true? Because this would also solve the problem.

Ben
-- 
Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung
(BESSY) GmbH, Control System Group
Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, +4930 6392 8462, www.bessy.de

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System