Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

John Maclean <[email protected]> · Mon, 04 Mar 2002 08:32:09 -0600

The important bit first:

A new build (1228) of VDCT is available from 

http://kgb.ijs.si/VisualDCT/

We have been using it at APS for simple databases and have found it
useable.

The gory details: 

For those of you at the recent collaboration meeting in San Jose this
will be a recap, but it will be new to others.

We at APS are aware that the lack of a good, open graphical database
configuration tool is a "gap in the EPICS tool kit" (as Ned put it). To
that end we have been looking for a solution for a while now.

Last year we tried using VDCT. VDCT was written by Matej Sekoranja of
the Jozef Stefan Institute under a contract from the Swiss Light Source.
Although we found problems with it that prevented it from being used for
"real" databases we were encouraged by what we saw. In short we believe
that VDCT has the potential to fill the "graphical configuration" gap in
the EPICS tool kit.

Matej Sekoranja and Mark Plesko of the IJS and Steve Hunt of the SLS
have very kindly agreed to make VDCT "Open Source" under the modified
BSD license.

A number of problems that prevented us from using VDCT for "real"
databases have now been fixed. This work was again funded by Steve Hunt
of the SLS.

Although VDCT is useable and shows a lot of promise, we still see that
it has a number of shortcomings that presently prevent it from becoming
_the_ EPICS graphical configuration tool. 

The APS, SLS and the SNS will be providing funding for the development
of VDCT in to a tool that will fit our requirements, but of course, we
would like to see it developed to benefit the whole community.

In true EPICS collaboration fashion, because I was complaining about the
lack of a graphical configuration tool, I have been given the
"opportunity" of doing something about it. So, I've been given the job
of being the point of contact between the VDCT development team (now
under the auspices of the KGB, see http://kgb.ijs.si/KGB/ for details of
that one), the APS and hopefully the EPICS community in general.

So here is a plea to anyone who'd like to see a good, open, extensible
graphical db configuration tool become available for EPICS. Please go to
the site above, download VDCT (documentation is available at the site)
and try it.

Let me know of any bugs, problems, suggestions for improvement etc. etc.
I'll try to sort these (probably conflicting) things into requirements
for the VDCT team. Prioritization of requirements has to be done on the
basis of those providing the funding getting their requests done first.
Having said that, we are keen to get feedback from as many people as
possible in order to make VDCT as useful as possible. 

The idea of having a single point of contact between the EPICS community
is:
a) Prevent the VDCT team getting flooded with possibly conflicting
requirements
b) To have someone with EPICS experience (and access to the expertise
within our group) be able to prioritize these requirements and to act as
an initial QA point.

Road map for development.

At present our development path looks something like this.

Alpha version.
the current release can be considered an alpha version. It does a lot of
good things but still lacks some features and has some rough edges.

"Beta" Version.
Target date this release is summer 2002. It would incorporate many of
the suggestions for improvements we already have and hope to receive. 
Key features for inclusion in the first "production" version would be
identified.
It could be considered a replacement for gdct.

First Production Version.
Target date for release, end 2002.
Key features included e.g. graphical grouping, templates and multiple
instantiation.
It could be considered as a Capfast equivalent.

Future development.
A Capfast to VDCT conversion plug in.
Make VDCT an IDE for EPICS.
Evolve with EPICS releases.

So please pick it up, give it a try and bear with us whilst development
continues. If you are in the happy position of being able to contribute
funding or effort please contact me.

John Maclean.
APS Controls Group.

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System