Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Michael Davidsaver <[email protected]> · Wed, 6 Sep 2017 11:01:15 -0500

On 09/06/2017 03:26 AM, Ralph Lange wrote:
> Ciao Giacomo,
> 
> On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 10:02 AM, Giacomo S.
> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
> wrote:
> 
>     A typical graphical interface wants to put in evidence warning or alarm
>     values (for example, in a gauge you want yellow or red bands or you may
>     want coloured stripes on the background of a plot in the alarm or
>     warning sections), so, in this case I may be interested in two kind of
>     subscriptions:
> 
>     - the DBE_PROPERTY to get alarms. LO/HI thresholds, display and so on...
>     - the DBE_VALUE to get value changes.
> 
> 
> Well, almost. Typically, you would subscribe
> 
>   * to the full structure (DBR_CTRL_...) using the DBE_PROPERTY flag to
>     get updates on the limits and thresholds,

My current thinking of rules for subscribing with DBE_PROPERTY, based on
the native type:

* DBF_STRING - Don't bother, there is no display/control meta-data
* DBF_ENUM - Subscribe w/ DBR_GR_ENUM
* all numeric - Subscribe w/ DBR_CTLR_DOUBLE

With DBF_ENUM there is also the option of forcing the server to convert
to DBF_STRING or DBF_INT.

For DBE_VALUE, attempt to promote the native type using
dbf_type_to_DBR_TIME()

>   * to a small value/status(/timestamp) structure (DBR_STS_... or
>     DBR_TIME_...) using DBE_VALUE | DBE_ALARM to get value and status
>     updates (with timestamps).
> 
> 
>     It would be very useful to me a kind of documentation where this is
>     described.
>     I'll have a look at your link now.
> 
> 
> Other than the Channel Access Reference Manual (available on the EPICS
> web site, e.g. http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/base/R3-15/5.php), the CA
> client example (makeBaseApp template), the CA command line tools (that
> you already found) and the training slides that Andrew pointed out, I
> don't know of any CA client usage documentation. Sorry!

I'm hesitant to mention this as the code isn't complete or as thoroughly
tested as I like.  (eg. DBF_ENUM isn't handled correctly)  But it is the
only example I have of managing dual subscriptions to get all time as
well as display/control meta-data.

https://github.com/mdavidsaver/epics-base/blob/integration-20170906/src/std/link/lnkCa.c#L259

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System