Controls Software Documentation

This page exists to collect links to documentation about the instrument control system EPICS, its modules and related libraries (synApps, areaDetector), as used at the Advanced Photon Source.

Documentation referenced should be appropriate for beamline scientists, as opposed to only EPICS developers. New deployments should prefer EPICSv7, the latest release series.

See also the extensive resources from past EPICS Collaboration meetings.

EPICS Base

• Intro to EPICS
• EPICS Database Concepts
• EPICS Base Getting Started (official)
• Installing EPICS on RaspberryPi

synApps (aka EPICS Support)

• synApps Collected Documentation
• synApps deployment instructions, including use of xxx template ioc

areaDetector

• areaDetector Official Documentation

Deploying, troubleshooting, and maintaining IOCs

• Troubleshooting EPICS IOCs
• simDetector Install directions (2BM)
• The Basics of an IOC (XXX documentation)
• Creation of an IOC using mkioc
• BCDA Tutorials (APS Internal)

Pre-built IOCs

Docker images

• EPICS Base 7.0.5, synApps 6.2: standard xxx, customized
• EPICS Base 7.0.5, synApps 6.2, area detector 3.10: standard, custom

Virtual Machines

• APS Bluesky 101 training VM image.

Maintaining Documentation

• ReadTheDocs tutorial and example site

APS ESAF & Proposal - Read-only interface

• apsbss - Read-only interface to information from APS Proposal and ESAF (experiment safety approval form) databases.

Bluesky

Bluesky Framework

• Documentation:
  • General documentation: https://blueskyproject.io/
  • General repository: https://github.com/bluesky
  • bluesky-specific documentation: https://blueskyproject.io/bluesky/
• Python packages:
  • bluesky source: https://github.com/bluesky/bluesky
  • ophyd source: https://github.com/bluesky/ophyd
  • databroker source: https://github.com/bluesky/databroker
• Training:
  • NSLS-II Sandbox for tutorials: https://try.nsls2.bnl.gov
    • Try Bluesky in your internet browser (no local python required for this)
    • Sandbox is publicly accessible
  • Also: https://blueskyproject.io/tutorials/
• hklpy:
  • Bluesky's diffractometer support
  • Diffractometer examples
• Queue server:
  • queueserver - Server for queueing plans.
  • API documentation
• Tiled:
  • Data server for databroker and directories with data files.
  • Template for creating a local tiled data server at APS.

APS

• Documentation:
  • Status of Bluesky at the APS: P. Jemian Talk 2022-09-19
  • Installation Steps for APS users
  • apstools - Various Python tools for use with Bluesky at the APS.
  • Guides, How-Tos, and other examples.
• Bluesky training:
  • APS Bluesky 101 course (2021).
  • code repository
  • Template for new instrument description
    • Work in progress.
    • Includes configuration for IPython console, Jupyter notebook, and bluesky-queueserver.

PyDM

• Python Display Manager
• adl2pydm - Convert MEDM's .adl files to PyDM's .ui format.

Python support

Channel Access

• PyEpics - Python interface for Channel Access based on libca and libCom.
• caproto - Python interface for Channel Access in pure Python.

PV Access

• p4p - Python interface for PV Access
• pvapy - Python interface for PV Access, also provides CA interface

General

• bcdamenu - GUI menu to beam line software, such as synoptic display.
• mdaPythonUtils - Read .mda data files into Python.
• PvMail - Watch an EPICS PV. Send email when it changes from 0 to 1.
• pvView - Display one or more EPICS PVs in a PyDM GUI window as a table.
• pvWebMonitor - Post EPICS PVs to read-only (static) web site.
• punx - Python Utilities for NeXus HDF5 files: validation, structure, hierarchy.
• pyRestTable - Format a nice table in reST (reStructuredText) from Python.
• pysumreg - Statistics of list of (x,y) pairs from calculator-style summation registers.
• spec2nexus - Read SPEC data files into Python, write NeXus data file.