Installation

epics base 3.14 has to be installed(tested with epics base-3.14.12.5) as well as python2.7

Install requirements according to requirements.pdf (or the html-version 'index.html').

Enter pythonIoc directory. Change the location to the EPICS_BASE in configure/RELEASE

make

Getting Started

Setting up the IOC

Create a file 'run' and write the following into it:

#!/bin/sh
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
path/to/pythonIocDirectory/pythonIoc startup.py "$@"

Create a file 'versions.py' and write the following into it:

from pkg_resources import require

require('cothread>=2.9')
require('epicsdbbuilder')

Create a file 'startup.py' and write the following into it:

import sys
DEBUG = 'D' in sys.argv[1:]
if DEBUG:
    sys.path.append('/scratch/local/python-debug')
    sys.path.append('/home/mga83/epics/cothread')
    sys.path.append('/home/mga83/epics/iocbuilder')
else:
    import versions

import cothread
from softioc import softioc, builder, pvlog

from iocdatabase import *

builder.LoadDatabase()
softioc.iocInit()

softioc.interactive_ioc(globals())

Create a file 'iocdatabase.py'. In this file you initialize the PV's you want to have in your Ioc.

At first import the iocbuilder module

from softioc.builder import *

Add the following function:

def on_update(value):
        print 'on_update', repr(value)

And set the device name e.g 'ENIGMA_V2'

SetDeviceName('ENIGMA_V2')

Now you can start initializing the PV's The basic syntax is:

varname = function('PV_name', initial_value=value, on_update = on_update)

The name of the function depends on the data type of the PV

Floating point numbers:

eg_ai = aOut('test_float', initial_value=12.23, on_update = on_update)

Long integer:

eg_long = longOut('test_long', initial_value=2017, on_update = on_update)

String:

eg_string = stringOut('test_string', initial_value='test string', on_update = on_update)

Waveform:

eg_wf = WaveformOut("test_wf", datatype = float, length = 100,on_update=on_update)

Bool:

eg_bool = boolOut('test_bool', 'True', 'False', initial_value= True, on_update = on_update)

You can replace 'True' and 'False' with any String you want. eg '0' and '1'

eg_bool = boolOut('test_bool', '0', '1', initial_value= True, on_update = on_update)

The initial value can be 'False' or 'True' and 0 or 1 respectively for the first or the second state

If you want a PV which can have more than two states, you can use the mbb type:

eg_mbb = mbbOut ('test_mbb', 'this', 'is', 'an','example',initial_value = 1, on_update = on_update)

The initial value is the index from the set values starting with 0 as the first value.

Work with the IOC

Start the IOC with executing the 'run' file. Now you can set or get the PV values. The general syntax is caget DeviceName:PVname e.g. caget ENIGMA_V2:test_float or caput ENIGMA_V2:test_long 244

A more in-depth Documentation can be found in 'pythonioc/docs'