Client Application

The client application (fcfClient) is a simple utility allowing to send commands to the Device Manager from the command line. In this context we use the words commands and events as synonyms. The fcfClient uses the interface module fcfif to compose the payload of the messages. The fcfClient sends the messages using CII MAL request/reply.

$ fcfClient <serviceURI> <command> ["<parameters>"]

Where
      <serviceURI> destination of the command (e.g. zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds
      <command>    command to be sent to the server (e.g. fcfif.Init)
      <parameters> optional parameters of the command.

List of Commands

The commands (events) currently supported by the fcfClient utility are:

Client commands

Command	Parameters
fcfif.Init	“”
fcfif.Enable	“”
fcfif.Disable	“”
fcfif.State	“”
fcfif.Status	“”
fcfif.Setup	“”
fcfif.Recover	“”
fcfif.Reset	“”
fcfif.Config	“”
fcfif.DevNames	“”
fcfif.SetLog	“<ERROR|INFO|DEBUG|TRACE>”
fcfif.Simulate	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.StopSim	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.Ignore	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.StopIgn	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.HwInit	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.HwEnable	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.HwDisable	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.HwReset	“<device id1>, … ,[<device idn>]”
fcfif.BeginAcq	“<filename prefix>”
fcfif.EndAcq	“”
fcfif.Exit	“”

Warning

Due to the upgrade to CII, the payload of the SETUP command cannot be defined through a JSON file. For sending SETUP and other commands is better to use the Python interface.

Note

The HW commands like HwInit or HwEnable control the state of the controller associated to the device.

Examples

Note

The following examples assume the server is listening for incoming events under the URI zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds in the local host.

Enabling debug level in the server

$ fcfClient zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds  fcfif.SetLog "DEBUG"

Initialising the server

$ fcfClient zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds  fcfif.Init ""

Moving the server to Operational state

$ fcfClient zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds  fcfif.Enable ""

Executing a Setup command from the command line

This is not possible in this version using fcfClient utility. Please use the Python client library instead.

Python Client Library

It is possible to communicate with the Device Manager through clients developed in Python. The FCF provides a library that simplifies the interaction with the Device Manager (fcfclib). This is probably the easiest and more flexible way to interact with the Device Manager. The fcfclib encapsulates the creation of the payload for the Setup command by providing predefined methods.

Users might want to interact directly with FCF ICD binding methods. This is, of course possible, but it is outside the scope of this library.

Note

This Python client library is new in version 2.

Error Handling

The fcfclib reports as a RuntimeError exceptions that may be delivered by the Device Manager. Unfortunately a due to a limitation of CII MAL, we cannot get the source error message yet from the Python exception.

Classes

The fcfclib library provides internal classes to build the buffer for each devices. In addition, this library provides one class that encapsulates the user interface with the DeviceManager. This class is the DevmgrCommand class.

DevmgrCommand

The constructor of the DevmgrCommand class support two parameters: uri and timeout. The timeout is optional and has a default of one minute, expressed in milliseconds.

The class handles an internal buffer object that is used to build the payload of the Setup command. Each time the command is executed, the buffer is reset. The user can add multiple device settings into the internal buffer before executing the setup command.

The methods names of the class are shown in the tables below. They try to be self explanatory.

Methods for building Setup Payload

Method	parameters
close_shutter	device (string)
open_shutter	device (string)
switch_lamp_on	device (string)
switch_lamp_on_with_intensity	device (string), intensity (float)
switch_lamp_on_with_timer	device (string), timer (integer)
move_motor_abs_enc	device (string), position (integer)
move_motor_abs_pos	device (string), position (float)
move_motor_rel_enc	device (string), position (integer)
move_motor_rel_pos	device (string), position (float)
move_motor_name_pos	device (string), name (string)
drot_motor_abs_pos	device (string), position (float)
move_drot_posangle	device (string), position (float)
start_drot_sky_tracking	device (string)
start_drot_elev_tracking	device (string)
start_drot_user_tracking	device (string)
stop_drot_tracking	device (string)
move_adc_motor1_abs_pos	device (string), position (float)
move_adc_posangle	device (string), position (float)
start_adc_tracking	device (string)
stop_adc_tracking	device (string)
set_piezo_auto	device (string)
set_piezo_pos	device (string)
set_piezo_home	device (string)
move_piezo_in_user_units	device (string), pos1 (float), pos2 (float), pos3 (float)
move_piezo_in_bits_units	device (string), bit1 (integer), bit2 (integer), bit3 (integer)
switch_actuator_off	device (string)
switch_lamp_off	device (string)
switch_lamp_off	device (string)

Methods for Command Interface

Method	parameters
setup	None
status	device list (argv)
ignore	device list (argv)
simulate	device list (argv)
stop_ignore	device list (argv)
stop_simulate	device list (argv)
hw_init	device list (argv)
hw_enable	device list (argv)
hw_disable	device list (argv)
hw_reset	device list (argv)
devnames	None
state	None
init	None
enable	None
enable	None
disable	None
reset	None
stop	None

Examples

Retrieving the Status

import fcfclib.devmgrCommands as fcs

uri = "zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds"
fcsif = fcs.DevMgrCommands(uri)
print(fcsif.status())

['shutter1.simulated = true', 'shutter1.lcs.state = Undefined', 'shutter1.lcs.substate = Undefined',
'lamp1.simulated = true', 'lamp1.lcs.state = Undefined', 'lamp1.lcs.substate = Undefined',
'lamp1.lcs.intensity = 0.000000', 'motor1.simulated = true', 'motor1.lcs.state = Undefined',
'motor1.lcs.substate = Undefined', 'motor1.lcs.pos_target = 0.000000',
'motor1.lcs.pos_actual = 0.000000', 'motor1.lcs.vel_actual = 0.000000',
'motor1.lcs.axis_enable = false', "motor1.pos_actual_name = ''",
'motor1.pos_enc = -2147483648', '', 'OK']

Executing a single Setup

import fcfclib.devmgrCommands as fcs

uri = "zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds"
fcsif = fcs.DevMgrCommands(uri)
# Move single motor1 to absolute position 100 in user units
# Fill the internal setup buffer
fcsif.move_motor_abs_pos("motor1", 100)
# Send setup command to the Device Manager listening in port 12081
fcsif.setup()

Executing a Setup with multiple devices

import fcfclib.devmgrCommands as fcs

uri = "zpb.rr://127.0.0.1:12081/StdCmds"
fcsif = fcs.DevMgrCommands(uri)
# Setup multiple devices at once
# Fill the internal setup buffer
fcsif.move_motor_abs_pos("motor1", 100)
fcsif.switch_lamp_off("lamp1")
fcsif.close_shutter("shutter1")
# Send setup command to the Device Manager listening on port 12081
fcsif.setup()