SNS Control System Studio
Introduction

Control System Studio

Control System Studio (CSS) is several things. To you as the end user it is this program, which combines tools suitable for usage at the SNS, pre-configured to access the accelerator control system's live and archived data. Technically, CSS a collection of software tools for control systems based on Eclipse, implemented by various people at different sites, which can be combined such that they look like one product to the end user. See http://cs-studio.sourceforge.net for details on the collaboration that creates CSS.

Welcome

When you start CSS for the very first time, you will see a "Welcome" screen that includes an "Overview", "First Steps" etc. The Overview might have led you to this help screen.

Use the "Restore" button on the window border to make the "Welcome" screen smaller, or close it by pressing the "X" button next to the title.

The "restore" button:  
The "close" button:  

If you later want to return to the "Welcome" screen to read more, you can access it via the "Help" menu, subsection "Welcome".

Getting Started

Some basic follow-along ideas to try as a first-time user:

Probe

  1. Click on the menu bar item "CSS", select "Diagnostic Tools", followed by "Probe" to open the CSS Probe tool.
  2. Enter a PV Name, for example "DTL_LLRF:IOC1:Load" (press 'Enter' when done typing the name). You should see the value of that PV.
  3. Close Probe via the 'X' in its title bar.
  4. Re-open Probe via the "CSS" menu as before. Note that the PV Name entry field has a drop-down box attached to it, which contains the last few PV names that you entered, so it's easy to re-inspect previously used PVs.

In case of connection problems or error messages, the network preferences under the menu "CSS/Preferences...", subsection "CSS Core/EPICS", might need adjustments.

Data Browser

  1. To start a new Data Browser instance, use the "CSS" menu entry "Trends/Data Browser".
  2. On the empty graph, open the context menu (right-click), select "Add PV", and enter a PV name.
  3. You should see a Strip-Chart of the channel's data. If you don't, try or the other buttons on top of the plot to zoom/pan.
  4. Add another PV (maybe "DTL_HPRF:IOC3:Load"). Per default it is on its own axis.
  5. Use the plot's context menu to open the "Properties" Panel, which allows changes to the line color etc. as well as adding more PV names. Change the axis so that both PVs are on the same Y-axis.
  6. In the Properties Panel, open the context menu of the PV list (right-click while the mouse is for example over the color box of a PV). The context menu has a "CSS" sub-entry of applications that accept PVs. Select "Probe". This should start a new instance of Probe on the selected PV.
    Many CSS apps offer this type of shortcut: The context menu on a PV allows you to send that PV to another application.
  7. Try to close the plot via the 'X' in its title bar. You will be asked if you want do save the current configuration to a file. Select "Yes", select the "CSS" folder, and enter a file name like "plot".
  8. In the "Navigator" at the left side of the window, you should now be able to open the "CSS" folder (click the triangle next to it) and find the saved Data Browser configuration file in there. Double-click it to open.

OPI

To try the OPI tool:

  1. Use "CSS" menu entry "Display/Install OPI Examples"
  2. In the Navigator, right-click on "BOY Examples/Main.opi" and select "Open With../OPI Runtime"

Workbench

Become familiar with the general CSS workbench behavior.

The Data Browser plot, of which there could be more than one, will stay in the center of the workbench, while you can arrange the accessory views like the "Properties" or the "Probe" views in various ways around the central area. Try to move them around by dragging their title bar to a new location. Note how the cursor shape changes to indicate how the view can be placed.

The arrangement of workbench windows is called a Perspective. The initial perspective is called "SNS Control System Studio", as indicated by a label in the upper left screen corner. The button to the left of the current perspective allows opening other perspectives. Use it to open the predefined "Data Browser" perspective, might be useful for Data Browser related work. Switch between the two perspectives by clicking on their title tab. A right-click on their title opens a context menu that allows you to save the current view layout under a different name or restore the original layout of a perspective.

Help

Use the "Help/Help Contents" menu to open the help pages, and read the CSS-Applications related entries.

"Help/Cheat Sheets..." contains step-by-step instructions for selected tasks. Use the 'triangle' in the Cheat Sheets view panel to open the drop-down list of available sheets

Cheat Sheets:  


At the SNS, contact Kay Kasemir, kasemirk@ornl.gov for CSS related questions.
Refer to http://cs-studio.sourceforge.net for general CSS questions.