INTER: Area limit setting on Nima trough too low

[ChrisM-S]

Where?

On INTER, as a scientists I was having problems getting the Nima Trough IOC to accept a value for one setting - AREA:SP which kept returning to 247.0 - I could alter speed and target pressure and they work and change on the VI. The problem was a limit setting of 247.0 which behaves like the value keeps getting set back. On the OPI if you type in 400.0 and hit return, it immediately goes back to 247.0. If you change the setting on the VI, after a bit it gets set back to 247.0

The problem was traced to a high limit of 247.0 hard coded into the Nima trough DB file, - this was edited temporarily but I would like this fixed permanently.

Reproducible?

[Yes/No]

To Reproduce

Start the Nima Trough IOC after starting the LabVIEW VI (must be started manually beforehand as the IOC talks to it). Try to set a value for the Target area in the OPI greater than 247.0. Check smaller values can be set OK, also look at the VI front panel to check.

Acceptance criteria

• Make the area limit a macro that defaults to the current value in the db

How to Test

verbose instructions for reviewer to test changes
(Add before making a PR)

[KathrynBaker]

There is nothing I can see in the LabVIEW that would indicate that this limit came from there. This means that the value for the limit needs to be checked with the various instrument scientists involved, and likely the support team as well

[esmith1729]

Pull Requests:

ISISComputingGroup/EPICS-ioc#786
ISISComputingGroup/EPICS-IOC_Test_Framework#600
ISISComputingGroup/ibex_gui#1548

Changes:

• Added Area, Speed, and Pressure macros to controls.db, config.xml, and st-common.cmd for the NIMA Trough, so that scientists using IBEX can set their own high and low limits for all three. If they do not specify their own limits, they will default to the current default highs and lows for those three respective values.
• Added tests which will coerce an input into the user defined limits for Area, Speed, and Pressure for the NIMA Trough, whether above the high limit, or below the low limit.
  Also refactored some pre-existing tests to remove hard-coded numbers, in favour of named variables for the high and low limits for area, speed, and pressure, to avoid confusion in the future.
• Updated NIMA Trough OPI to display low/high limits, readback, and setpoint all in one place for the user. This was a suggested improvement that wasn't included in original ticket, but to improve functionality and user experience.

Release Notes:

#7818