Skip to content

First time installing and building (Windows)

Jump to bottom Edit New page
Freddie Akeroyd edited this page Dec 12, 2024 · 181 revisions

Wiki > The Backend System > First time installing and building (Windows)

You can get more information on the development workflow here.

If any of the websites listed here do not work, contact another developer to get an alternate solution.

Things to know as a developer

See https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/ibex_developers_manual/wiki/Things-to-know-as-a-developer

Install Perl

Download and install Strawberry Perl

Install WiX toolset (We use version 3 and not the latest one)

Download and install latest stable version from https://wixtoolset.org/docs/wix3/

Install Visual Studio

See Install Visual Studio

Install Java JDK

Install OpenJDK 21 hotspot from https://adoptium.net/?variant=openjdk21&jvmVariant=hotspot (the MSI installer is fine, tick all the boxes when it asks you which components to install)

Do not install an Oracle JDK.

You may wish to install some optional java components as detailed here.

Install Maven

Create C:\Tools\

Install Maven and follow the 'Windows tips' in these instructions to set 'Environment Variables' for the SDK with JAVA_HOME and maven in PATH It is recommended to install Maven into C:\Tools\

System Properties - Environment Variables - Path - New -C:\Tools\apache-maven-###\bin

The Windows Tips from the above link says you should add maven to the PATH in the user variables. If it does not recognise mvn -v afterwards, then try to add it to the list of variables in PATH in System variables.

Install Git

Install Git Getting-started-with-Git-and-GitHub

Install Moxa Nport Driver manager

Install \\isis.cclrc.ac.uk\inst$\kits$\CompGroup\Utilities\MOXA Nport Software\drvmgr*.exe - this is required on the instruments for networked serial ports. It's required on dev machines for the database server (more specifically the moxa mappings page in the GUI)

Copy EPICS build

EPICS contains lots of code that requires compilation before use, so we generally copy a pre-built version of this to save time and then build modules as changes are made.

  1. Create C:\Instrument\Apps\
  2. Navigate to C:\Instrument\Apps\ and check whether the EPICS directory already exists. If so, remove the EPICS directory before continuing.
  3. Follow instructions on the Quick instructions section of the developer server build page to copy a built version of EPICS to \instrument\apps

To easily add EPICSTerm.bat to the start menu after copying EPICS, run C:\Instrument\Apps\EPICS\add_epicsterm_to_start_menu.bat

Install the uktena python distribution

See Building and installing the uktena python distribution

Ruff git hook and convenience scripts

We use ruff for formatting & linting and pyright for static analysis.

We have a central configuration file for python code formatting & linting.

If you wish (you probably do) to install a convenient alias which automatically uses an appropriate ruff config for each repository, see here

If you wish to set up a git hook to automatically check this on each commit, see here. You probably do want to set this up, but be careful with external repositories as it may not adhere to their formatting/linting standards. You can bypass the pre-commit hook if needed with git commit --no-verify

Note

this configuration is not mandatory as the build server will run linting and formatting checks on python repositories anyway, but running the checks locally is faster and more dev-friendly than waiting for the build servers.

Install MySQL

See Installing and upgrading MySQL

Note

If installing for the first time, a new installation of MySQL may try to start up IBEX servers, which may lead to errors if Python isn't installed yet.

Building the GUI

Please see Building the GUI.

Setting up the configurations & scripting directory

Note

For all commands in this section...

  • On a developer machine use your own username rather than "spudulike"
  • Replace <NDXXXX> with your machine name, e.g. NDXIRISTEST1, NDLT123
  • Replace <init_inst_name> with your lower case machine name, e.g. init_ndxtest1.py, init_ndlt123.py

Note

If you already have a 'NDXXXX' folder, rename it to 'NDXXXX.old' and continue with the following steps)

  1. Create the following folder structure: C:\Instrument\Settings\config

  2. Navigate to the config folder

  3. Enable git credential store and set a username - replace <NDXXXX> with real computer name

git config --global core.autocrlf true
git config --global credential.helper wincred
git config --global user.name "spudulike"
git config --global user.email "spudulike@<NDXXXX>.isis.cclrc.ac.uk"
  1. Enable default recursive check
git config --global push.recurseSubmodules check
  1. Set up branch for this machine

5a) Not A New Instrument i.e. if this machine has had IBEX installed before and the config branch already exists, run through the following commands:

cd C:\Instrument\Settings\config
git clone http://control-svcs.isis.cclrc.ac.uk/gitroot/instconfigs/inst.git NDXXXX
cd NDXXXX
git checkout NDXXXX

5b) New Instrument i.e. if no config branch exists for this machine name, run through the following:

git clone http://[email protected]/gitroot/instconfigs/inst.git NDXXXX

(when prompted, give spudulike password)

  • Confirm that you now have the config file structure in place (components, configurations and synoptics directories)

  • Create a branch from master with the machine name (if on an instrument) or your fedid if on a dev machine:

cd <NDXXXX>/
git checkout -b <NDXXXX>
rename "C:\Instrument\Settings\config\NDXXXX\Python\init_inst_name.py" to "C:\Instrument\Settings\config\NDXXXX\Python\init_ndxxxx.py" (note lowercase on init_ndxxxx.py)
git add Python/init_ndxxxx.py
git rm Python/init_inst_name.py
git commit -m "create initial python"
git push --set-upstream origin <NDXXXX>

Note

The init_inst_name python file should have underscores rather than dashes if the machine name contains dashes. So NDWTEST-BLAH would have the init file init_ndwtest_blah.py

Any configs created through IBEX will now be stored on this branch (they will only be pushed remotely if you do a manual push first e.g. the last line above)

These repositories can be web browsed via http://control-svcs.isis.cclrc.ac.uk/git/

  1. Check it is possible to access the configurations of another developer or of an instrument by fetching the correct branch and switching to it, like so:
git fetch
git checkout NDXALF
  1. Switch back to your new branch:
git checkout <NDXXXX>

Note

The developer branch has been created to store useful configurations that may be shared amongst all developers.

Setting up a calibrations directory

If the C:\Instrument\Settings\config\common directory already exists, cd into it and do a git pull on master. Else run the following command from a Git-enabled command prompt (or modify target to run with Git Bash):

git clone http://control-svcs.isis.cclrc.ac.uk/gitroot/instconfigs/common.git C:/Instrument/Settings/config/common

The purpose and function of the calibration files are described here.

Configure DAE for simulation mode on developer's computer / Register ISISICP

  • Make sure ISISDAE-IOC-01.exe and ISISICP.exe processes are not running
  • run create_icp_binaries.bat in c:\Instrument\Apps\EPICS to get the latest version
  • Open an administrator command prompt (right click on command prompt in start menu and click "run as administrator")
  • cd to c:\Instrument\Apps\EPICS\ICP_Binaries\isisdae
  • Type:
    register_programs.cmd

Unfortunately the /RegServer registration process doesn't report either success or failure. If, on later starting the ISISDAE IOC, you see lots of errors of the form "CoCreateInstanceEx (ISISICP) : Class not registered" then it means the /RegServer flag did not work. Try registering it again in case you were not Administrator when you tried it the first time. If you get messages about missing method/functions etc. it may mean a previous isisicp.exe registered successfully, but the newer one didn't - just try again as administrator

If you use Visual Studio 2017 (or older versions) and got "vcruntime140_1.dll was not found" error, you need to install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2022.

You can do this via this link:

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/ (Scroll down, expand "Other Tools, Frameworks and Redistributables" and install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2022(x64))

Set up the CS-Studio archiver

Before doing this ensure that the build.bat started in a previous step (to build EPICS) has successfully completed. In C:\Instrument\Apps\EPICS\CSS\master run setup_css.bat this will create directories for the archive engine. in .\css-win.x86_64

Getting DAE ready to start a run (so you are in SETUP rather than processing)

You need to create a configuration so ISISDAE-IOC-01 will start:

  • run start_ibex_server (in C:\Instrument\Apps\EPICS)
  • start the GUI
  • configuration -> edit current configuration -> give it a name and save as. It should now prompt you to switch to the configuration, after you do this the Config: line on the bottom of the gui screen should show this name and the instrument should be in SETUP
  • now go into experiment setup in DAE view and
    • in time channels select "specify parameters" (not tcb file), in time regime 1 put from 10.0 to 19900.0 step 10.0 with mode DT=C, and in time regime 2 use 10.0 to 19900.0 step 1.0 mode DT=C (time regime 2 is only used if an event mode wiring table is selected). If there are no boxes to fill in, this means the configuration has not switched to the one you saved above and the ISISDAE-IOC-01 process is not running
    • in data acquisition tab use the dropdown for wiring, detector and spectra to choose a file with the name "ibextest" in it e.g. wiring_ibextest.dat for wiring, detector_ibextest for detector, spectra_ibextest for spectra etc. You need to have all three boxes (wiring,detector,spectra) filled for things to work, also these files are interdependent so make sure they are all "*_ibextest.dat" ones for now. Note that either wiring_ibextest.dat or wiring_event_ibextest.dat can be chosen as the wiring table to select histogram or event mode.
    • Press the Apply button
  • Now go back to main DAE view and press the "BEGIN RUN" button - you should get the instrument going into RUNNING
  • Press Abort and you should go back into SETUP
  • You can also open a python scripting window (scripting on left) and use g.begin() and g.abort() to do the same thing

Utilities

Git clone (usually in c:\Instrument\Dev) the following utilities:

git clone https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/IBEX_device_generator.git
git clone https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/ibex_utils.git
git clone https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/ConfigChecker.git

Optional Extras

The following are not strictly required for general IBEX development. They will be useful if you are on the project for > 1 year but otherwise probably not worth installing.

Explorer context menu shortcut for EPICS terminal

To add a shortcut to open an EPICS terminal using the context menu in Windows' file explorer, Run Command Prompt as Admin, navigate to EPICS in the Command Prompt, and type add_epics_context_menu.reg (from EPICS top) to run it as admin. This will add a registry key that will enable you to right click in an empty space in file explorer and open the directory in an EPICS terminal.

VNC

If you are supporting instruments it may be useful to download a VNC client. We have not settled on one that we all use but we have used:

  • VNC Viewer (just the client) which is available here

(we have used tightVNC (just the client) in past which is available here)

NI DAQ

It is recommended that developers only install this if they know that they will at some point be using a DAQ mx. If you do not do this step, you will be unable to run certain IOCs (e.g. riken power supplies, muon separator), and consequently some of their tests will fail.

Some IOCs depends on DAQMX binaries from national instruments. Go to http://sine.ni.com/psp/app/doc/p/id/psp-268 or if not go here https://www.ni.com/en-gb/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-daqmx.html#311818 and download the latest DAQMX drivers. When installing, ensure you check the box to install DAQMX.

Beckhoff XAR

If you will be developing or reviewing code involved with Beckhoff PLCs you will need to install TwinCAT XAR. This can be found on the public share in installers. More information for simulating Beckhoffs can be found here.

Note

XAR is the runtime that but for testing you will need the full setup which is the installer on the share

Add a custom footer
Add a custom sidebar
Clone this wiki locally