How to create PVs for generic user data

The INSTETC IOC contains PVs intended to be user-settable values. These PVs can have blocks pointed at them via the configurations screen. These PVs could, for example, be used to hold data about equipment which is manually controlled, but should be put in a nexus file.

There are three types of data that a user PV can hold: integer, real and string. The corresponding process variables are:

• IN:<instrument>:PARS:USER:I0 for integers
• IN:<instrument>:PARS:USER:R0 for real types
• IN:<instrument>:PARS:USER:S0 for strings

The counter at the end of the PV is an index. By default, instruments are set up to have 5 of each type of user PV (indexes 0-4 inclusive). If you find you need more than 5 of any one data type, it is configurable.

• Go to C:\Instrument\Settings\config\NDX<instrument>\configurations
• Locate a file called globals.txt (if it does not exist, create it)
• Add the following line to the file: INSTETC_01__NUM_USER_VARS=25, where 25 should be replaced by the maximum number of user variables you want for any given type.
• Ensure that globals.txt ends with at least one blank line, otherwise, the last line will not be read.
• To pick up the changes, IBEX will need to be restarted. Follow the process detailed here: Starting the IBEX Server.