The megawidget provides readouts for the actual current and voltage of each channel. In addition, two spinboxes allow the user to set voltage targets for each channel. Each channel has a Ramp button that initiates a ramp to that channel's target. Each channel has an Off button that initiates a top speed ramp to 0 volts.
In the event a trip occurs, any alarm script provided by the user is called, and the background color of the tripped channel is changed to red for the duration of the trip. Once the trip condition is removed, the background color is changed back to the normal widget background color. For more information about alarm scripts, see the ALARM SCRIPTS section below.
In the event of an interesting change in the control panel, any user command script is invoked. For more information about command scripts, see the COMMAND SCRIPTS section below.
-nameProvides a name for the module that is meaningful to the user. The name is displayed on the megawidget.
-crateProvides the number of the VME crate in which the VHQ module controlled by this widget lives. Defaults to 0 if not supplied.
-baseProvides the module base address within the VME crate.
-commandProvides a script to be executed when the state of the module is changed significantly by the user. See COMMAND SCRIPTS below for more information about this.
-alarmscript Provides a script to be executed when an alarm condition occurs or is cleared. See ALARM SCRIPTS below for more information about alarm scripts.
-modelProvides the model of the device. See SUPPORTED MODELS below for more information about the model. If not supplied, this defaults to 202M.
-rampspeedProvides a 2 element list of chanel ramp speeds in Volts/Second. The first element will be the ramp speed for channel A, the second the ramp speed for channel B. If not supplied both speeds default to 10 Volts/second
-ilimitProvides a 2 element list of soft current limits for the channels in micro-Amps. The first element of the list is the current limit for channel A, the second for channel B. element is the limit for channel B. When the current sourced by a channel exceeds either this or the hard limit set on the device's front panel, a current limit alarm trip is performed and the voltage is set to zero by the hardware. If not supplied this defaulst to 50 micro-Amps for both channels.
Command scripts are invoked whenever an interesting action is performed by the user on the control panel. These scripts allow the user to maintain logs of changes, or perhaps create failsafe settings files for the module. Scripts are invoked with three action specific parameters appended to them: who, what, which, and value.
The who parameter is just the path to the widget that is invoking the script. Providing this allows the user to interrogate or control the widget as needed. The remaining parameters depend on the value of the what parameter, which describes the action the user just took:
The user just initiated a ramp on one of the
channels. The
which parameter is either
a or b
indicating which channel has started the ramp. The
value
parameter gives the ramp target voltage in volts.
Indicates the user has clicked the off button on
one of the channels. The which
parameter is
either a or b
indicating which channel has been turned off.
The value parameter is
0.
Indicates the current limit for a channel has just been changed (using e.g. name configure -ilimit nnn) which is either a or b indicating which channel had the current limit set. Note that in the case that the current limit was set using the widget's configure command, you will get a command script call for each channel.
Indicates the ramp speed for a channel has just been
changed.
which is either
a or b indicating
which channel had the current limit set. Note that in the
case the speed was changed using the
widgets's configure command, the command script is called
twice, once for each channel.
Alarm scripts are invoked whenever the module enters or leaves a tripped state. Alarm scripts enable the surrounding program to provide application specific details about the alarm to the user or log or perform any other application specific operation desired. For example vhqControl(1) maintains a log window showing trip and recovery details and timestamps.
The alarm script has four parameters appended to it. who is the object that is producing the alarm. This allows the alarm script to interrogate and control the widget. what describes the alarm condition. which indicates the affected channel and is either a or b. value is either 1 or 0 indicating if the condition described by what has been set (1) or cleared (0).
The values for what are:
The channel's DAC/Manual switch has been changed.
value 1 indicates the
channel is now in manual
mode and cannot be controlled by the megawidget.
The channel has raised or cleared an error bit. This is usually followed by another alarm script call indicating the error condition that was raised or cleared.
The channel is reporting a voltage that is over the voltage hard maximum set on the front panel for the module.
The channel has hit either the voltage hard limit, or the current hard or soft limit.
The channel has hit the current hard or soft limit.
The output voltage is not well regulated.
Model Name: 202L-s
Max Voltage: 2000 Volts
Max Current: 0.1 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 0.5 micro-Amps
Model Name: 202M
Max Voltage: 2000 Volts
Max Current: 3 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 1.5 micro-Amps
Model Name: 202M-h
Max Voltage: 2000 Volts
Max Current: 6 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 2.0 micro-Amps
Model Name: 203M
Max Voltage: 3000 Volts
Max Current: 2 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 0.66 micro-Amps
Model Name: 203M-h
Max Voltage: 3000 Volts
Max Current: 4 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 1.33 micro-Amps
Model Name: 204L
Max Voltage: 4000 Volts
Max Current: 1 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 0.33 micro-Amps
Model Name: 204M-h
Max Voltage: 4000 Volts
Max Current: 3 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 1.5 micro-Amps
Model Name: 205L
Max Voltage: 5000 Volts
Max Current: 1 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 0.33 micro-Amps
Model Name: 205L-h
Max Voltage: 5000 Volts
Max Current: 2 milli-Amps
CurrentResolution: 0.66 micro-Amps
Note that the software is unable to determine the actual model number of the device. If your model is not in the supported list, file an enhancment request at http://daqbugs.nscl.msu.edu and in the meantime, use a model with capabilities closest to the one you have.