CA Lab (32 bit / 64 bit)

caLabGet.vi (Polymorphic VI)

INPUT:

OUTPUT:

caLabPut.vi (Polymorphic VI)

INPUT:

OUTPUT:

caLabEvent.vi

INPUT:

OUTPUT:

PV Info

Cluster of all PV info

• Name
  • Name of EPICS variable
• Elements
  • Size of value array
• Values (string)
  • All values of variable in a string array
• Values (number)
  • All values of variable in a double array
• Elements
  • Size (elements) of value array
• Status (string)
  • Status of EPICS variable as String
• Status (number)
  • Status of EPICS variable as Long
• Severity (string)
  • Severity of EPICS variable as String
• Severity (number)
  • Severity of EPICS variable as Long
• Timestamp (string)
  • Timestamp of EPICS variable as String
• Timestamp (number)
  • Timestamp of EPICS variable as Long
• Field Names
  • String array of EPICS field names
• Field Values
  • String array of requsted EPICS field values
• Error
  • Result of Channel Access communication
  • Error status
  • Error code (value 1 stands for success because we use the EPICS nomenclature)
  • Error source (message)

Performance

What Ca Lab library does

caLab.dll (interface between LabVIEW™ and EPICS)

Functions:

CA tools (included in CA Lab)

Additional command line tools for alternative EPICS access:

caget example

camonitor example

caput example

event example

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Q: How can I do a quick check that CA Lab -installation works properly?
A: Use the full installion and run "startDemo.bat".

Q: I get a lot of warnings on first start of your VI. What's the problem?
A: The CA Lab -VIs need the absolute path to caLab.dll. This absolute path varies from computer to computer. LabVIEW™ looks for the right path at first run and reports that library paths have been changed. You should save these changes.

Q: CA Lab -VIs aren't executable, what can I do?
A: Check following:

• Search your system for ca.dll, com.dll and carepeater.exe. If you can find several versions of them, then rename all outside of your installation path.
• Check whether msvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll are in "windows/system32" folder.
• Open a command line and type "carepeater". You should get no error message. Terminate it with CTRL-C. If you get any error message you should reinstall CA Lab .
• Open caLabGet.vi/caLabPut.vi/caLabEvent.vi and search for text "calab.dll". Double click on founds and check if text field "Library name or path" has same content as "path.txt" in your installation path.

Q: What is the maximum number of PVs monitored, tested up to now?
A: We have simultaneously monitored up to 1.000 PVs. But we're sure the limit is higher. A large number of PVs takes significant time to initialize when a PV is passed to the other. It's better to pass the PVs as an array. Reading, writing and monitoring after initialisation is no problem.

Q: Can CA Lab generate its own EPICS channels, or only connect to already defined channels?
A: CA Lab is a pure client application. If you want to generate your own channels, you can use "softIoc.exe". You can find an example in the demo application of caLab. Look at \DemoIOC\db\demo.db for variable definitions.

Q: Will caLab work with any version of LabVIEW™ 64bit?
A: Yes, CA Lab does since V1.3.0.3. Please be sure to download the 64 bit version.

Q: I'm wondering what the timeout parameter does.
A: The timeout is the timeout for initializing and for retrieving the value for the FIRST call. After first call of any PV a background task monitors PVs and every call will be served by cached values from this task.
If you're using "synchronous" for caLabPut.vi, timeout defines how long CA Lab waits for response.

Q: I use caLabPut. When should I set the parameter "synchronious" to TRUE?
A: If it is necessary to wait til all record processing of written PV has been finished before next value can be set then you should set the connector of caLabPut "synchronious"=TRUE.
Please check, your timeout is long as needed for response.

Q: There is a 'Debugging window' with the message "Error: xxx has been configured with different optional fields". What can I do?
A: This message will appear if there are several views of a PV with different field names. Please use the same count and order of field names for same PV name.

Q: When I run a VI with CA Lab it takes a long time to stop it. What can I do?
A: The most common reason is you run your VI few than 10 seconds. In this case CA Lab waits 5 seconds on closing to avoid interface problems.

• All needed VIs and definitions for accessing to EPICS
• All needed native libraries
• A ReadmeFirst-file
• Optional: Command line tools as caget, caput, camonitor and cainfo
• Optional: Some demo VIs
• Optional: A SoftIOC with demo configuration
• Optional: Full source code
• Optional: startDemo.bat for easy beginning