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First time installing and building (Windows)

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Jack Harper edited this page May 12, 2023 · 186 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

Download and install latest stable version from http://wixtoolset.org/releases/

Install Visual Studio

See Install Visual Studio

Install Java JDK

Install OpenJDK 17 hotspot from https://adoptium.net/?variant=openjdk17&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.

Note: you MUST install a maven version >=3.6.0, but not 3.6.1 as this has a bug. Versions earlier than 3.6 are unable to build the GUI.

Install Git

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

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 Developer-Server-Build page to copy a built version of EPICS to \instrument\apps

Install genie_python

See Building and installing genie_python

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

  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

git config --global core.autocrlf true
git config --global credential.helper wincred
git config --global user.name "spudulike"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
  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"
git add Python/<init_inst_name>.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

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.

Set up the CS-Studio archiver

Before doing this ensure that the build.bat started in a previous step 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

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\x64\Release
  • Type:
    isisicp.exe /RegServer
    isisdatasvr.exe /RegServer

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 2019.

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 2019(x64))

And try running isisicp.exe /RegServer again.

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, double click add_epics_context_menu.reg (from EPICS top) and run 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:

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

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