spock.rst

Spock

Spock is the prefered CLI for sardana. It is based on IPython. Spock automatically loads other IPython extensions like the ones for PyTango and pylab. It as been extended in sardana to provide a customized interface for executing macros and automatic access to sardana elements.

Spock tries to mimic SPEC's command line interface. Most SPEC commands are available from spock console.

Spock CLI in action

Starting spock from the command line

To start spock just type in the command line:

marge@machine02:~$ spock

This will start spock with a "default profile" for the user your are logged with. There may be many sardana servers running on your system so the first time you start spock, it will ask you to which sardana system you want to connect to by asking to which of the existing doors you want to use:

marge@machine02:~$ spock
Profile 'spockdoor' does not exist. Do you want to create one now ([y]/n)? 
Available Door devices from homer:10000 :
On Sardana LAB-01:
    LAB-01-D01 (running)
    LAB-01-D02 (running)
On Sardana LAB-02:
    LAB-02-D01
Please select a Door from the list? LAB-01-D01
Storing ipy_profile_spockdoor.py in /home/marge/.ipython... [DONE]

Note

If only one Door exists in the entire system, spock will automatically connect to that door thus avoiding the previous questions.

Afterward, spock CLI will start normally:

spock

Spock 7.2.1 -- An interactive sardana client.

help -> Spock's help system. object? -> Details about 'object'. ?object also works, ?? prints more.

Spock's sardana extension 1.0 loaded with profile: spockdoor (linked to door 'LAB-01-D01')

LAB-01-D01 [1]:

Starting spock with a custom profile

spock allows each user to start a spock session with different configurations (known in spock as profiles). All you have to do is start spock with the profile name as an option.

If you use ipython version > 0.10 you can do it using --profile option:

spock --profile=<profile name>

Example:

marge@machine02:~$ spock --profile=D1

Otherwise (ipython version 0.10) you can do it using -p option:

spock -p <profile name>

Example:

marge@machine02:~$ spock -p D1

The first time a certain profile is used you will be asked to which door you want to connect to (see previous chapter).

Spock IPython Primer

As mentioned before, spock console is based on IPython. Everything you can do in IPython is available in spock. The IPython documentation provides excelent tutorials, tips & tricks, cookbooks, videos, presentations and reference guide. For comodity we summarize some of the most interesting IPython chapters here:

• IPython web page
• tutorial
• tips
• command_line_options

Executing macros

Executing sardana macros in spock is the most useful feature of spock. It is very simple to execute a macro: just type the macro name followed by a space separated list of parameters (if the macro has any parameters). For example, one of the most used macros is the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.wa (stands for "where all") that shows all current motor positions. To execute it just type:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: wa

Current Positions (user, dial)

Energy Gap Offset

100.0000 43.0000 100.0000 100.0000 43.0000 100.0000

(user for user position (number above); dial for dial position (number below).)

A similar macro exists that only shows the desired motor positions (~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.wm):

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: wm gap offset

Gap Offset

User

High 500.0 100.0 Current 100.0 43.0 Low 5.0 -100.0

Dial

High 500.0 100.0 Current 100.0 43.0 Low 5.0 -100.0

To get the list of all existing macros use ~sardana.macroserver.macros.expert.lsmac:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: lsdef

Name Module Brief Description

------------------- ------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ a2scan scans two-motor scan. a2scan scans two motors, as specifi[...]

a2scan scans three-motor scan . a3scan scans three motors, as sp[...]

ascan scans Do an absolute scan of the specified motor. ascan s[...]

defmeas expert Create a new measurement group

fscan scans N-dimensional scan along user defined paths. The mo[...]

lsa lists Lists all existing objects lsm lists Lists all motors

lsmac expert Lists all macros.

mv standard Move motor(s) to the specified position(s)

mvr standard Move motor(s) relative to the current position(s)

wa standard Show all motor position. wm standard Show the position of the specified motors.

<...>

Miscellaneous

• ~sardana.macroserver.macros.lists.lsm shows the list of motors.
• ~sardana.macroserver.macros.lists.lsct shows the list of counters.
• ~sardana.macroserver.macros.lists.lsmeas shows the list of measurement groups
• ~sardana.macroserver.macros.lists.lsctrl shows the list of controllers
• ~sardana.macroserver.macros.expert.sar_info object displays detailed information about an element

Stopping macros

Some macros may take a long time to execute. To stop a macro in the middle of its execution type Control+c.

Macros that move motors or acquire data from sensors will automatically stop all motion and/or all acquisition.

Exiting spock

To exit spock type Control+d or exit() inside a spock console.

Getting help

spock not only knows all the macros the sardana server can run but it also information about each macro parameters, result and documentation. Therefore it can give you precise help on each macro. To get help about a certain macro just type the macro name directly followed by a question mark('?'):

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: ascan?

Syntax:

ascan <motor> <start_pos> <final_pos> <nr_interv> <integ_time>

Do an absolute scan of the specified motor.

ascan scans one motor, as specified by motor. The motor starts at the position given by start_pos and ends at the position given by final_pos. The step size is (start_pos-final_pos)/nr_interv. The number of data points collected will be nr_interv+1. Count time is given by time which if positive, specifies seconds and if negative, specifies monitor counts.

Parameters:

motor : (Motor) Motor to move start_pos : (Float) Scan start position final_pos : (Float) Scan final position nr_interv : (Integer) Number of scan intervals integ_time : (Float) Integration time

Moving motors

A single motor may be moved using the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.mv motor position macro. Example:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: mv gap 50

will move the gap motor to 50. The prompt only comes back after the motion as finished.

Alternatively, you can have the motor position displayed on the screen as it is moving by using the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.umv macro instead. To stop the motor(s) before they have finished moving, type Control+c.

You can use the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.mvr motor relative_position macro to move a motor relative to its current position:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: mvr gap 2

will move gap by two user units.

Counting

You can count using the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.ct value macro. Without arguments, this macro counts for one second using the active measurement group set by the environment variable ActiveMntGrp.

spock

Door_lab-01_1 [1]: ct 1.6

Wed Jul 11 11:47:55 2012

ct01 = 1.6 ct02 = 3.2 ct03 = 4.8 ct04 = 6.4

To see the list of available measurement groups type ~sardana.macroserver.macros.lists.lsmeas. The active measuremnt group is marked with an asterisk (*):

spock

Door_lab-01_1 [1]: lsmeas

Active Name Timer Experim. channels

-------- ---------- ------- ----------------------------------------------------------- * mntgrp01 ct01 ct01, ct02, ct03, ct04

mntgrp21 ct04 ct04, pcII0, pcII02 mntgrp24 ct04 ct04, pcII0

to switch active measurement groups type ~sardana.macroserver.macros.env.senv ActiveMntGrp mg_name.

You can also create, modify and select measurement groups using the ~sardana.spock.magic.expconf command

Scanning

Sardana provides a catalog of different standard scan macros. Absolute-position motor scans such as ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.ascan, ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.a2scan and ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.a3scan move one, two or three motors at a time. Relative-position motor scans are ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.dscan, ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.d2scan and ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.d3scan. The relative-position scans all return the motors to their starting positions after the last point. Two motors can be scanned over a grid of points using the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.mesh scan.

Continuous versions exist of many of the standard scan macros (e.g. ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.ascanc, ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.d3scanc, ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.meshc,...). The continuous scans differ from their standard counterparts (also known as step scans) in that the data acquisition is done without stopping the motors. Continuous scans are generally faster but less precise than step scans, and some details must be considered (see sardana-users-scan).

As it happens with ~sardana.macroserver.macros.standard.ct, the scan macros will also use the active measurement group to decide which experiment channels will be involved in the operation.

Here is the output of performing an ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.ascan of the gap in a slit:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: ascan gap 0.9 1.1 20 1 ScanDir is not defined. This operation will not be stored persistently. Use "senv ScanDir <abs directory>" to enable it Scan #4 started at Wed Jul 11 12:56:47 2012. It will take at least 0:00:21 #Pt No gap ct01 ct02 ct03 0 0.9 1 4604 8939 1 0.91 1 5822 8820 2 0.92 1 7254 9544 3 0.93 1 9254 8789 4 0.94 1 11265 8804 5 0.95 1 13583 8909 6 0.96 1 15938 8821 7 0.97 1 18076 9110 8 0.98 1 19638 8839 9 0.99 1 20825 8950 10 1 1 21135 8917 11 1.01 1 20765 9013 12 1.02 1 19687 9135 13 1.03 1 18034 8836 14 1.04 1 15876 8901 15 1.05 1 13576 8933 16 1.06 1 11328 9022 17 1.07 1 9244 9205 18 1.08 1 7348 8957 19 1.09 1 5738 8801 20 1.1 1 4575 8975 Scan #4 ended at Wed Jul 11 12:57:18 2012, taking 0:00:31.656980 (dead time was 33.7%)

Scan storage

As you can see, by default, the scan is not recorded into any file. To store your scans in a file, you must set the environment variables ScanDir and ScanFile:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: senv ScanDir /tmp ScanDir = /tmp

LAB-01-D01 [2]: senv ScanFile scans.h5 ScanFile = scans.h5

Sardana will activate a proper recorder to store the scans persistently (currently, .h5 will store in NeXus format. All other extensions are interpreted as SPEC format).

You can also store in multiples files by assigning the ScanFile with a list of files:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [2]: senv ScanFile "['scans.h5', 'scans.dat']" ScanFile = ['scans.h5', 'scans.dat']

Viewing scan data

Sardana provides a scan data viewer for scans which were stored in a NeXus file. Without arguments, ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.showscan will show you the result of the last scan in a GUI:

Scan data viewer in action

~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.showscan scan_number will display data for the given scan number.

The history of scans is available through the ~sardana.macroserver.macros.scan.scanhist macro:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: scanhist

# Title Start time End time Stored

--- ------------------------------- --------------------- --------------------- ------------- 1 dscan mot01 20.0 30.0 10 0.1 2012-07-03 10:35:30 2012-07-03 10:35:30 Not stored!

3 dscan mot01 20.0 30.0 10 0.1 2012-07-03 10:36:38 2012-07-03 10:36:43 Not stored! 4 ascan gap01 10.0 100.0 20 1.0 12:56:47 12:57:18 Not stored! 5 ascan gap01 1.0 10.0 20 0.1 13:19:05 13:19:13 scans.h5

Using spock as a Python console

You can write any Python code inside a spock console since spock uses IPython as a command line interpreter. For example, the following will work inside a spock console:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: def f():

...: print("Hello, World!") ...: ...:

LAB-01-D01 [2]: f() Hello, World!

Using spock as a Tango console

As metioned in the beggining of this chapter, the sardana spock automatically activates the PyTango 's ipython console extension. Therefore all Tango features are automatically available on the sardana spock console. For example, creating a ~PyTango.DeviceProxy will work inside the sardana spock console:

spock

LAB-01-D01 [1]: tgtest = PyTango.DeviceProxy("sys/tg_test/1")

LAB-01-D01 [2]: print( tgtest.state() ) RUNNING

Footnotes