Array Analog Output (aao)

The array analog output record type is used to write array data. The array data can contain any of the supported data types. The record is in many ways similar to the waveform record but outputs arrays instead of reading them. It also allows the device support to allocate the array storage.

Parameter Fields

The record-specific fields are described below, grouped by functionality.

Scan Parameters

The array analog output record has the standard fields for specifying under what circumstances the record will be processed. These fields are listed in "Scan Fields". In addition, "Scanning Specification" explains how these fields are used. I/O event scanning is only available when supported by device support.

Write Parameters

These fields are configurable by the user to specify how and where to the record writes its data. The OUT field determines where the array analog output writes its output. It can be a hardware address, a channel access or database link, or a constant. Only in records that use soft device support can the OUT field be a channel access link, a database link, or a constant. Otherwise, the OUT field must be a hardware address. See "Address Specification" for information on the format of hardware addresses and database links.

Fields related to array writing

The DTYP field must contain the name of the appropriate device support module. The values in the array referenced by are written to the location specified in the OUT field. (If the OUT link is a constant, no data are written.) NELM specifies the maximum number of elements that the array can hold, while FTVL specifies the data type of the elements (follow the link in the table below for a list of the available choices).

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
DTYPDevice TypeDEVICEYes YesYesNo
OUTOutput SpecificationOUTLINKYes YesYesNo
NELMNumber of ElementsULONGYes1YesNoNo
FTVLField Type of ValueMENU (menuFtype)Yes YesNoNo

Operator Display Parameters

These parameters are used to present meaningful data to the operator. They display the value and other parameters of the waveform either textually or graphically.

Fields related to Operator Display

EGU is a string of up to 16 characters describing the units that the array data measures. It is retrieved by the get_units record support routine.

The HOPR and LOPR fields set the upper and lower display limits for array elements referenced by the VAL field. Both the get_graphic_double and get_control_double record support routines retrieve these fields.

The PREC field determines the floating point precision with which to display the array values. It is used whenever the get_precision record support routine is called.

See Fields Common to All Record Types for more on the record name (NAME) and description (DESC) fields.

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
EGUEngineering UnitsSTRING [16]Yes YesYesNo
HOPRHigh Operating RangeDOUBLEYes YesYesNo
LOPRLow Operating RangeDOUBLEYes YesYesNo
PRECDisplay PrecisionSHORTYes YesYesNo
NAMERecord NameSTRING [61]No YesNoNo
DESCDescriptorSTRING [41]Yes YesYesNo

Alarm Parameters

The array analog output record has the alarm parameters common to all record types.

Monitor Parameters

These parameters are used to determine when to send monitors placed on the VAL field. The APST and MPST fields are a menu with choices "Always" and "On Change". The default is "Always", thus monitors will normally be sent every time the record processes. Selecting "On Change" causes a 32-bit hash of the VAL field buffer to be calculated and compared with the previous hash value every time the record processes; the monitor will only be sent if the hash is different, indicating that the buffer has changed. Note that there is a small chance that two different value buffers might result in the same hash value, so for critical systems "Always" may be a better choice, even though it re-sends duplicate data.

Record fields related to Monitor Parameters

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
APSTPost Archive MonitorsMENU (aaoPOST)Yes YesYesNo
MPSTPost Value MonitorsMENU (aaoPOST)Yes YesYesNo
HASHHash of OnChange data.ULONGNo YesYesNo

Menu aaoPOST

These are the choices available for the APST and MPST fields

IndexIdentifierChoice String
0 aaoPOST_Always Always
1 aaoPOST_OnChange On Change

Run-time Parameters

These parameters are used by the run-time code for processing the array analog output record. They are not configured using a configuration tool. Only the VAL field is modifiable at run-time.

VAL references the array where the array analog output record stores its data. The BPTR field holds the address of the array.

The NORD field holds a counter of the number of elements that have been written to the output,

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
VALValueDOUBLE[]No YesYesYes
BPTRBuffer PointerNOACCESSNo NoNoNo
NORDNumber elements readULONGNo YesNoNo

Simulation Mode Parameters

The following fields are used to operate the record in simulation mode.

If SIMM (fetched through SIML) is YES, the record is put in SIMS severity and the value is written through SIOL. SSCN sets a different SCAN mechanism to use in simulation mode. SDLY sets a delay (in sec) that is used for asynchronous simulation processing.

See Output Simulation Fields for more information on simulation mode and its fields.

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
SIMLSimulation Mode LinkINLINKYes YesYesNo
SIMMSimulation ModeMENU (menuYesNo)No YesYesNo
SIOLSimulation Output LinkOUTLINKYes YesYesNo
SIMSSimulation Mode SeverityMENU (menuAlarmSevr)Yes YesYesNo
SDLYSim. Mode Async DelayDOUBLEYes-1.0YesYesNo
SSCNSim. Mode ScanMENU (menuScan)Yes65535YesYesNo



Record Support

Record Support Routines

init_record

   static long init_record(aaoRecord *prec, int pass)

If device support includes init_record(), it is called.

Checks if device support allocated array space. If not, space for the array is allocated using NELM and FTVL. The array address is stored in the record.

This routine initializes SIMM with the value of SIML if SIML type is CONSTANT link or creates a channel access link if SIML type is PV_LINK. VAL is likewise initialized if SIOL is CONSTANT or PV_LINK.

This routine next checks to see that device support is available and a device support write routine is defined. If either does not exist, an error message is issued and processing is terminated

process

  static long process(aaoRecord *prec)

See "Record Processing" section below.

cvt_dbaddr

  static long cvt_dbaddr(DBADDR *paddr)

This is called by dbNameToAddr. It makes the dbAddr structure refer to the actual buffer holding the result.

get_array_info

  static long get_array_info(DBADDR *paddr, long *no_elements, long *offset)

Obtains values from the array referenced by VAL.

put_array_info

  static long put_array_info(DBADDR *paddr, long nNew)

Writes values into the array referenced by VAL.

get_units

  static long get_units(DBADDR *paddr, char *units)

Retrieves EGU.

get_prec

  static long get_precision(DBADDR *paddr, long *precision)

Retrieves PREC if field is VAL field. Otherwise, calls recGblGetPrec().

get_graphic_double

  static long get_graphic_double(DBADDR *paddr, struct dbr_grDouble *pgd)

Sets the upper display and lower display limits for a field. If the field is VAL the limits are set to HOPR and LOPR, else if the field has upper and lower limits defined they will be used, else the upper and lower maximum values for the field type will be used.

Sets the following values:

  upper_disp_limit = HOPR
  lower_disp_limit = LOPR

get_control_double

  static long get_control_double(DBADDR *paddr, struct dbr_ctrlDouble *pcd)

Sets the upper control and the lower control limits for a field. If the field is VAL the limits are set to HOPR and LOPR, else if the field has upper and lower limits defined they will be used, else the upper and lower maximum values for the field type will be used.

Sets the following values

  upper_ctrl_limit = HOPR
  lower_ctrl_limit = LOPR

Record Processing

Routine process implements the following algorithm:

  1. Check to see that the appropriate device support module exists. If it doesn't, an error message is issued and processing is terminated with the PACT field still set to TRUE. This ensures that processes will no longer be called for this record. Thus error storms will not occur.
  2. Call device support write routine write_aao.
  3. If PACT has been changed to TRUE, the device support read routine has started but has not completed writing the new value. In this case, the processing routine merely returns, leaving PACT TRUE.
  4. Check to see if monitors should be invoked.
    • Alarm monitors are invoked if the alarm status or severity has changed.
    • Archive and value change monitors are invoked if APST or MPST are Always or if the result of the hash calculation is different.
    • NSEV and NSTA are reset to 0.
  5. Scan forward link if necessary, set PACT FALSE, and return.



Device Support

Fields Of Interest To Device Support

Each array analog output record record must have an associated set of device support routines. The primary responsibility of the device support routines is to write the array data value whenever write_aao() is called. The device support routines are primarily interested in the following fields:

FieldSummaryTypeDCT DefaultReadWriteCA PP
PACTRecord activeUCHARNo YesNoNo
DPVTDevice PrivateNOACCESSNo NoNoNo
NSEVNew Alarm SeverityMENU (menuAlarmSevr)No YesNoNo
NSTANew Alarm StatusMENU (menuAlarmStat)No YesNoNo
OUTOutput SpecificationOUTLINKYes YesYesNo
NELMNumber of ElementsULONGYes1YesNoNo
FTVLField Type of ValueMENU (menuFtype)Yes YesNoNo
BPTRBuffer PointerNOACCESSNo NoNoNo
NORDNumber elements readULONGNo YesNoNo

Device Support Routines

Device support consists of the following routines:

report

  long report(int level)

This optional routine is called by the IOC command dbior and is passed the report level that was requested by the user. It should print a report on the state of the device support to stdout. The level parameter may be used to output increasingly more detailed information at higher levels, or to select different types of information with different levels. Level zero should print no more than a small summary.

init

  long init(int after)

This optional routine is called twice at IOC initialization time. The first call happens before any of the init_record() calls are made, with the integer parameter after set to 0. The second call happens after all of the init_record() calls have been made, with after set to 1.

init_record

  long init_record(dbCommon *precord)

This routine is optional. If provided, it is called by the record support init_record() routine.

get_ioint_info

  long get_ioint_info(int cmd, dbCommon *precord, IOSCANPVT *ppvt)

This routine is called by the ioEventScan system each time the record is added or deleted from an I/O event scan list. cmd has the value (0,1) if the record is being (added to, deleted from) an I/O event list. It must be provided for any device type that can use the ioEvent scanner.

write_aao

  long write_aao(dbCommon *precord)

This routine must write the array data to output. It returns the following values:

Device Support For Soft Records

The Soft Channel device support module is provided to write values to other records and store them in arrays. If OUT is a constant link, then write_aao() does nothing. In this case, the record can be used to hold arrays written via dbPuts. If OUT is a database or channel access link, the array value is written to the link. NORD is set to the number of items in the array.

If the OUT link type is constant, then NORD is set to zero.