Using E364xA instrument support in an application

Note that this device has rather unusual requirements for RS-232 communication:

• An E364xA device requires two stop bits.It receives on pin 2 and transmits on pin 3.
• An E364xA device monitors DSR (pin 6) for for handshaking. A serial port to which an E364xA device is connected must assert (drive with a positive voltage) this line to enable the E364xA to transmit.
• An E364xA device drives DTR (pin 4) for for handshaking. The device to which an E364xA is connected must monitor this pin and inhibit transmission until it has been asserted. The E364xA will experience communication errors after every command which sets and then reads back a value if this is not done.

Several files need minor modifications to use e364xa instrument support in an application.

1. Add the full path to the e364xa support directory to the application configure/RELEASE file:
   e364xa=xxxx/modules/instrument/e364xa/<release>
   Where <release> is the release number of of the e364xa support.
2. Add instrument support to application database definition file
   The application database definition file must include the database definition files for the e364xa instrument and for any needed ASYN drivers. There are two ways that this can be done:
   • If you are building your application database definition file from an xxxInclude.dbd file you include the additional database definitions in that file:
     include "base.dbd"
     include "deve364xa.dbd"
     include "drvAsynIPPort.dbd"
   • If you are building your application database definition file from the application Makefile you specify the aditional database definitions there:
     xxx_DBD += base.dbd
     xxx_DBD += deve364xa.dbd
     xxx_DBD += drvAsynIPPort.dbd
     
3. Add the e364xa support libraries to the application
   You must link the e364xa support library and the ASYN support library with the application. Add the following lines:
   xxx_LIBS += deve364xa
   xxx_LIBS += asyn
   before the
   xxx_LIBS += $(EPICS_BASE_IOC_LIBS)
   in the application Makefile.
4. Load the e364xa support database records in the application startup script:
   cd $(e364xa)      (cd e364xa if using the vxWorks shell)
   dbLoadRecords("db/deve364xa.db,"P=<P>,R=<R>,L=<L>,A=<A>")
   You'll have to provide appropriate values for the PV name prefixes (<P> and <R>), the link number (<L>) and the device address (<A>). The link number must match the value specified in an ASYN drvxxxxxConfigure command.

Installation and Building

1. Create an installation directory for the module. The path name of this directory should end with modules/instrument/e364xa.
2. Place the distribution file into this directory.
3. Execute the following commands:
   cd modules/instrument/e364xa
   gunzip e364xa<release>.tar.gz
   tar xvf e364xa<release>.tar
   cd <release>
   Where <release> is the release number of of the e364xa support.
4. Edit the configure/RELEASE file and set the paths to your installation of EPICS base and ASYN.
5. Execute make in the top level directory.