Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Geoff Savage <[email protected]> · Thu, 03 Feb 2000 13:51:05 -0600

Hi,

I have followed the recent postings on using CA from Python with
interest.  We here at Fermilab make extensive use of our version of a
Python/CA interface.  You can get the source and documentation from
http://www-d0.fnal.gov/~savage/caPython/caPython.html
Along with the source code I have included Python modules for Linux,
IRIX, and OSF1.  The wrapper class, CaChannel, is pure Python and will
also run on all these platforms.

Highlights:
+ Straight conversion between C functions and Python functions using
SWIG.  This let's you program in Python as if you were programming in
C.  Some of the more advanced functions have not been implemented due to
constraints with how callbacks are handled.  I haven't completed the
scan group functionality as we don't use it here.
+ Included is a Python class that wraps the functions.  This makes CA in
Python easier to use.
+ Many macros from db_access.h and cadef.h are included along with the
data type identifiers (DBR_XXXX and DBF_XXXX).

Unfortunately we have not had the time to evaluate the CA/Python
interfaces developed by Noboru Yamamoto and Matthieu Bec.  Maybe we can
combine the strongest parts from each project into a standard CA/Python
interface.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Geoff

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System