areaDetector and ADCore R2-6 released

[Mark Rivers <rivers@cars.uchicago.edu>]

Folks,

 

New releases of the following areaDetector modules are now available. 

 

areaDetector R2-6

ADCore R2-6

ADSupport R1-1

ADSimDetector R2-4

ADCSimDetector R2-4

pvaDriver R1-1

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the R2-6 release notes for areaDetector:

 

* Requires ADCore R2-6

* Requires asyn R4-31

* ADExample has been replaced by 3 new repositories

    * ADSimDetector  The simulation detector

   * ADCSimDetector The ADC simulation detector

    * pvaDriver    The EPICS V4 PVAccess driver

* New NDDriverStdArrays driver that supports sending NDArrays to an areaDetector IOC from Channel Access clients via waveform records and other PVs.

* New releases of many drivers with minor changes to source code and medm screens for the enhancements in ADCore R2-6.

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the major items from the R2-6 release notes for ADCore:

 

### NDPluginDriver, NDPluginBase.template, NDPluginBase.adl

* If blockCallbacks is non-zero in constructor then it no longer creates a processing thread.

    This saves resources if the plugin will only be used in blocking mode.  If the plugin is changed

   to non-blocking mode at runtime then the thread will be created then.

* Added new parameter NDPluginExecutionTime and new ai record ExecutionTime_RBV.  This gives the execution

    time in ms the last time the plugin ran.  It works both with BlockingCallbacks=Yes and No.  It is very

   convenient for measuring the performance of the plugin without having to run the detector at high

   frame rates.

 

### NDPluginROI

* Added CollapseDims to optionally collapse (remove) output array dimensions whose value is 1.

   For example an output array that would normally have dimensions [1, 256, 256] would be

   [256, 256] if CollapseDims=Enable.

 

### NDPluginOverlay

* Added new Ellipse shape to draw elliptical or circular overlays.

* Added CenterX and CenterY parameter for each overlay.  One can now specify the overlay location

    either by PositionX and PositionY, which defines the position of the upper left corner of the

   overlay, or by CenterX and CenterY, which define the location of the center of the overlay.

    If CenterX/Y is changed then PositionX/Y will automatically update, and vice-versa.

* Changed the meaning of SizeX and SizeY for the Cross overlay shape.  Previously the total size

   of a Cross overlay was SizeX\*2 and SizeY\*2.  It is now SizeX and SizeY.  This makes it consistent

    with the Rectangle and Overlay shapes, i.e. drawing each of these shapes with the same PositionX

    and SizeX/Y will result in shapes that overlap in the expected manner.

* Slightly changed the meaning of SizeX/Y for the Cross and Rectangle shapes.  Previously the total

    size of the overlay was SizeX and SizeY.  Now it is SizeX+1 and SizeY+1, i.e. the overlay extends

   +-SizeX/2 and +-SizeY/2 pixels from the center pixel.  This preserves symmetry when WidthX/Y is 1,

    and the previous behavior is difficult to duplicate for the Ellipse shape.

 

### NDPluginStats

* Extensions to compute Centroid

    * Added calculations of 3rd and 4th order image moments, this provides skewness and kurtosis.

   * Added eccentricity and orientation calculations.

* Changed Histogram.

    * Previously the documentation stated that all values less than or equal to HistMin will

       be in the first bin of the histogram, and all values greater than or equal to histMax will

       be in last bin of the histogram.  This was never actually implemented; values outside the range

       HistMin:HistMax were not included in the histogram at all.

    * Rather than change the code to be consistent with the documentation two new records were added,

       HistBelow and HistAbove.  HistBelow contains the number of values less than HistMin,

       while HistAbove contains the number of values greater than HistMax.  This was done

       because adding a large number of values to the first and last bins of the histogram would change

       the entropy calculation, and also make histogram plots hard to scale nicely.

 

### NDPluginPva

* The pvaServer is no longer started in the plugin code, because that would result in running multiple servers

    if multiple NDPluginPva plugins were loaded.  Now the command "startPVAServer" must be added to the IOC startup

   script if any NDPluginPva plugins are being used.

 

### NDPluginFile

* If the NDArray contains an attribute named FilePluginClose and the attribute value is non-zero then

   the current file will be closed.

 

### NDFileTIFF

* If there is an NDAttribute of type NDAttrString named TIFFImageDescription then this attribute is written

    to the TIFFTAG_IMAGEDESCRIPTION tag in the TIFF file.  Note that it will also be written to a user

    tag in the TIFF file, as with all other NDAttributes.  This is OK because some data processing code

    may expect to find the information in one location or the other.

* Added documentation on how the plugin writes NDAttributes to the TIFF file.

 

### NDAttribute

* Removed the line `#define MAX_ATTRIBUTE_STRING_SIZE 256` from NDAttribute.h because it creates the

    false impression that there is a limit on the size of string attributes.  There is not.

    Some drivers and plugins may need to limit the size, but they should do this with local definitions.

    The following files were changed to use local definitions, with these symbolic names and values:

 

  | File                           | Symbolic name             | Value |

  | ------------------------------ | ------------------------- | ----- |

  | NDFileHDF5AttributeDataset.cpp | MAX_ATTRIBUTE_STRING_SIZE | 256   |

  | NDFileNetCDF.cpp               | MAX_ATTRIBUTE_STRING_SIZE | 256   |

  | NDFileTIFF.cpp                 | STRING_BUFFER_SIZE        | 2048  |

 

### paramAttribute

* Changed to read string parameters using the asynPortDriver::getStringParam(int index, std::string&amp;)

  method that was added in asyn R4-31.  This removes the requirement that paramAttribute specify a maximum

  string parameters size, there is now no limit.

 

### PVAttribute

* Fixed problem where a PV that disconnected and reconnected would cause multiple CA subscriptions.

    Note that if the data type of the PV changes on reconnect that the data may not be correct because

   the data type of a PVAttribute is not allowed to change.  The application must be restarted in this

    case.

 

### asynNDArrayDriver, NDArrayBase.template, NDPluginBase.adl, ADSetup.adl, all plugin adl files

* Added 2 new parameters: NDADCoreVersion, NDDriverVersion and new stringin records ADCoreVersion_RBV and

    DriverVersion_RBV.  These show the version of ADCore and of the driver or plugin that the IOC was

   built with.  Because NDPluginBase.adl grew larger all of the other plugin adl files have changed

    their layouts.

 

### ADDriver, ADBase.template, ADSetup.adl

* Added 3 new parameters: ADSerialNumber, ADFirmwareVersion, and ADSDKVersion and new stringin records

    SerialNumber_RBV, FirmwareVersion_RBV, and SDKVersion_RBV. These show the serial number and firmware

   version of the detector, and the version of the vendor SDK library that the IOC was built with.

   Because ADSetup.adl grew larger all driver adl files need to change their layouts.  This has been done

   for ADBase.adl in ADCore.  New releases of driver modules will have the changed layouts.

 

### pvaDriver

* Moved the driver into its own repository areaDetector/pvaDriver.  The new repository contains

    both the driver library from ADCore and the example IOC that was previously in ADExample.

 

### Viewers/ImageJ

* Improvements to EPICS_AD_Viewer.java

    * Automatically set the contrast when a new window is created. This eliminates the need to

       manually set the contrast when changing image size, data type, and color mode in many cases.

    * When the image window is automatically closed and reopened because the size, data type,

        or color mode changes the new window is now positioned in the same location as the window

        that was closed.

* New ImageJ plugin called GaussianProfiler.java.  It was written by Noumane Laanait when he

   was at the APS (currently at ORNL).  This is similar to the standard ImageJ Plot Profile tool in Live

    mode, but it also fits a Gaussian peak to the profile, and prints the fit parameters centroid, FWHM,

    amplitude, and background.  It is very useful for focusing x-ray beams, etc.

* New ImageJ plugin called EPICS_AD_Controller.java.  This plugin allows using the ImageJ ROI tools

    (rectangle and oval) to graphically define the following:

    * The readout region of the detector/camera

    * The position and size of an ROI (NDPluginROI)

    * The position and size of an overlay (NDPluginOverlay)

 

    The plugin chain can include an NDPluginTransform plugin which changes the image orientation and an

   NDPluginROI plugin that changes the binning, size, and X/Y axes directions.  The plugin corrects

   for these transformations when defining the target object.  Chris Roehrig from the APS wrote an

    earlier version of this plugin.

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the R1-1 release notes for ADSupport:

 

* Fixed a problem with XML2 on vxWorks.  xml2Src/os/vxWorks/config.h was previously defining HAVE_ZLIB_H.

    However, on vxWorks we do have zlib.h, but xmlIO.c requires the dup() function to use zlib, and vxWorks

    does not have dup(), at least not in 6.9.4.  Fix is not to define HAVE_ZLIB_H.

* The HDF5 Group has not yet released 1.10.1, and is now estimating sometime after March 1, 2017.

    ADSupport thus still has 2 branches as discussed in the R1-0 release notes.

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the R2-4 release notes for ADSimDetector:

 

* Add new parameters ADSerialNumber, ADFirmwareVersion, ADSDKVersion. Minor change to driver and medm screen.

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the R2-4 release notes for ADCSimDetector:

 

* Add support for new parameter NDDriverVersion. Minor change to driver and medm screen.

 

 

****************************************************************************************

These are the R1-1 release notes for pvaDriver:

 

* Added new parameters ADSerialNumber, ADFirmwareVersion, ADSDKVersion, NDDriverVersion. Minor change to driver and medm screen.

 

 

The home page is here:

http://cars.uchicago.edu/software/epics/areaDetector.html

 

The top-level documentation is here:

http://cars.uchicago.edu/software/epics/areaDetectorDoc.html

 

Installation instructions are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/areaDetector/blob/master/INSTALL_GUIDE.md

 

areaDetector release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/areaDetector/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

ADSupport release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/ADSupport/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

ADCore release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/ADCore/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

ADSimDetector release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/ADSimDetector/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

ADCSimDetector release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/ADCSimDetector/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

pvaDriver release notes are here:

https://github.com/areaDetector/pvaDriver/blob/master/RELEASE.md

 

Mark