EScope12: A Progress Bar for Downloading signals

EScope12 provides the same user interface of EScope11. The major difference lies in the fact that in EScope data readout is carried out by a separate thread. This allows the visualization of a progress bar, as well as the possibility of user interaction even when data is being downloaded by a data server.

File EScope.properties, which must reside in the work directory of EScope (i.e. the directory containing the file EScope11.java), defines both the number of panels and the supported data servwersa.. The syntax of the property file is the following:

• num_columns = <tot number of columns>    to define the total number of columns. For each column:
• column_<i>.num_rows = <number of panels in column i>   were  i ranges from 1 to the total number of columns.
• DataServer_<i>.Name                  defining the name of the data server, displayed then in the GUI
• DataServer_<i>.FactoryClass       defining the name of the factory class for this data server
• DataServer_<i>.Source                  defining the source of the server, used, for example, when the data server is using a network connection
• DataServer_<i>.Experiment         defining the default experiment database for this data server
• DataServer_<i>.Shot                     defining the default shot number fort his data server
• DataServer_<i>.Args                    defining an additional free argument for this data server

Panels can be interactively resized by dragging the knobs displayed on the borders of every panel. Clicking the central mouse button over a vertical knob resizes all the columns to the same width. Clicking the central mouse button over a horizontal knob resizes all the panels of the same column to the same height.

Waveforms are added to the currently selected panel, indicated by a red border. To select a different panel it is necessary to click the right mouse button and click the popup option Select over the selected panel. Besides the select option, the popup menu provides the following options:

• All same X scale, which updates the abscissa limits in all displayed panels to eb equal to those of the currently selected panel
• All same scale, which updates both the abscissa and ordinate   limits in all displayed panels to eb equal to those of the currently selected panel

This application defines three panels. At the left side, when a database is open, the hierarchical structure is displayed and it is possible to navigate in the tree. When a node containing a valid signal is clicked, the corresponding waveform is displayed in the selected panel. To add more than one waveform to the current panel it is necessary to select more than one node in the tree on the left panel. This is achieved "a la Windows" by holding the <ctrl> key when selecting tree nodes. Alternatively, a whole range of node can be defined by holding the <Shift key> when selecting tree nodes. The top panel displays the current (X, Y) pair when the crosshair display option is defined.

The File Menu Bar option allows to:

• open/connect an experiment and shot. For MDSplus data server the default experiment and port is edam and 17615, respectively. For Text Data Server the default database is testTextData (the shot number in not used).  They correspond to databases which are provided by the installer.
• close the currently open experiment.
• Disconnect from the current data server.
• exit from the application
  

The Graph Menu Bar option activates a pop-up panel which allows to

• associte a separate color to the graph title, the background and the plot line.
• define whether a border is defined arould the signal plot
• define which algorithm to use for computing tick numbers.
• define the current waveform interaction :
  - drag a crosshair over the waveform,
  - zoom a portion of the waveform by dragging the mouse to define a rectangle of interest. When the mouse is released, the enlarged portion of the waveform is displayed
  - grab the entire waveform.
  
  A double click restores the default confition, i.e. the whole waveform matted into the display window.
  The changes are applied when either Ok or Apply button is pressed.

To exercise this program the following steps are required:

1. If not already running, start a MDSplus data server. On windows, click on start->programs->MDSplus->MDSDataserver. On Linux, run script start_mdsip.
   
2. Change directory in  <source root>/escopes/escope12, where <source root> is the directory where you copied the source directory in the CD.
   
3. Include the current directory in your CLASSPATH environmante variable. On Windows this can be done by changing the CLASSPATH definition in Control Panel/System setting, or by the command
       set CLASSPATH=.;%CLASSPATH%
   On Linux (bash shell) this can be done by the command
      export CLASSPATH=.:$CLASSPATH
   
4. Compile  the java source files with the command
       javac *.java
   
5. Compile the sources of the Text Data Server Factory implementation
     javac  textServerDomain/*.java
   
6. Compile the sources of the MDSplus Data Server Factory implementation
     javac  mdsServerDomain/*.java
   
7. Run the program with no arguments.
       java EScope12

When the edam database is open, valid signals are listed in the SIGNALS.PB subtree.

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