Python Alarm Handler

SBS Main<<HOW TOs

NOTE: Do NOT use this alarm handler.  Use the standard Target Alarm Handler 

Expert Information>>

Alarm Status Indicator/Button

The Status Indicator is intended to instantly convey the relevant information of the given alarm.

• Red: indicates that the alarm has been tripped, and the box will display the alarm status (High, Low, Exactly, etc.) in this case.
  • While Red, the status indicator serves as a button for acknowledging the alarm. When clicked, the alarm will be acknowledgedand a cooldown period will begin in which the alarm status won't affect the global Alarm Status and the Orange cooldown indicator will be activated.
• Green: indicates that the alarm is ok.
  • While Green, the status indicator serves as a button for refreshing the screen (but not the alarm statuses). This isn't particularly functional, but it may be useful in some circumstances.
• Yellow: indicates that the alarm has been silenced by the user and cannot generate further alarms until unsilenced.
  • While Yellow, the status indicator will display in text the underlying alarm status that has been silenced, and it serves as a button for un-silencing. When clicked, the alarm will resume its normal alarm checking routine.
• Orange: indicates that the alarm has been acknowledged and that a cooldown period has begun. During this cooldown period the alarm status will not affect the Global Alarm status, primarily for the convenience of the user.
  • While Orange, the status indicator will also display the approximate number of seconds until the cooldown is complete and the alarm is un-acknowledged. Also the indicator will serve as a button to manually un-acknowledge the alarm and turn back on its alarm-checking routine.

Starting a New Instance

• To start the Python Alarm handler, go to adaq@adaq2 and type PythonAlarms which runs a Python script (in /adaqfs/home/adaq/alarms/AlarmHandlerGUI)that starts the program.
• The adaq computers do not have sound in the counting house so to make an audible alarm, you need to start the sound server on hacweb7 as follows:

ssh hacuser@hacweb7
cd ~/parity-alarms
./bserver

This will allow the alarm handler to make audible alarms. Verify the alarm handler makes sound successfully by either using the Hall A Alarm Handler sound test, or by unsilencing some alarming alarm for a few seconds

• If the Alarm handler complains about not finding numbers or config parameters then restore a back up of alarm.csv or alarmConfig.txt into the ~/alarm/ folder and try again (if that doesn't fix it ask David Flay or Don Jones)
• When an alarm goes off: The button has a right click context menu
  • Which requires continuous pressing to keep it from vanishing, contrary to normal context menu behavior)
  • Its options are to open an information panel for, "Acknowledge", or "Silence" the alarm in question (which doesn't have to be the one currently in focus)
  • To find the alarm currently tripped you can press "Alarm Status Find Alarm"
  • For information about the alarm push "Alarm Info Show Parameters"

Experimental Python Alarm Handler

For full documentation see Expert Alarm Documentation

The python alarm handler code lives in a Github repository [1]