TAURUS workshop

Mar 14, 2023, 9:15 AM → Mar 15, 2023, 12:30 PM Europe/Paris

MD-1-21 (ESRF)

In the TANGO community, TAURUS is the de facto standard for those searching for a powerful python-based solution for CLIs and GUIs. Initially developed at ALBA Synchrotron (Spain), TAURUS is also a successful open-source project widely adopted by major scientific facilities for their daily operation.

After 15 years of constant development, TAURUS has reached a key point in its history.  The emergence of web-based solutions tends to challenge the existence of traditional GUIs frameworks by inviting them to redefine their role or to justify their maintenance beyond the catalog of existing applications. The historical TAURUS maintainers team is also changing and could offer new opportunities in terms of involvement in the life cycle of the project.

The proposed 2 days event will be organised around two topics. The first day will be dedicated to feedback and GUI strategy for the future. During the associated sessions, speakers and attendees will have the opportunity to share their experience with TAURUS and explain their strategy and thoughts regarding the future of their graphical interfaces. Please note that feedback from both computing and operation teams would be appreciated. The second day will be focused on the organisational and technical future of TAURUS itself.

Regarding the organisation details, this hybrid TAURUS workshop will be hosted by the ESRF and held on March 14th & 15th 2023. Speakers and attendees are welcome on site but the sessions will be also accessible remotely.  

 

          

Tuesday, March 14

9:15 AM → 9:30 AM Gathering point

Site entrance of the EPN campus

9:30 AM → 10:00 AM Welcome coffee

MD 1 - 21

10:00 AM → 12:05 PM Feedback on GUI strategy & developments

10:00 AM Welcome words

A few words to introduce the workshop and launch the session of the day.

Speaker: Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

10:05 AM GUI strategy for the upcoming decades: trends & roadmaps

The ICALEPCS'21 conference and a recent workshop organized by CERN have highlighted that the strategy for Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) is a hot topic for many institutes. Most of us are currently relying on technological choices made in the early 2000s that need to be re-evaluated in the current context and in light of the upcoming decade. This need is reinforced by the emergence of new paradigms, designs, and implementations. This talk proposes a review of the GUI strategies adopted by major research institutes worldwide, with the aim of identifying trends and helping teams make informed decisions about their own strategies.

Speaker: Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

TAURUS-Meeting-ESRF-03-2023.pptx

10:35 AM Accelerator Control GUI at the ESRF

The status of the GUI developments at the ESRF and beyond.

Speakers: Faranguiss Poncet (ESRF), Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

ESRF-GUI-current-status.pdf

ESRF-GUI-current-status.pptx

TAURUS-Meeting-life-after-java-at-the-ESRF-ACU-03-2023.pptx

11:05 AM GUI strategy at SOLARIS: status & future plans

Speaker: Michal Falowski (SOLARIS)

GUI strategy at SOLARIS status & future plans_Michal Falowski.pdf

11:35 AM GUI strategy at SOLEIL: status & future plans

Speaker: Gwenaelle Abeillé (Synchrotron SOLEIL)

ESRF23_WS_TAURUS_SOLEIL.pdf

ESRF23_WS_TAURUS_SOLEIL.pptx

12:05 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Feedback on GUI strategy & developments

2:00 PM GUI strategy at Max-IV

Speaker: Mr Vincent Hardion (Max-IV)

MAX IV Taurus Workshop.pdf

2:40 PM GUI developments at Max-IV

Speaker: Mr Antonio Bartalesi (Max-IV)

taurus presentation.pdf

3:00 PM GUIs at ALBA Synchrotron

ALBA, a 3rd Generation Synchroton located near Barcelona in Spain, is in operation since 2012. ALBA controls system is based on Tango and we developed Taurus library to build our GUIs for both accelerators and beamlines. Taurus evolved into a community project, is a popular choice for developing GUIs within Tango community, and we continued its enhancement and maintenance during the last 10 years. Now, since ALBAII project got approved, which consist of an ALBA upgrade to a 4th Generation Synchrotron, we define a long term strategy for ALBAII GUIs. We present an introduction into ALBA control system, list catalogue of our GUIs and present the preliminary strategy for ALBAII GUIs.

Speaker: Cuní Guifré (ALBA Synchrotron)

TaurusWorkshopESRF_GUIsAtALBA.pdf

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee break

4:00 PM → 5:40 PM Feedback on GUI strategy & developments

4:00 PM GUIs for ALBA accelerators subsystem experts

We present GUIs mainly used by ALBA accelerator subsystem experts. These applications, fully developed by ALBA controls engineers using Taurus, hide the complexity of the control system behind a compact view with hundreds of variables.

Speaker: Mr Emilio Morales (ALBA Synchrotron)

TaurusWorkshopESRF_ GUIs_for_ALBA_accelerators_subsystem_experts_OO.pdf

4:30 PM GUIs for ALBA experiment control

We present GUIs used by ALBA beamline scientists and users. Vast majority of these GUIs are developed by ALBA controls engineers using Taurus, and fullfil the need of a very specific experimental techniques. Beamline operation also requires simple and quick to prepare GUI solutions for less complex activities where Taurus tools prove correct.

Speaker: Mr Miquel Navarro (ALBA Synchrotron)

GUIs_for_ALBA_Experiment_Control.pdf

4:50 PM GUIs for ALBA accelerators operation

We present GUIs used for operation of ALBA accelerators. These applications were fully developed by ALBA operators following different approaches in which Taurus library played a crucial role.

Speaker: Mr David Yépez (ALBA Synchrotron)

dyepez_operations_made_guis.pdf

5:10 PM Open discussion on GUI strategy & more

Speakers: Cuní Guifré (ALBA Synchrotron), Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

Wednesday, March 15

9:00 AM → 10:30 AM TAURUS roadmap & project organisation

9:00 AM Welcome words

Introduction of the topics of the day

Speaker: Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

9:05 AM Unicos: a Qt-based GUI development for CERN

Company profile:
o S2Innovation delivers control systems integration and software development services
for big science laboratories and innovative industries. We mostly work with Tango
ecosystem but also take up another challenges. • Implemented GUI (Unicos):
o The GUI was implemented in Siemens WinCC OA (v3.19, Qt based) according to ISA 101 standards. Application is widely used in CERN to maintain diverse systems and devices they use in the institute. It consists of multiple different views, each one responsible for another control task but they share the same visual interface.
o Applicationismulti-window,onewindowcantriggeropeningotherone,butitalso consists of pop-up windows, which open on top of the main one providing the ability to perform smaller operation.
o Gui can connect to the devices/signals connected to the Wincc OA application to show real data coming from the devices.
o The UI interface is fully customized – designer’s graphic was translated into the working application 1:1.
o Interface mostly kept in grayscale colors, where important parts are colored to stick to the ISA 101.
• Maintenance:
o The idea behind the design was to allow future extension. Where possible, system was
divided into components (called panels in Wincc OA) which were later reused on diverse
windows
o Using the predefined components will allow system scientists who are not experts in the
development to create they own windows or align existing ones.
o Also, there is a defined color palette to make it easier when creating new panels.
• Feedback:
o The new interface was build based on the old one which is currently used at the facility.
Feedback from current users allowed to create a new interface better sticking to the needs.

Speaker: Michal Gandor (S2 Innovation)

taurus meeting highly customized design.pdf

9:30 AM Taurus performance and technical roadmap

This talk addresses some performances issues of the current version of TAURUS and present high level design of some of the solutions.

Speakers: Mr Miquel Navarro (ALBA Synchrotron), Mr Zbigniew Reszela (ALBA Synchrotron)

TaurusWorkshopESRF_TaurusPerformance.pdf

10:00 AM Open discussion on Taurus technical roadmap

Speakers: Guifré Cuní (ALBA Synchrotron), Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee break

11:00 AM → 12:15 PM TAURUS roadmap & project organisation

11:00 AM TAURUS Community and collaboration model

Taurus started as ALBA internal project and evolved into a community of users and developers. However in the last few years we observed a decrease of involvement of other institutes and after the leave of the main developer and maintainer from ALBA the community activity was reduced even more. ALBA is now training newcomers to take over the development and maintenance of Taurus and would like to revive the community as well and we present our proposal for this process.

Speaker: Mr Zbigniew Reszela (ALABA Synchrotron)

TaurusWorkshopESRF_TaurusCommunity.pdf

11:30 AM Open discussion on TAURUS & beyond

Speaker: Guifré Cuní (ALABA Synchrotron)

12:00 PM Workshop Conclusions & Findings

Speaker: Nicolas Leclercq (ESRF)