Visual DCT - Visual EPICS Database Configuration Tool

TL;DR

Visual DCT is a Java-based EPICS configuration tool that enhances existing tools with hierarchical grouping, data flow visualization, and robust import/export features, improving usability and flexibility.

Contribution

It introduces hierarchical grouping and data flow visualization in EPICS configuration, along with a powerful import/export parser, surpassing capabilities of existing tools like Capfast and GDCT.

Findings

Supports hierarchical record grouping

Enables data flow visualization with arrows

Preserves comments and record order during import/export

Abstract

Visual DCT is an EPICS configuration tool completely written in Java and therefore supported in various systems. It was developed to provide features missing in existing configuration tools as Capfast and GDCT. Visually Visual DCT resembles GDCT - records can be created, moved and linked, fields and links can be easily modified. But Visual DCT offers more: using groups, records can be grouped together in a logical block, which allows a hierarchical design. Additionally indication of data flow direction using arrows makes the design easier to understand. Visual DCT has a powerful DB parser, which allows importing existing DB and DBD files. Output file is also DB file, all comments and record order is preserved and visual data saved as comment, which allows DBs to be edited in other tools or manually. Great effort has been taken and many tricks used to optimize the performance in order to compensate for the fact that Java is an interpreted language.