Database Formats

Databases are used by MSL-Equipment to store EquipmentRecord's in an Equipment-Register Database and ConnectionRecord's in a Connections Database. The database file formats that are currently supported are xml, json, txt (\t delimited), csv (, delimited) and xls[x].

The txt, csv and xls[x] formats are simple databases that are composed of fields (columns) and records (rows). The xml and json formats allow for storing more complex data structures, such as MaintenanceRecord's CalibrationRecord's and MeasurandRecord's for each EquipmentRecord. For example xml and json formats, see equipment_register.xml and equipment_register.json respectively.

Equipment-Register Database

Attention

The design of the Equipment-Register database is in active development and it will be unstable until an official release of MSL-Equipment is made.

The information about the equipment that is used to perform a measurement must be known and it must be kept up to date. Keeping a central and official (hence the word Register) database of the equipment that is available in the laboratory allows for easily managing this information and for helping to ensure that the equipment that is being used for a measurement meets the calibration requirements needed to obtain the desired measurement uncertainty.

MSL-Equipment does not require that a single database is used for all equipment records. However, it is vital that each equipment record can only be uniquely found in one Equipment-Register Database. The records in a database must never be copied from one database to another database (keeping a backup copy of the database is encouraged). Rather, if you are borrowing equipment from another team you simply specify the path to that teams Equipment-Register Database as a <register> element in your Configuration File. The owner of the equipment is responsible for ensuring that the information about the equipment is kept up to date in their Equipment-Register Database and the user of the equipment defines an <equipment> element in the Configuration File to access this information. Therefore, an Equipment-Register Database is to be considered as a global database that can be accessed (with read permission only) by anyone.

Each record in an Equipment-Register Database is converted into an EquipmentRecord.

The following is an example of an Equipment-Register Database (additional fields can also be added to a database, see Field Names).

Manufacturer	Model Number	Serial Number	Description
Keysight	34465A	MY5450	6.5 digit digital multimeter
Hewlett Packard	HP8478B	BCD024	Dual element thermistor power sensors
Agilent	53230A	49e39f	Universal counter/timer

Tip

Not all records in the Equipment-Register Database need to have the ability to be interfaced with a computer. For example, cables, amplifiers, filters and adaptors can all be important equipment that may be used to perform a measurement and should be included in the Equipment-Register Database and specified as <equipment> elements in the Configuration File.

Field Names

Some of the supported fields for an Equipment-Register Database are:

Category – The category (e.g., Laser, DMM) that the equipment belongs to.
Description – A description of the equipment.
Location – The location where the equipment can usually be found.
Manufacturer – The name of the manufacturer of the equipment.
Model – The model number of the equipment.
Serial – The serial number, or engraved unique ID, of the equipment.

The text in the header of each field is not too particular for what it must be. The header text is parsed for one of the specific field names listed above and if the header contains one of these field names then that column is assigned to be that field.

For example, the following headers are valid (the blue text is what is important in the header)

Headers can contain many words. For a field to be assigned to the manufacturer attribute the header can be written as:

This column is used to specify the Manufacturer of the equipment
Text is case insensitive. For a field to be assigned to the model attribute the header can be written as any of the following:

MODEL No.

Model #

The model number of the equipment

MoDeL

Although using the following header will not raise an exception, you should not use the following header because either the manufacturer or the model attribute will be assigned for this field depending on the order in which the fields appear in the database:

The model number given by the manufacturer
Whitespace is replaced by an underscore. For a field to be assigned to the is_operable attribute the header can be written as:

Is Operable, True or False
If the header does not contain any of the specific field names that are being searched for then the values in that column are silently ignored.

Equipment records should be defined in an Equipment-Register Database and accessed via the database() method; however, you can also define equipment records in a Python module, for example:

from msl.equipment import EquipmentRecord, ConnectionRecord, Backend

equipment = {
    'dmm':
        EquipmentRecord(
            manufacturer='HP',
            model='34401A',
            serial='123456789',
            connection=ConnectionRecord(
                backend=Backend.MSL,
                address='COM3',
                properties=dict(
                    baud_rate=19200,
                )
            )
        ),
    'scope':
        EquipmentRecord(
            manufacturer='Pico Technology',
            model='5244B',
            serial='XY135/001',
            description='Oscilloscope -- 2 Channel, 200 MHz, 1 GSPS, 512 Mpts, 5.8 ns',
            connection=ConnectionRecord(
                backend=Backend.MSL,
                address='SDK::ps5000a.dll',
                properties=dict(
                    resolution='16bit',
                )
            )
        ),
    '1ohm':
        EquipmentRecord(
            manufacturer='Tinsley',
            model='64750',
            serial='5672413',
            description='1.0 Ohm Resistor 3A',
        ),
}

Connections Database

A Connections Database is used to store the information that is required to establish communication with the equipment.

You specify the Connections Database that you what to use as a <connection> element in your Configuration File. Each record in an Connections Database is converted into a ConnectionRecord.

Field Names

The supported fields for a Connections Database are:

Address – The address to use for the connection (see Address Syntax).
Backend – The Backend to use to communicate with the equipment.
Manufacturer – The name of the manufacturer of the equipment.
Model – The model number of the equipment.
Properties – Additional properties that may be required to establish a connection to the equipment as key-value pairs separated by a semi-colon. For example, for a ConnectionSerial connection the baud rate and parity might need to be defined – baud_rate=11920; parity=even. The value (as in a key-value pair) gets cast to the appropriate data type (e.g., int, float, str) so the baud rate value would be 11920 as an int and the parity value becomes Parity.EVEN.
Serial – The serial number, or unique ID, of the equipment.

A record in a Connections Database gets matched with the appropriate record in an Equipment-Register Database by the unique combination of the manufacturer + model + serial values, which when combined act as the primary key in each database.

The following is an example of a Connections Database. The header of each field also follows the same Field Names format used in an Equipment-Register Database and so MODEL# would also be an acceptable header for Model Number.

Manufacturer	Model Number	Serial Number	Backend	Address	Properties
OMEGA	iTHX-W3	458615	MSL	TCP::192.168.1.100::2000	termination=”\r”; timeout=10
Hewlett Packard	3468A	BCD024	PyVISA	GPIB::7
Agilent	53230A	49e39f	MSL	COM2	baud_rate=119200; parity=even

Unlike an Equipment-Register Database each person can maintain their own Connections Database. The reason being that since equipment can be shared between people some Connection fields, like the COM address, can vary depending on which computer the equipment is connected to and what other equipment is also connected to that computer. Therefore, everyone could have their own Connections Database and connection records can be copied from one Connections Database to another. If you are using someone else’s equipment and if none of the Connection fields need to be changed to be able to communicate with the equipment then it is recommended to add their Connections Database as a <connection> element in your Configuration File.

Address Syntax

The following are examples of an Address syntax (see more examples from National Instruments).

`Interface`	Syntax Example	Description
GPIB	GPIB::10	GPIB device at board=0 (default), primary address=10, no secondary address
GPIB	GPIB0::voltmeter	GPIB device at board=0, interface name=”voltmeter” (see gpib.conf)
GPIB	GPIB1::6::97::INSTR	GPIB device at board=1, primary address=6, secondary address=97
GPIB	GPIB2::INTFC	GPIB interface at board=2
PROLOGIX	Prologix::192.168.1.110::1234::6	The GPIB-ETHERNET Controller: host=192.168.1.110, port=1234, primary-GPIB-address=6
PROLOGIX	Prologix::192.168.1.70::1234::6::112	The GPIB-ETHERNET Controller: host=192.168.1.70, port=1234, primary-GPIB-address=6, secondary-GPIB-address=112
PROLOGIX	Prologix::192.168.1.70::1234::GPIB::6::112	The GPIB-ETHERNET Controller: host=192.168.1.70, port=1234, primary-GPIB-address=6, secondary-GPIB-address=112
PROLOGIX	Prologix::COM3::6	The GPIB-USB Controller: port=COM3, primary-GPIB-address=6
PROLOGIX	Prologix::/dev/ttyS0::4::96	The GPIB-USB Controller: port=/dev/ttyS0, primary-GPIB-address=4, secondary-GPIB-address=96
SDK	SDK::C:/Program Files/Manufacturer/file.dll	Specify the full path to the SDK
SDK	SDK::filename.dll	Specify only the filename if the path to where the SDK file is located has been added as a `<path>` element in the Configuration File
SERIAL	COM2	A serial port on Windows
SERIAL	ASRL/dev/ttyS1	A serial port on Linux
SERIAL	ASRL2::INSTR	Compatible with National Instruments syntax
SERIAL	ASRLCOM2	Compatible with PyVISA-py syntax
SOCKET	TCP::192.168.1.100::5000	Creates the connection as a `socket.SOCK_STREAM` to the IP address 192.168.1.100 at port 5000
SOCKET	UDP::192.168.1.100::5000	Creates the connection as a `socket.SOCK_DGRAM`
SOCKET	TCPIP::192.168.1.100::5000::SOCKET	Compatible with National Instruments syntax
SOCKET	SOCKET::192.168.1.100::5000	Generic socket type. You can specify the connection type in the Properties field (i.e., type=RAW)
TCPIP HiSLIP	TCPIP::dev.company.com::hislip0	A HiSLIP LAN instrument at the hostname dev.company.com.
TCPIP HiSLIP	TCPIP::10.12.114.50::hislip0,5000::INSTR	A HiSLIP LAN instrument whose IP address is 10.12.114.50 with the server listening at port 5000
TCPIP VXI-11	TCPIP::dev.company.com::INSTR	A VXI-11.3 LAN instrument at the hostname dev.company.com. This uses the default LAN Device Name inst0
TCPIP VXI-11	TCPIP::10.6.56.21::gpib0,2::INSTR	A VXI-11.2 GPIB device whose IP address is 10.6.56.21
TCPIP VXI-11	TCPIP::192.168.1.100	A VXI-11.3 LAN instrument at IP address 192.168.1.100. Note that default values for board 0 and LAN device name inst0 will be used
ZMQ	ZMQ::192.168.20.90::5555	Use the ZeroMQ messaging library to connect to a device at IP address 192.168.20.90 and port 5555