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Arguments

Pydmconverter supports a few optional startup arguments that allow users to execute specific actions when running the converter.

Below, you'll find a detailed overview of each available argument to help you use the converter as you need to.

Override

-o or --override

This argument allows users to override the output file if it already exists. Most often this will be used with the scroll bar argument if it appears a screen exceeds the screen. This will replace the file with a new converted file.

Scroll Bars

-s or --scrollable

This argument adds scroll bars to converted screens. It will ad a horizontal and vertical scroll bar. If this argument is not included, the screen will not contain a scroll bar.

Site

--site <name>

This argument applies site-specific conversion rules during the conversion process. Some facilities have EDM widgets or patterns that have no equivalent in PyDM and should be skipped or handled differently. The --site flag lets you opt into these rules without affecting the default conversion behavior.

Available sites:

Site Rules Applied
slac Skips activeExitButtonClass (exit buttons present on every SLAC EDM screen that have no PyDM equivalent)

Usage: 

pydmconverter /path/to/file.edl output.ui --site slac

Adding a new site: To add conversion rules for a new site, create a new module in pydmconverter/sites/ (e.g. mysite.py) that defines a SKIP_WIDGETS set, then register it in pydmconverter/sites/__init__.py.

Display roots

--display-root <dir> or the PYDMCONVERTER_DISPLAY_ROOTS environment variable

An EDM display can open another display by its absolute path on the EDM console, for example /opt/edm/display/misc/panel.edl. PyDM joins each directory it searches with the display name, so an absolute name only finds a file at that exact path. Give the console's display directory as a display root, and related display and embedded display names below it are written relative to it: /opt/edm/display/misc/panel.edl becomes misc/panel.ui (misc/panel.screen.json with --target react). PyDM finds the converted display when the converted display tree is the working directory or is listed in PYDM_DISPLAYS_PATH.

  • Repeat --display-root for more than one directory. In the environment variable, separate them with :, as in EDMDATAFILES.
  • --display-root overrides the environment variable. With neither, display names are left as they are.
  • A display root must be an absolute directory other than /.
  • Other names are unchanged: relative names, other absolute paths, a name that climbs out of the root with .., and image and shell command files.
  • The roots are the EDM console's directories, not those of the machine running the converter, so they are not taken from EDMDATAFILES.

Usage: 

pydmconverter /path/to/file.edl output.ui --display-root /opt/edm/display

export PYDMCONVERTER_DISPLAY_ROOTS=/opt/edm/display:/opt/other/edm/display
pydmconverter /path/to/file.edl output.ui

Help

-h or --help

This argument shows the converter's help message, which outlines the available arguments for users.