update documentation

documentation/devsup.rst

@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ devsup Package
 
 .. module:: devsup.db
 
-.. autofunction:: devsup.db.getRecord
+.. autofunction:: getRecord
 
 :class:`Record` Class
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-.. class:: devsup.db.Record
+.. class:: Record
 
     Allows access to a single record instance.
     *Record* instances can be created for any record in
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ devsup Package
 :class:`Field` Class
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-.. autoclass:: devsup.db.Field
+.. autoclass:: Field
 
     .. automethod:: name
 
@@ -77,18 +77,22 @@ devsup Package
 
     .. automethod:: getarray
 
+    .. automethod:: getarraylen
+
+    .. automethod:: putarraylen
+    
     .. automethod:: fieldinfo
     
     .. automethod:: getTime
     
     .. automethod:: getAlarm
 
-.. autoclass:: devsup.db.IOScanListBlock
+.. autoclass:: IOScanListBlock
     :members:
     :inherited-members:
     :undoc-members:
     
-.. autoclass:: devsup.db.IOScanListThread
+.. autoclass:: IOScanListThread
     :members: add, interrupt
 
 

documentation/environment.rst

@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ The following should be added to individual EPICS Makefiles. ::
   include $(TOP)/configure/RULES
   include $(PYDEVSUP)/configure/RULES_PY
 
-This will add or ammend several make variables.  The ``USR_*FLAGS`` variables
-may be extended with approprate flags for building python modules.  The ``PY_VER``
+This will add or amend several make variables.  The ``USR_*FLAGS`` variables
+may be extended with appropriate flags for building python modules.  The ``PY_VER``
 variable is defined with the Python version number found in install directories (eg "2.7").
 The ``PY_LD_VER`` variable is defined with the python library version number (eg "3.2mu"),
 which may be the same as ``PY_VER``.
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ Additional .py files can be installed as follows. ::
 Building extensions
 -------------------
 
-For convienance, additional Python extensions can be build by the EPICS
+For convenience, additional Python extensions can be build by the EPICS
 build system.  In this example the extension name is "_myextname" and
 the resulting library is expected to provide the an initialization function
 named "init_myextname". ::

documentation/gettingstarted.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+Getting Started
+===============
+
+Counter
+-------
+
+Consider a simple EPICS database with one record.  Call it :download:`cntrec.db <../testApp/cntrec.db>`
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../testApp/cntrec.db
+  
+This is creating a single record which will use the "Python Device" support code (aka this package).
+It will attempt to scan (call the process method) one a second.
+The *INP* field is parsed and the first work identifies the Python module which will provide
+the logic behind this record (everything after the first word is passed to the module :py:func:`build` function.
+
+Now create :download:`cntrec.db <../testApp/cntmod.py>` with the following.
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../testApp/cntmod.py
+
+This module is expected to provide a special callable :py:func:`build`.
+We also provide a constructor and method :py:meth:`detach <DeviceSupport.detach>`
+which don't do anything.
+The :py:meth:`process <DeviceSupport.process>` method increments the *VAL* field of the attached :py:class:`Record <devsup.db.Record>`.
+
+Start this IOC with. ::
+
+  $ ./bin/linux-x86_64/softIocPy2.7 -d cntrec.db
+  Starting iocInit
+  ...
+  iocRun: All initialization complete
+  epics>dbl
+  test:count
+  epics>
+
+Now in another terminal run.::
+
+  $ camonitor test:count
+  ...
+  test:count                     2014-06-16 16:48:22.891825 9  
+  test:count                     2014-06-16 16:48:23.891967 10  
+  test:count                     2014-06-16 16:48:24.892137 11  
+  test:count                     2014-06-16 16:48:25.892286 12
+  
+It may be necessary to run *export EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST=localhost* first.
+
+Additional examples and applications
+------------------------------------
+
+This module comes with several examples in *testApp* as well as three complete applications.
+
+logApp
+  Observes a line based text file as new lines are appended.
+  Writes each line to a charactor array PV.
+  Special handling of caPutLog files.
+
+pidMonApp
+  Monitors the PID file created by a UNIX daemon.
+
+weatherApp
+  Retreives weather reports via the *pymetar* module.

documentation/index.rst

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Contents:
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 4
 
+   gettingstarted
    environment
    devsup
    interfaces

documentation/interfaces.rst

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ and the string "some other string".
   of the methods which all Python device support instances must provide.
   These methods will be called during the course of IOC processing.
 
-  Execptions raised by these methods are printed to the IOC console,
+  Exceptions raised by these methods are printed to the IOC console,
   but will otherwise be ignored.
 
   The module :mod:`devsup.interfaces` provides a Zope Interface
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ and the string "some other string".
     :param reason: ``None`` or an object provided when processing was requested.
 
     This method is called whenever the associated record needs to be updated
-    in responce to a request.  The source of this request is typically determined
+    in response to a request.  The source of this request is typically determined
     by the record's SCAN field.
 
     The actions taken by this method will depend heavily on the application.
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ and the string "some other string".
         def allowScan(self, record):
           return self.a_scan.add(record)
 
-    Which is most cases can be abbriviated to ::
+    Which in most cases can be abbriviated to ::
 
       class MySup(object):
         def __init__(self):