MSU sMDT Dark Current Control Software

Welcome to the MSU sMDT Dark Current Control Software (MSU-SMDT-DCCS) GitHub repository. This is where we host the program that controls our Dark Current Testing Station. The purpose of this program specifically is to interface with our CAEN DT1471HET Power Supply Unit (PSU), as well as our Dark Current Control Hardware (DCCH) board, in order to automate our testing.

As such, this program's main goals are as follows:

1. To offer an easy-to-use and intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI)
2. To have a readable, complete, and extensive codebase
3. To place the control software under version control with Git

This program is written in C++ and utilizes a various assortment of external libraries such as the Qt framework, as well as other libraries meant to either aid development or aid the stability of the program.

This program was designed specifically for our PSU model. As well, this program was designed specifically for Windows 10. Thus, our use-case is very specific, and the code will reflect that.

In order to encourage a maintainable and stable codebase, we will try to incorporate the principles of modern C++, such as: smart pointers, the STL container library, the RAII paradigm, etc.

Setting Up The Development Environment

Revised

The original project utilized Vcpkg in order to install dependencies. This method brought with it many issues that proved time consuming to fix. Furthermore, it was not possible to use a pre-installed version of Qt alongside the installed Vcpkg packages. In light of this, the build system was updated to no longer require Vcpkg. The new build system requires an up-to-date installation of CMake, as well as Git.

Obtaining Visual Studio 2022 and MSVC

First things first, we need a C++ compiler. As we are on Windows, we will opt to use MSVC.

Install [Visual Studio Community 2022][VS]. When in the installer, choose the Desktop development with C++ option, as shown below.

As well, opt for the Windows 10 SDK shown below, which can be found in the Individual components tab.

Installing Qt

The Qt Libraries can be found here. An account will be needed in order to download and install the Qt Libraries. As well, we will be opting for the open source installation, which will install Qt as a shared library.

Installing the CAEN HV Wrapper Library

The CAEN HV Wrapper Library download can be found here. The project assumes that it will be installed in the directory C:\Program Files\CAEN\HV\CAENHVWrapper, which happens to be the default location.

A Virtual Interface to the PSU

This project can be build without the CAEN HV Wrapper Library. See the CMakeLists.txt file for the option to build with a virtual interface.

Building The Project

The location of the Qt Libraries can be input at the command line. To edit the location of the CAEN HV Wrapper Library, see the cmake/FindCAENHVWrapper.cmake file.

To build the project, execute the following commands

> mkdir build
> cmake -B build -S .
    -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=[path to /Qt/6.3.0/msvc2019_64]
    -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE 
    -DSPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL=ON 
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=DEBUG 
> cmake --build build
> ./build/Debug/dccs.exe

For more information on the building process, see the documentation/documentation.md file.

Documentation

Further documentation on the project can be found as the markdown document documentation/documentation.md.