OET Scripts

Overview

This project contains library code that is useful when creating observing scripts and engineering tests. It provides the user with simple Python objects that can be used to control SKA telescope Tango devices. The primary use case for this module is to support the execution of Scheduling Blocks (SBs). Hence, much of the code is concerned with translating Scheduling Blocks into the equivalent set of scan configuration and execution instructions, and with the issuing of these instructions to TMC devices at the appropriate times.

OET Scripts project modules ska.scripting.domain and ska.scripting.observingtasks are used for

• Creating Observing Scripts

• High-level control of Tango devices through use of domain objects, for example in Jupyter Notebooks or SKAMPI BDD tests

The observing scripts can be managed and executed by using Observation Execution Tool (OET). For documentation on how to use OET REST client and server to manage observing scripts, see the Observation Execution Tool project documentation

Quickstart

This project is structured to use Docker containers for development and testing so that the build environment, test environment and test results are all completely reproducible and are independent of host environment. It uses make to provide a consistent UI (see Makefile targets).

Build a new Docker image for the OET with:

make build

Execute the test suite and lint the project with:

make test && make lint

Launch an interactive shell inside a container, with your workspace visible inside the container:

make interactive

Makefile targets

This project contains a Makefile which acts as a UI for building Docker images, testing images, and for launching interactive developer environments. The following make targets are defined:

Makefile target	Description
build	Build a new application image containing REST server and scripts
build_extras	Build SSH and Jupyter images
test	Test the application image
lint	Lint the application image
interactive	Launch a terminal session, mounting the source directory from the host machine inside the container
push	Push the application image to the Docker registry
push_extras	Push SSH and Jupyter images to the Docker registry
rest	start the OET REST server
prune	Delete stale Docker images originating from this project
help	show a summary of the makefile targets above

Creating a new application image

make build target creates a new Docker image for the application based on the ‘ska-python-runtime’ image. To optimise final image size and to support the inclusion of C extension Python libraries such as pytango, the application is built inside an intermediate Docker image which includes compilers and cached eggs and wheels for commonly-used Python libraries (‘ska-python-builder’). The resulting Python environment from this intermediate stage is copied into a final image which extends a minimal SKA Python runtime environment (‘ska-python-runtime’), to give the final Docker image for this application.

Interactive development using containers

make interactive launches an interactive session using the application image, mounting the project source directory at /app inside the container. This allows the container to run code from the local workspace. Any changes made to the project source code will immediately be seen inside the container.

Test execution

make test runs the application test procedure defined in test-harness/Makefile in a temporary container. The Makefile example for this project runs ‘python setup.py test’ and copies the resulting output and test artefacts out of the container and into a ‘build’ directory, ready for inclusion in the CI server’s downloadable artefacts.