mu2edaq-controlcenter

A PyQt6-based desktop application for the Mu2e DAQ system that aggregates multiple web-based monitoring pages into a single configurable grid GUI, with status indicators and a TCP command interface.

Features

• Configurable web grid — display any number of web pages (dashboards, monitors, etc.) in a resizable grid layout
• Status indicator bar — color-coded indicators (ok/warning/error/unknown) for named subsystems (DAQ, Trigger, Storage, etc.)
• Message banner — display info/warning/error messages across the top of the window
• Drag-to-swap — drag cells within the grid to rearrange page positions
• Save layout — File → Save Layout writes the current arrangement back to the YAML config
• Load layout — File → Load Layout opens a different YAML config without restarting
• Screenshot — File → Take Screenshot saves a PNG of the current window
• Themes — Style menu offers 9 built-in QSS themes (System Default, Windows Classic, Windows XP, Dark Slate, Light Modern, Midnight Blue, Solarized Dark, High Contrast, Warm Earth)
• TCP status server — external processes update indicators and reload pages via a simple JSON protocol
• IPv4 and IPv6 support

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• PyQt6
• PyQt6-WebEngine
• PyYAML

Installation

Run the bootstrap script once to create the virtual environment and install dependencies:

./bootstrap.sh

Starting and Stopping

./start.sh    # launch the application in the background
./stop.sh     # shut it down cleanly

start.sh activates the virtual environment, launches the app, waits for the TCP status server to be ready, and pings each status indicator. The app's PID is written to controlcenter.pid so stop.sh can find it.

To use a non-default config file, invoke the app directly:

source venv/bin/activate
python src/controlcenter.py --config PATH/TO/config.yaml

Option	Default	Description
--config PATH	config/controlcenter.yaml	Path to YAML configuration file
--version		Print version and exit

Configuration

Edit config/controlcenter.yaml:

title: "Mu2e DAQ Control Center"

grid:
  rows: 2
  cols: 2

status_indicators:
  - name: "DAQ"
    state: unknown        # ok | warning | error | unknown
  - name: "Trigger"
    state: unknown

pages:
  - name: "Dashboard"
    url: "http://localhost:5001"
    position: [0, 0]      # [row, col], zero-indexed; omit to fill automatically
  - name: "Disk Watcher"
    url: "http://localhost:5002"
    position: [0, 1]

status_server:
  host: "127.0.0.1"       # "" or "::" to listen on all interfaces
  port: 9876

TCP Status Server

The Control Center listens for newline-terminated JSON commands over TCP. Use controlcenter-send (or any TCP client) to drive it from scripts or other processes.

Commands

Command	Fields	Description
set_status	indicator, state, message (opt.)	Set a named indicator's state
set_message	level, text	Display a banner (info/warning/error)
clear_message	—	Clear the banner
reload_all	—	Reload all embedded web pages
get_status	—	Return current state of all indicators
ping	—	Test connectivity

controlcenter-send CLI

# Set an indicator
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py set-status DAQ ok "All systems nominal"
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py set-status Trigger warning "High occupancy"

# Display a message banner
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py set-message error "Run aborted by operator"
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py clear-message

# Reload all pages
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py reload-all

# Query status
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py get-status

# Test connectivity
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py ping

# Custom host/port
./venv/bin/python src/controlcenter_send.py --host ::1 --port 9876 get-status

Raw JSON example

echo '{"command":"set_status","indicator":"DAQ","state":"ok"}' | nc 127.0.0.1 9876

Project Structure

mu2edaq-controlcenter/
├── config/
│   └── controlcenter.yaml     # Main configuration file
├── man/
│   ├── controlcenter.1        # Man page for controlcenter
│   └── controlcenter-send.1   # Man page for controlcenter-send
├── src/
│   ├── controlcenter.py       # Entry point (argparse, QApplication)
│   ├── main_window.py         # QMainWindow: ties everything together
│   ├── status_bar_widget.py   # Top indicator bar widget
│   ├── web_grid.py            # Grid of web cells, drag-to-swap
│   ├── status_server.py       # TCP server thread
│   ├── config_loader.py       # YAML load and validation
│   ├── stylesheets.py         # Built-in QSS themes
│   └── controlcenter_send.py  # CLI client for sending commands
└── doc/                       # Additional documentation

Man Pages

man man/controlcenter.1
man man/controlcenter-send.1