A model-driven generator to automate the creation of HMIs for the CERN gas control systems

A total of 33 gas control applications are currently in production in the LHC Experiments and the CERN accelerator complex. Each application contains around fifty synoptic views and hundreds of plots. In this paper, the entirely model-driven approach followed to generate all these HMIs is presented. The procedure implemented simplifies the creation of these graphical interfaces; allowing the propagation of changes to all visualizations at once in a coherent manner, thus reducing the long-term maintenance effort. The generation tool enables the creation of files of similar content based on templates, specific logic (rules) and variables written in simple user-defined XML files. This paper also presents the software design and the major evolution challenges currently faced, how the functions performed by the tool, as well as the technologies used in its implementation, have evolved while ensuring compatibility with the existing models.