cimtechniques-service-suite/docs/RUNNING.md

Running & Building the CIMTechniques Service Suite

Modern rebuild in Python 3 + PySide6 of the legacy VB6 service tools, unified into one app. Three modules are built: DA-12 (da12), DA-07 (da07), and IOModbus (iomodbus).

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• Python 3.11+ (developed on 3.13)
• For building the installer: Inno Setup 6

Developer setup

# from the repo root
py -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run it

# Against a simulator (no hardware needed) — best for a first look. Swap the module
# id for da07 or iomodbus to launch the other tools:
.venv\Scripts\python -m cim_suite.shell.app --module da12 --simulate
.venv\Scripts\python -m cim_suite.shell.app --module da07 --simulate
.venv\Scripts\python -m cim_suite.shell.app --module iomodbus --simulate

# Against real hardware on a serial port:
.venv\Scripts\python -m cim_suite.shell.app --module da12 --port COM3

# With no arguments it opens the suite launcher landing page (a card per module):
.venv\Scripts\python -m cim_suite.shell.app

Inside the app you can also pick the port via Connect… in the toolbar; the choice is remembered in a small JSON config under your user app-data folder.

Tests & linting

.venv\Scripts\python -m pytest -q
.venv\Scripts\python -m ruff check cim_suite tests

The whole suite runs without hardware (each module ships an in-memory simulator that speaks its real wire protocol — DA-12/DA-07 stations and a Modbus slave bank for IOModbus). UI tests run headless via pytest-qt.

Build the standalone app

.venv\Scripts\pyinstaller --noconfirm --distpath packaging\dist --workpath packaging\build packaging\suite.spec

Produces packaging\dist\CIM-Service-Suite\CIM-Service-Suite.exe — a self-contained folder with no Python/VB6 runtime or OCX dependencies. The bundle's entry point is packaging\suite_launcher.py (it imports the package absolutely so app.py's relative imports resolve — running app.py directly as the entry causes "attempted relative import with no known parent package").

Verify it — don't just eyeball that a window appears. A bundled windowed app shows a modal error dialog and stays alive on an unhandled exception, so "the process is still running" does NOT mean it booted. Use the self-test hook, which boots then auto-exits, and check the exit code:

$env:SUITE_SELFTEST="1"
.\packaging\dist\CIM-Service-Suite\CIM-Service-Suite.exe --module da12 --simulate
echo "exit=$LASTEXITCODE"   # 0 = booted cleanly; non-zero = failed to start
Remove-Item Env:\SUITE_SELFTEST

# Then a normal interactive run to click around:
.\packaging\dist\CIM-Service-Suite\CIM-Service-Suite.exe --module da12 --simulate

tests/test_packaging_entry.py runs this same boot check against the launcher in CI.

Build the installer

After the PyInstaller build, compile the Inno Setup script:

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" packaging\installer.iss

Produces packaging\Output\DA12-Service-Setup.exe. For the cleanest customer experience (and to avoid SmartScreen/AV warnings), sign both CIM-Service-Suite.exe and the installer with an Authenticode certificate — see the commented SignTool line in installer.iss.

Where data lives

Each module scopes its own files under the user app-data folder (never next to the exe), via cim_suite/modules/<id>/config.py:

• Config (last COM port, logging toggle): <module>_config.json
• Calibration history: DACal.csv
• Measurement logs: DA-Logs\ (DA-12/DA-07) or IO-Logs\ (IOModbus)
• IOModbus additionally reads its device catalog from the bundled resources/IOModbus.txt, overridable by dropping an IOModbus.txt in the data folder.

Architecture (quick map)

Five layers per module under cim_suite/modules/<id>/ (where <id> is da12, da07, or iomodbus), on a shared cim_suite/core + cim_suite/shell:

Layer	Package	Responsibility
Protocol (pure)	modules/<id>/protocol	framing/codecs/decode/encode — no I/O, fully tested
Transport	modules/<id>/transport	in-memory simulator (real serial is shared in core)
Domain	modules/<id>/domain	models, calibration, logging, the controller hub
UI	modules/<id>/ui	PySide6 window, tabs/grids, dialogs

See CLAUDE.md for the per-module protocol differences, and docs/superpowers/specs/ and docs/superpowers/plans/ for the designs and plans.