ChannelFinder is a directory server, implemented as a REST style web service. Its intended use is within control systems, namely the EPICS Control system, for which it has been written.
High level applications tend to prefer an hierarchical view of the control system name space. They group channel names by location or physical function. The name space of the EPICS Channel Access protocol, on the other hand, is flat. A good and thoroughly enforced naming convention may solve the problem of creating unique predictable names. It does not free every application from being configured explicitly, so that it knows all channel names it might be interested in beforehand.
ChannelFinder tries to overcome this limitation by implementing a generic directory service, which applications can query for a list of channels that match certain conditions, such as physical functionality or location. It also provides mechanisms to create channel name aliases, allowing for different perspectives of the same set of channel names.
Each directory entry consists of a channel name, an arbitrary set of properties (name-value pairs), and an arbitrary set of tags (names).
An application sends an HTTP query to the service, specifying an expression that references tags, properties and their values, or channel names. The service returns a list of matching channels with their properties and tags, as an XML or JSON document.
Other methods allow manipulation of directory entries: create, update, add properties or tags, delete.
Two design documents are available - these are also included in the WAR file as part of the internal web pages of the application.
