Web browser based applications for the MIT-Bates Accelerator

A number of Web Browser based applications have been developed to serve in the challenging environment of the Bates storage-stretcher ring operation. Most of them are accelerator physics applications that require intensive data processing and analyzing efforts, with moderate tasks of interfacing with the control system. The basic idea of developing applications using a commercial Web Browser is to truly realize object orientated design and platform independence, thus making development efforts more affordable. To implement this concept, common graphic services and methods of interfacing with control systems and various modelling codes are the two essential pieces. As a start, a small package of Java applet classes is developed to provide basic graphic service, and Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is used for interfacing the control system, etc., with the Web server, as only light interfacing is required. For more dynamic graphic user interface approaches, Java servlets are used to replace CGI scripts and communicate with applets. Two accelerator physics applications (beam-based ring optics modelling and beam position monitor (BPM) center offset calibration), and an operational program for scaling the ring energy, are presented to illustrate this method. The merits, limitations and potential development of this approach are discussed