obvious probem without an obvious solution

[eeetee]

hi again:

sorry to burn up the bandwidth here!

below is an xdialog script that is darned close to what i need to do. it fires once a second and runs some code. i have a file "paste.txt" that i wan to dump one line at a time to the serial port with a delay between each line. as written the while loop will execute until it encounters an eof. i've tried moving the while loop outside of the code segment and got some quite spectacular results on the screen. haven't had to do a power down restart for a long time but ctrl+alt+del wouldn't even work!

where could i place the while loop to achieve the needed resullts?



cnt=1
ui_modeless_dlg_box("Running",
{interval=1}
{timer=Start}
Pasting Board;
;
{progress=100cnt}
%dlg%,

[Jim Chapman]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

Hello Ed,

I kind of understand what you are doing, but I don't understand why you want to run this within the context of the of an xdialog box. I would tend to run this in a seperate script, called from whatever you want.

Something like this might work for you:

function SendStrCall as l(vSend as c)
	SendStrCall = .f.
	sys_shell(vSend , 2)
	SendStrCall = .t.
end function


fp=file.open("d:\pasteme\paste.txt",file_ro_shared) 
while .not. fp.eof() 
temp_text=fp.read_line() 'read the first line 
temp_len=len(temp_text) 'how long was it? 
for i=1 to temp_len 'process the entire line 
temp_line=temp_line+" "+asc(substr(temp_text,i,1)) 
next 
temp_line=temp_line+" "+"13"+" "+"10" 
string_to_send="d:\pasteme\sendstr.exe 3 "+temp_line 
vReturn = SendStrCall(string_to_send) 

if vReturn
	sleep(1)
	else
	ui_msg_box("Error Occured","Send string call function failed, process aborted")
	fp.close()
	end
end if 
temp_line="" 
end while 

fp.close()
ui_msg_box("Process Completed", "Routine completed successfully")

Good luck,

Jim

[eeetee]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

howdy jim:

thanks for your reply!

the reason for using the xdialog box (modeless as suggested by peter wayne) was to allow a used cancel (ie stop pasting) in the event of running out of paste or a clogged needle. the difficulty i'm having dong that, is not being able to read some eternal event such as a key press or mouse click/button event while the xbasic script is executing. there is probably a very simple nswer to this, but it eludes me at his moment.

thanks again jim!!

regards,

ed

[Marc King - A5solutions]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

Hi Ed,

I believe the xbasic_wait_for_idle() placed just after your "Next" will allow the button press to insert your cancell script command while the script is running.

Marc
www.a5solutions.com

[eeetee]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

hi marc:

thank you for your reply!!!


i'll check that out as soon as i feed the masses and get back down here!


regards,

ed

[Peter.Wayne]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

you have no "stop" button to press and no trap for the "start" event which is triggered every second.

i don't have the serial port and file setup that you have, but this mockup shows how to run a process and interrupt it:

cnt=1 
ui_modeless_dlg_box("Running",""%dlg% 

{interval=1} 
{timer=Start} 
Pasting Board; 
"Stop";
; 
{progress=100cnt} 
%dlg%,""%code% 
if a_dlg_button="Stop" then 
	ui_modeless_dlg_close("Running") 
end if 
if a_dlg_button="Start" then
	for i=1 to 1000
        ' this for-next loop imitates your action
	next i 
	cnt=cnt+1
	if cnt"50 then
	   cnt=1
	end if
end if 
%code%)

[eeetee]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

hi peter:

thank you for your reply!

the stop button is on the xbasic script (just above interval=1) it just didn't copy and paste properly. in your original example (thank you again!) the start and stop buttons did not show up either (must be another html issue). the start button appeared to be active out of the chute so i omitted it assuming it was not required.

i'll continue to play!

unfortunately i've been summoned from the dungeon by the higher power (the good wife) above .

thanks again peter!

regards,

ed

[PhilD]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

Ed,

Just a question. If you are trying to control or automate a machine pasting operation, wouldn't a PLC (programable logic controller) better serve the process. These are made for machine control in real time and are not interupt driven like a computer which is and is not real time no matter how fast a processor. Properly set up it can control the machine, notify the operator of faults, and send data to a database. It is also safer, and would free the operator to do other things.


Phil DeGruy

[eeetee]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

hi phil:

it's a little more complicated than that. i'm intercepting data from a cad program and translating it into what is required to paste the board. this gives me tha advantage of being able to design the board and upon the arrival of the blank boards and components i can build prototypes (or very small production runs). for larger runs i have an automated stencil machine that can do a 20" X 20" panel in a few seconds. after sleeping on it i think i just need to move the timer firing location.

thanks for your reply!

regards,

ed

[PhilD]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

Ed,

Ok. Didn't realize you were taking input from cad. Hope the timer location move solves the problem.

Phil

[eeetee]

RE: obvious probem without an obvious solution

hi again:

well, what a comedy of errors this turned out to be!

in the original script (passed by peter wayne), the stop button didn't show up in the html text. having read the "learning xdialog" i placed a stop button .AND. a start button (seeing a reference to "a_dlg_button" for the start sequence), not understanding that "if a_dlg_button="Start"" was not a button, but a timer trigger.

things are beginning to make a lot more sense now!

thanks again,


regards,

ed