|
Scope32 – Revision 1.0 3rd May 2007 |
This
document describes the serial port data scope utility written for the analysis of
serial port data flow and line state settings in a Windows environment. The program can be downloaded from the
Support Section, Utilities page
of the Touch-Base web site.
Prior to
analysing the data the port must be available to the scope program. If this
utility is being used because the UPDD pointer device driver is not working
with the pointer device and UPDD is installed on the system it is important
that UPDD releases the serial port resources, making them available for the
scope program. To do this click on the
UPDD system tray icon and disable the port as shown below: (X = disabled and 
= Enabled)
The
software is supplied as a single executable, Scope32.exe. This software only works on W2K, XP and
We hope that
operation is generally obvious but here are a few tips:
When the utility
is invoked the following dialog is shown
The port bar to
the left shows the ports on the system. Items with a red line through indicate
the port is in use.
The display area
shows the com port traffic, currently in hexidecimal.
The port field
indicates the com port to use.
Baud, Parity,
Data Bits and Stop Bits are used to set the communication settings
Clear is used to
clear the display
Connect is used
to open the com port.
Modem Status
shows the line status.
Link With is used
to specify the port used in ‘Link mode’, see below.
The utility can
be used in terminated or link mode.
Terminated Mode
Terminated mode
involves a single port with a device attached
Serial pointer device controller
-------( straight RS232 cable )-------------ŕ PC serial port
To work in
terminated mode open a single port, select settings and click connect.
In this example,
the pointer device (in this example a touch screen) is attached to COM1 and
connection has been established. The screen has been tapped. The device has
generated 10 bytes, 5 for the initial touch and 5 for lift off. In UPDD, this particular controller’s data
packet is defined as…
which coincides
with the data generated. (~LIFT means Pen Up packet when bit toggles from 1 to
0, D8 to 98 on scope display)
Link Mode
Terminated mode
utilizes two ports to view bi-directional data, for example, traffic between a
device and it’s driver
Touch controller
-------------------------------ŕ PC1 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx->
PC2
Typically PC1
runs scope32 and xxxxxxxx represents a crossover
cable.
To work in link mode
open 2 ports, select settings and click connect then select the link with for
each port to point to the other.
When working in
link mode data sent as a result of receives on linked port are shown in
brackets. The above image shows a link session in operation.
You can run
multiple terminated and linked sessions concurrently
Other functions
Data view
By default the data
is displayed in Hex format. It can also be displayed in ASCII text. This option
can be found in the view menu.
File save
The file menu can be
used to save the displayed data to a file. The file is saved in the active hex/ascii mode.
Data send
Data can be sent by keying in hex data in the send
field and selecting the Send button.
Hex characters can be separated with space or commas,
Therefore,
aabbcc
aa,bb,bb
aa bb cc
are equivalent.
Note: Scope
is currently under development and other options are in the pipe line.
Technical Support
Touch-Base Ltd