Data communication

SUMMARY

Information about Data Communication

CONTENTS

  1. Format of Data Output
  2. Event Data
  3. Transfer of Measuring Point data (MP data)

Format of Data Output

Binary Format:
Data are outputted in binary format and subdivided into fields. The Ini-File defines the content- and the length of the field.
Any string is closed by 0x0.
Is the defined length for the field is shorter than specified in the Keyword-List or in the Archive-Data-List the data will be cut off from the right hand side. If a longer field length is defined any data exceeding the defined field length is undefined(Rubbish).

ASCII-Format:
The data are separated by delimiters, trailing spaces are suppressed.
On delimited ASCII any data record is closed by CR (0Dh) and LF (0Ah).

SDF-Format (System Data Format):
The single field contents are outputted in fixed length.
Is the content of a field is shorter than its length the remaining space is filled with spaces.
On SDF any data record is closed by CR (0Dh) and LF (0Ah).

Event Data

Event Data are Data the system is going to write into the Eventlog.
Which of the data is to be transferred is defined in the Ini-Datei.
The name for the Event-File defined in the Ini-File is arbitrary. The extension for Event-Files is created by the Request program automatically; it will be ‘.001’ resp. ‘.002’. These extensions are assigned alternately when creating files, so the application respectively the user may access the closed file. The number of Events written to a file before closing it and creating a new one is defined in the Ini-Datei.

The Request program creates a Status File so the application can recognize which of both files is closed (means, the OS is not writing to currently). That file is located in the same directory as the Event-File and gets the same name but the extension ‘.sts’. The Status-File contains a string with information about the actually closed Event-File as there is file-name, date in ANSI-Format and time in the format hhmmss. The entries are separated by comma. Date and time are taken from the PC.

Transfer of Measuring Point data (MP data)

Transferring the data of Measuring Points serves the purpose to access these data at any time and in any combination afterwards. The Ini-File defines what data, in which format, at what time should be send, further more it defines, whether Measuring Point data should be send cyclic or only once on starting Request.exe.

Note:
In case of cyclic sending of data it must be taken care to save the actual file prior creating a new one.

Name and extension of the MP-Data file is arbitrary.

WARNING
The Request program does not check for a file with the same name; if there is one it is overwritten without further enquiry.
In case Event-File and MP-Data file are located in the same folder please take care to chose different names otherwise you might get unexpected results.

As soon as a MP-Data file is written and closed the Request program creates a Status-File.
That file is located in the same directory as the MP-Data file and gets the same name but the extension ‘.sts’. The Status-File contains a string with information about the actually closed MP-Data file as there is file-name, date in ANSI-Format and time in the format hhmmss. The entries are separated by comma.
Prior of creating a new MP-Data file with the same name an eventually existing Status-File is deleted.