5.1.2 Auto-Configuration Example

The purpose of this example is to show how to set up the configuration files required to automatically configure a dashboard with a signal showing the state of a pushbutton on the target hardware and a graph showing the value of a counter in the target application. The screenshot below shows the final dashboard.

The target code used in this example can be found in Auto-Configuration Example Code.

Three files are required by the Data Visualizer to enable Auto-Configuration, a .ds file describing the data stream content, a .db file describing the dashboard and a .sc file describing the connections between the data stream content and the dashboard elements. All files should be named "C0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEE" before the extension to match the Auto Configuration ID sent by the application code.

The example application generates a data stream with two stream components, an unsigned 16-bit value and an unsigned 8-bit value.

The .ds file will create a table with two sources from the data stream. Column 1 row 1 will contain a source with unsigned 16-bit values named "count" and column 2, row 1 will contain a source with unsigned 8-bit values named "button". For more information on the .ds file format see Configuration Format.

The easiest way to set up a dashboard for the Auto-Configuration is to draw it in the Data Visualizer GUI and save the configuration to file.

Todo:

• Open the configuration panel
• Add a new I/O Dashboard component by double-clicking the I/O Dashboard module

The .db file content should have content similar to:

{
0,
'\0',
0, 255, 255, 255,
44, 1,
};

{
0, // Dashboard ID
0, // Element ID
DB_TYPE_LABEL, // Element Type
0, // Z-Index (GUI stack order)
63, 0, // X-coordinate
48, 0, // Y-coordinate
100, 0, // Width
22, 0, // Height
16, // Font Size
1,
0, // Horizontal Alignment
0, // Vertical Alignment
0, 255, 255, 255, // Background Color
255, 0, 0, 0, // Foreground Color
'B', 'u', 't', 't', 'o', 'n', ' ', 'S', 't', 'a', 't', 'e', '\0', // Text
};

{
0, // Dashboard ID
1, // Element ID
DB_TYPE_SIGNAL, // Element Type
0, // Z-Index (GUI stack order)
98, 0, // X-coordinate
78, 0, // Y-coordinate
25, 0, // Width
25, 0, // Height
255, 0, 255, 0, // Color On
255, 255, 0, 0, // Color Off
};

{
0, // Dashboard ID
2, // Element ID
DB_TYPE_GRAPH, // Element Type
0, // Z-Index (GUI stack order)
206, 0, // X-coordinate
12, 0, // Y-coordinate
64, 1, // Width
240, 0, // Height
255, 255, 255, // Title color
0, 0, 0, // Background color
20, 20, 20, // Graph background color
'c', 'o', 'u', 'n', 't', ' ', 'v', 'a', 'l', 'u', 'e', '\0', // Title
1, // Number of plots
0,0,0,0, // X Minimum
0,0,160,64, // X Maximum
0,0,0,0, // Y Minimum
0,232,128,71, // Y Maximum
1,
1,
};

For more information on the Dashboard elements, see Element Types.

The .sc file will connect the stream source named “button” to the Dashboard element with ID 1 (the Signal element) and the stream source named “count” to the Dashboard element with ID 2 (the Graph element).

Then it is time to run the example.

Todo:

• Open the Serial Port Control panel found under External Connection in the Modules section of the Configuration tab in Data Visualizer

Todo:

• Select the correct COM port corresponding to the connected kit
• Make sure Autodetect protocols option is checked and the Parity and Stop bits configurations are set according to the target application. The Baud rate will be detected automatically.

After selecting a folder, the folder will be APPENDED to the Auto-Configuration search path.

Tip: To reset the search path and select a new single folder as the search path, click the link on the Autodetect protocols option text.

Data Visualizer will then pop up a browser dialog asking for the path to the folder where the configuration files reside. The original search path will be CLEARED and the newly selected folder will be set as search path.

Important: All three configuration files must reside in the same folder.

After connecting and detecting the Auto-Configuration ID the Data Visualizer should create a Data Stream Control Panel and a Dashboard I/O looking something like the image below.

The Graph element shows a running sawtooth signal which represents the counter continuously counting up until it wraps. The Signal element shows the state of the push button on the ATtiny104 Xplained Nano board. Pushing the button changes the color of the Signal element from red to green.

Expanding the Data Stream Control Panel by clicking the down arrow to the right in the panel shows the content of the automatically configured Data Stream.

The stream has two sources, one for the counter value and one for the button state.

Expanding the Serial Port Control Panel shows that Data Visualizer detected the baud rate to be 38400.