Testing a System
Configuration
Testing a system configuration consists of three steps:
- Launching remote devices (if any)
- Launching the system configuration
- Testing and stopping the system
Launching Remote Devices
If any of the devices in the system configuration are remote
devices (RMT_DEV, RMT_FRAME, etc), these must be
launched before the system configuration so that the FBEditor tool can
configure them as part of the system launch process. How this is done
depends on the location of the device:
- A locally hosted remote device is one whose MGR_ID
parameter value begins with "localhost:", "127.0.0.1:", or the
IP address of the local workstation, e.g., "192.168.1.3" (the
default initial value for the MGR_ID parameter is "localhost:61499").
This type of device can be launched directly from the FBEditor, using
the Run option from its pop-up menu
in the system configuration diagram ( in
the navigation tree).
- A remotely hosted device is one that does not meet the
above criteria. This kind of device can be launched in one of two ways:
- If the remote device is located on a workstation capable of
hosting the FBDK, the device
can be launched from the same system configuration on the remote
workstation by adjusting its MGR_ID parameter appropriately.
For instance, suppose a system configuration is to be launched from
workstation A with IP address 192.168.1.3, and the
configuration contains a remote device DEV_D with a MGR_ID
value of "192.168.1.5:61500". Then if there is a workstation
B with IP address 192.168.1.5 hosting the FBDK, the
remote device could be launched as follows:
- Open the same application in the FBEditor on workstation B.
- Set the DEV_D.MGR_ID parameter to "localhost:61500"
in the FBEditor on workstation B.
- Launch DEV_D on workstation B, using the Run option from its pop-up menu.
- If the remote device is not located on a workstation capable
of hosting the FBDK (for example, an embedded controller), it must be
launched using some platform-specific procedure.
Launching the System Configuration
After starting the remote devices, if any, you launch the
system configuration by pressing the
button
next to the
Run item on the menu bar. As the configuration
proceeds, a progress indicator, status commands and responses will
appear on the status bar.
If the
log option is
turned ON in the
Preferences dialog, the
full listing of commands and responses will be logged into the text pane
of the
Log tab.
If an error occurs during launching,
an error message will appear in a popup window. If you need to find out
exactly where in the configuration process this error occurred, you can
turn on the Log checkbox in the Run menu, which will cause
the configuration commands and responses to be output to the command
prompt window from which the FBEditor was launched.
Possible error messages include:
- NO_SOCKET - A remote device has either not been launched or
has failed to initialize its management socket identified by the MGR_ID
parameter. This usually occurs after a delay caused by waiting for the
socket, which you will notice by a configuration command or response
being "frozen" in the status bar.
- NOT_READY - A device is not responding quickly enough. You may
be able to overcome this problem by adjusting the command/response
timeout, using the Timeout... item of the Run menu.
- INVALID_STATE - This is probably due to trying to re-configure
a device that is already running. You will have to kill the running
device instance and start a new one.
Testing and Stopping the System Configuration
After testing to validate the system's operation versus
requirements, you can stop the configuration and kill all the locally
running processes by exiting the FBEditor. This assumes, of course, that
you are happy with the results of the testing and have already saved all
your editing work on the system configuration.
In the more usual case that you want to stop the running
processes and make changes to correct errors, you can do the following:
- Stop the processes in non-workstation hosts with appropriate
platform-specific actions.
- Stop the processes running in windows on both the local and
remote workstations by closing the windows.
- Stop the non-window processes in both local and remote
workstations by clicking on their identifiers in the Shut Down item of the Run
menus.
Last updated: 2011-02-11.
©2011 Holobloc
Inc.
Licensed under the Academic
Free License version 3.0.