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Auto enable extended diagnostics info

PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
in Tips and Tricks
I hate inefficiency and repeated tasks. Lately I've been finding myself typing 'msg on all' way to often and it sucks. I'm just wondering if anyone is aware of a way to auto enable diagnostic messages following a reboot on dev masters?

Comments

  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    PhreaK wrote: »
    I hate inefficiency and repeated tasks. Lately I've been finding myself typing 'msg on all' way to often and it sucks. I'm just wondering if anyone is aware of a way to auto enable diagnostic messages following a reboot on dev masters?

    Write code that telnets the master to do it and trigger it from the define start section.
  • the8thstthe8thst Posts: 470
    Add a script into your telnet app to enter the command when the connection is established.
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    vining wrote: »
    Write code that telnets the master to do it and trigger it from the define start section.
    The command only enables diagnostic messages for the connection its executed on.

    Having it scripted to auto enable as per the8thst is one option however on my dev system I use a serial connection to the program port so that I have a persistent console and don't need to reconnect after every reboot.

    P.S. I know this is a true first world problem, was just curious if anyone had found themselves in a similar situation.
  • the8thstthe8thst Posts: 470
    PhreaK wrote: »
    Having it scripted to auto enable as per the8thst is one option however on my dev system I use a serial connection to the program port so that I have a persistent console and don't need to reconnect after every reboot.

    I like the serial idea for a dev system. I hadn't thought of that and my dev processor is about 5' away from my desktop, so I think I am going to make that change.

    Are there 232/Terminal programs that let you write simple scripts ala IRC? You could then write a quick script to send "MSG ON" when "Welcome to Netlinx" was found on the incoming buffer.

    It looks like you might be able to do it with data triggers in RealTerm: http://realterm.sourceforge.net/index.html#Data_Triggers

    Docklight looks like another option: http://www.docklight.de/info_en.htm#dl_info_scripting
  • HedbergHedberg Posts: 671
    You can teach Indigo to send certain strings upon connection with either RS232 or with telnet. Every time that the system goes off and online, a telnet session needs to be restarted and when the reconnection is made it will send the desired string. I've tried this with "msg on" and it works exactly as you would expect. Unfortunately with RS232, the session doesn't know when the master goes off line and comes back on so the "msg on" string does not get resent when the master finishes rebooting. Momentarily stopping the session in Indigo and then restarting does cause the string to be sent.

    The problem appears to be that the RS232 session doesn't normally recognize when the master reboots so it doesn't recognize that the session is getting disconnected and reconnected. But, if I understand correctly, this is exactly why someone would want to use an RS232 connection for diagnostics/notifications rather than telnet.

    With Indigo, jogging the session (hitting one button to stop the RS232 session and then the same button to restart it) takes about 1 second and this may satisfy people, I don't know. In any case, I prefer a telnet client for notifications/diagnostics. When the master comes back on line exactly one brief button click is all that is necssary to start up the telnet client and make the connection.
  • svTechsvTech Posts: 44
    One other advantage to Indigo is that you can tell it to automatically reconnect and upon reconnect to auto-send "MSG ON", so you rarely lose any information, even the very early details as the boot process occurs. This is one feature of Indigo that I use all the time.
  • HedbergHedberg Posts: 671
    svTech wrote: »
    One other advantage to Indigo is that you can tell it to automatically reconnect and upon reconnect to auto-send "MSG ON", so you rarely lose any information, even the very early details as the boot process occurs. This is one feature of Indigo that I use all the time.

    Amazing. I didn't know you could do that. Didn't know that I could do it either.

    Thanks.

    Seems that the ability to auto-reconnect a telnet session would obviate the need to use RS232 instead.
  • KennyKenny Posts: 209
    Indigo is really a great product. I need to get another license.
    It was designed with AMX specifically in mind.
    I'm sure with a little poking, the developer would add some feature requests.
  • HedbergHedberg Posts: 671
    Kenny wrote: »
    Indigo is really a great product. I need to get another license.
    It was designed with AMX specifically in mind.
    I'm sure with a little poking, the developer would add some feature requests.

    I've been using it for a number of years but don't make use of very much of the features very often.

    Just looked at the website and it appears that a beta release is available. Might be worth checking out.

    I originally had Indigo installed on an XP machine and regularly updated it without any additional cost -- my installation was registered. When I bought a W7 machine and stopped using the XP machine, it was probably possible to get the license migrated but I figured that the small cost of a new license didn't really justify trying to get it on the W7 machine for free.
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    *downloads indigo*

    @svTech
    For the auto-reconnect are you referring to the reboot sequence or is there a setting I'm missing somewhere.
  • HedbergHedberg Posts: 671
    PhreaK wrote: »
    *downloads indigo*

    @svTech
    For the auto-reconnect are you referring to the reboot sequence or is there a setting I'm missing somewhere.

    Ok, when I have an active, connected Telnet session I see a number of icons in the lower right corner of the window. One of these icons is what I would call the connection icon. When connected, it's green and when disconnected, it's red. Clicking the icon changes the connection status and the color. Just to the immediate right of this icon is a small arrow icon. Click on this arrow icon and you will see a popup window with four selections, the bottom of which is "Auto-Reconnect". When I activate this, the connection indicates a disconnect when the master is rebooted and when the master comes back on line it indicates connected, the selected command is sent (as specified in the "send commands" tab of the session properties selected from the session drop-down menu). Also, when the master has been disconnected and the session is waiting to reconnect, a yellow icon appears in the upper right corner of the session window. I interpret this icon to mean that Indigo is waiting patiently for an ethernet connection so that it can reconnect the telnet session.

    edit: Before finding this little auto-reconnect button, I looked through the session properties menus and could find no selection to activate the feature. Perhaps it's there somewhere (I think it should be) , but I couldn't find it.
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    Wicked, thanks. I look through all the settings dialogs as well and couldn't find any mention of it.
  • mushmush Posts: 287
    You could plug into the debug port, it always spits out everything, but alas this requires an open box.
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    I haven't actually played with the debug port. Looking at the board design I'm guessing it's J2 (down the bottom, opposite side of the board from the program port), but wouldn't have a clue what the pinout is. Could you shed some light?
  • mushmush Posts: 287
    PhreaK wrote: »
    I haven't actually played with the debug port. Looking at the board design I'm guessing it's J2, but wouldn't have a clue what the pinout is. Could you shed some light?

    The boards that I've seen have had debug written on the connector, both masters and touch panels.
    Pins 2, 3 & 5 with a crossover.
    115200, 8, N, 1
    I made my cable using an old computer CD audio cable. The flat black 4 pin connector fits perfectly, just offset it by one pin so that the earth lead is on pin 5 of the board connector.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    This is a very cool program (Indigo). I especially like the command library with the ability to create multiple libraries for different devices like Netlinx, Cisco, Linux and the library provides an area adjacent to the command for a desciption, just double click the command in the custom library and it's sent.

    The auto-reconnect and the ability automatically send the MSG ON ALL command upon re-connect is very sweet indeed.
  • Andrew MartinAndrew Martin Posts: 11
    Auto send msg on when reconnection

    Sorry for being dumb here guys, but I have just downloaded Indigo and it does seem to be a better alternative to Telnet (especially the logging). i have seen how to set up the auto-reconnect, but have no idea how to send the 'msg on' command when auto rebooting.

    Could anyone provide me with a shove in the right direction?

    Thanks,

    ManInBlack
  • ColzieColzie Posts: 470
    Session Properties
    Send Commands tab
    In Auto Send Commands (on session connect) check Custom Command
    Enter "msg on" in Custom Session Commands

    or

    Session Properties
    Send Commands tab
    In Auto Send Commands (on session connect) check Global Commands
    Enter "msg on" in Edit Global Commands
  • Andrew MartinAndrew Martin Posts: 11
    Thank you

    Hi Colzie,
    Thanks for the guidence on this one - I was totally stumped!!

    Cheers,

    ManInBlack
  • Andrew MartinAndrew Martin Posts: 11
    It works

    It works! How cool is that! Thats going to save me a problem . . . .
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