-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 104 www.windmill.co.uk March 2007 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Thank you for subscribing to Monitor. I hope you enjoy the newsletter but should you wish to cancel your subscription, you can do so at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill Tips: COMIML Checklist * Excel Corner: How to Use a Macro to Insert a Chart * DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill Tips: COMIML Checklist ________________________________________________________ COMIML lets Windows software collect data measurement devices connected to the PC's COM port. These include electronic balances used in a laboratory, GPS receivers used in the field and data loggers used in process plant. The COMIML device driver can communicate over RS232, RS422, RS485 or Modbus. More details of COMIML are at www.windmillsoft.com The first thing to do with CONFIML is configure it for use with your instrument. 1. From the Windmill start menu select ComDebug. This utility lets you configure CONFIML. 2. In ComDebug's opening screen select "Create a new Windmill Instrument File". The Main Menu appears. 3. Choose "Edit COM Port Settings" and enter your instrument's communications settings: baud rate, com port number, etc. Click the Help button if you are not sure of the settings to use. 4. From the Main Menu choose "Add a new Message". This lets you send a message to your instrument and view its reply. a. If your instrument needs to be sent a command to return data, then type this command into the Prompt grid. If you need to enter characters not available from the keyboard, such as Returns or Linefeeds, you can - Use the NonPrint menu, or - Enter the Hexadecimal code into the Hex column, or - Press the Num Lock key and, using the numeric keypad, enter the decimal code into the Char column. b. If your instrument does not need to be sent any commands then leave the Prompt string grid blank. c. Select Send. The instrumentĘs reply is shown in the Reply grid. 5. Extract the relevant data from the instrument's reply. Click the Parse button. a. Click Add Action to search for or ignore characters in the instrument's reply. b. Type the characters to search for, or the number of characters to ignore, into the Parameters box c. Click over the next row then select Extract. The Channel Details box appears. d. You now need to create a channel in which to store the extracted data. In the Channels Details box click Add Channel. e. Click this channel in the grid and select it. f. You are returned to the Reply Parser window and enter an Extract parameter. For instance, if you chose "Extract N Bytes" then type the number of bytes (characters) that make up your data. g. Click Step to test the parsing. h. If everything is correct Click OK. Otherwise edit your settings. 6. Choose whether you want to continually take readings from your instrument in the background, or to take readings only when requested to do so. In the Main Menu choose "Edit the Instrument Timings". If you have an instrument that sends data regularly without any prompting you would usually choose background reading. 7. Save your settings. From the Main Menu select Save .IMD file. 8. Repeat for any other instruments. 9. Windmill lists all your serial instruments as modules within a COMIML Device. Go back to the opening screen and click "Edit Windmill Device". Press the Add button and select one of the instrument files. Add as many files as you have instruments. 10. Run the Windmill ConfIML program and add the COMIML Serial Instrument Handler. 11. Run the SetupIML program. This lets you specify how you want to use your instrument. Select COMIML from the Device menu and double-click your channels to choose names, units, ranges and alarm levels. 12. You are now ready to use the Windmill logging, charting, display and control programs. The next time you use Windmill you can go straight to this step. Further Reading =============== For these instructions with picture see https://www.windmill.co.uk/comiml_ts.html The ComDebug.hlp file contains full instructions on using COMIML. Press the Help button during configuration then go to the Overview topic. For more about the COMIML Serial Driver go to https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/rs232-modbus.html Issue 47 of Monitor used a real-world example of how to configure COMIML for use with a custom PLC. https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor47.html For a full explanation of the COM port settings: baud rate, parity, etc, see https://www.windmill.co.uk/comport.html If you cannot pursuade your instrument to send data visit https://www.windmill.co.uk/rs232-communication.html #serial If you have any other problems using COMIML contact technicalsupport@windmill.co.uk ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Excel Corner: How to Use a Macro to Insert a Chart ________________________________________________________ This sub-routine will embed a chart into an Excel worksheet called Sheet1. Sub AddChart() Dim chtChart As Chart 'Create a new chart. Set chtChart = Charts.Add 'Set the Sheet on which to place the chart Set chtChart = chtChart.Location(Where:=xlLocationAsObject, Name:="Sheet1") With chtChart .ChartType = xlLine 'Set data source range. .SetSourceData Source:=Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A5:h16"), PlotBy:= _ xlColumns .HasTitle = True .ChartTitle.Text = "=Sheet1!R1C1" 'Set where the chart is placed With .Parent .Top = Range("A17").Top .Left = Range("A17").Left .Name = "Chart" End With End With End Sub The location defines on which sheet the chart is to be placed. xlLocationAsObject specifies that the chart is embedded on the worksheet, rather than being placed on its own Chart sheet. ChartType defines the type of chart to be drawn. Our example uses a line chart. Other chart types include, xlColumnClustered, xlScatter and xlBarStacked. Source defines the location of your data. Ours is in cells A5 to H16 of Sheet1. The Top and Left settings define where you want the chart to appear. We've set it to appear immediately below our data at A17 For more tips on using Excel for data acquisition and analysis see https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/ https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/excel-charting.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ Welcome to our roundup of the data acquisition and control news. If you would like to receive more timely DAQ news updates then grab our RSS newsfeed at https://www.windmillsoft.com/monitor.xml. Read https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsfeed.php for notes on how to display the news on your own web site, read it via e-mail, mobile phone or a newsfeed viewer. Physicists pioneer new super-thin technology Researchers have used the world's thinnest material to create a new type of technology, which could be used to make ultra-fast electronic switches. Physicists at The University of Manchester and The Max-Planck Institute have created a new kind of a membrane that is only one atom thick. Source: The University of Manchester http://www.manchester.ac.uk/ DCS Market in Asia Thriving Strong economic activity in Asia is spurring the growth of manufacturing, which in turn is propelling the growth of the automation market in the region. The Asian market for Distributed Control Systems (DCS) is expected to grow at 9.0% over the next five years, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study. Source: Arc Advisory Group http://www.arcweb.com/ Back-up satellite to secure Galileo navigation system The frequencies allotted to the Galileo satellite navigation system will be safeguarded under a deal announced by the European Space Agency. "From now on, there will always be a European navigation satellite in space," the ESA announcement promised. Source: New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/ New Coating Is Virtual Black Hole for Reflections Non-reflecting material may help solar cells catch more of the Sun's rays. Researchers have created an anti- reflective coating that allows light to travel through it, but lets almost none bounce off its surface. At least 10 times more effective than the coating on sunglasses or computer monitors, the material, which is made of silica nanorods, may be used to channel light into solar cells or allow more photons to surge through the surface of a light-emitting diode (LED). Source: National Science Foundation ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * Copyright Windmill Software Ltd * Reprinting permitted with this notice included * For more articles see https://www.windmill.co.uk We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and use extracts from it on your own web site or publication, providing the above notice is included and a link back to our website is in place. An archive of previous issues is at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html and an index of articles at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html Windmill Software Ltd, PO Box 58, North District Office, Manchester, M8 8QR, UK Telephone: +44 (0)161 834 6688 Facsimile: +44 (0)161 833 2190 E-mail: monitor@windmillsoft.com https://www.windmill.co.uk/ https://www.windmillsoft.com/ Do you have a question, comment or suggestion on this newsletter? Fill in this form to contact the editor.