Windmill Software Ltd
Windows Engineering Software

Monitor
29 August 2004

-------------------------Monitor------------------------
The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control
Issue 73          www.windmill.co.uk         August 2004
--------------------ISSN 1472-0221----------------------

Welcome to Issue 73 of Monitor.  This month we're 
pleased to announce new software dedicated to counting 
people (or, in UK parlance, footfall counting). We 
also have the regular Excel corner and our tri-monthly 
listing of measurement and control exhibitions.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Monitor
, but should you 
wish to cancel your subscription you can do so at 
https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html

CONTENTS
========
* Windmill News: New Dedicated People Counting Software
* Excel Corner: Starting and Stopping Windmill Logger
* Data Acquisition and Control Exhibitions
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Windmill News: New Dedicated People Counting Software
________________________________________________________

A year ago we announced that Windmill software had been 
chosen for a new people counting system 
(https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor61.html).  We now 
offer a program dedicated to counting people (or, in 
UK parlance, measuring retail footfall), which is 
easier to use for those who do not need the full 
capabilities of Windmill.

The benefits of the new software include:
- It can now communicate with the counting units over 
  Ethernet, as well as over RS232, RS485 and modem links.
- Users can now do everything from one program: setting 
  up the counting units, downloading counts, viewing 
  live counts and occupancy levels, and analysing 
  footfall data. 
- The results can be imported into almost any third-
  party reporting software. Users are therefore free to 
  use whatever software they wish to process the data and 
  are not tied to the manufacturer's reporting software.
- The software can handle counts from outdoors and 
  thus be used for pedestrian counting.
- It can perform calculations on the data, such as 
  combining the count from several entrances.

For more details contact sales@biodataltd.com.
For more on people counting systems see
https://www.retailsensing.com/
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Excel Corner: Using Excel to Start and Stop the 
Windmill Logger Program at Pre-Determined Times
________________________________________________________

The Windmill Logger program saves readings from 
instruments and sensors to disk (temperature, weight, 
position, strain, pressure, etc).  It does this at 
regular intervals, every minute for example.  You can 
instruct Logger to start logging in a number of ways, 
for example when:
- your equipment sends new data;
- readings cross one of your alarm thresholds;
- you press the space bar on the keyboard;
- you press the software Start button.

Likewise you can tell Logger to stop logging when: 
- you press the software Stop button;
- your chosen logging duration expires.

However, there may be times when you would prefer to 
automatically start and stop Logger at pre-determined 
times.  You can do this with the Windmill Test-Seq 
program (https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/test-control.html) or with 
Excel.

                          *

Using Excel to Start and Stop Logger
====================================

If you want to use Excel to start and stop Windmill 
Logger, then you need to create a macro to do so. Here 
is an example of the code needed.

Sub StartLoggerMacro()
 WaitTime
End Sub

Sub WaitTime()
' Waits until a time of day in 24 hour format - here 
9.30 am and 0 seconds
' Then runs the StartLogger subroutine
    Application.OnTime Date + TimeSerial(9, 30, 0), 
"StartLogger"
' Waits until a time of day then runs the StopLogger 
subroutine
    Application.OnTime Date + TimeSerial(12, 45, 0), 
"StopLogger"
End Sub

Sub StartLogger()
' Starts the Logger program. See the Notes below.
    Shell "start c:\windmill\logger.exe demo1.wlg /AUTO"
End Sub

Sub StopLogger()
' Starts a DDE conversation with Logger
    ddeChan = DDEInitiate("Logger", "Commands")
' Sends the Destroy command to close Logger
    DDEExecute ddeChan, "Destroy"
' Ends the DDE conversation
    DDETerminate (ddeChan)
End Sub

Notes: 
1. Replace c:\windmill\logger.exe with the path to your 
   Logger program.
2. Replace demo1.wlg with the name of your Logger setup 
   file.

More Information:
================= 
For more details of Test-Seq or Logger, visit 
https://www.windmill.co.uk/ or contact 
sales@biodataltd.com.
For more on using Excel with Windmill see
https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Data Acquisition and Control Exhibitions
________________________________________________________

AADECA
  30 Aug - 3 September 
  Buenos Aires Argentina
  Control Automation Week organised by the Argentine 
  Association of Automatic Control. For instrumentation, 
  software, engineering, research and education.
  http://www.aadeca.org/

GO. AUTOMATION DAYS
  31 Aug - 3 September
  Basel Switzerland
  International automation fair includes industrial 
  control and sensor systems.
  https://www.mch-group.com/

Instrumentation Scotland and Offshore Systems
  8-9 September
  Aberdeen Scotland
  Sensors and transducres, control and PLCs, data 
  acquisition, test and meaurement exhibition.
  http://www.instrumentation.co.uk/

Remote Sensing
  13-17 September
  Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain 
  Covers remote sensing for agriculture, ocean, 
  environmental monitoring and GIS.
  http://spie.org/

MICONEX
  14-17 September
  Beijing China
  International fair for measurement, instrumentation 
  and automation. Organised by China Instrument and 
  Control Society (CIS).
  http://www.cis.org.cn/
  http://www.world-fima.com/

Automatizace
  20-24 September
  Brno Czech Republic
  Biennial exhibition on measurement, control, 
  automation and regulation.
  http://www.bvv.cz/automatizace-gb/

MeasComp and Sensors
  28-30 September
  Wiesbaden Germany 
  http://www.sensors-meascomp.com/

Progressive Technologies in Automation
  29 September - 8 October
  Moscow Russia
  Exhibition dedicated to process automation and 
  embedded systems.
  http://www.pta-expo.ru/en/

ISA Expo
  5-7 October
  Houston Texas USA
  Automation and control conference, training and 
  exhibition.  Organised by the Instrumentation, Systems, 
  and Automation Society.
  https://www.isa.org/rd.cfm?id=4801

Smart Automation Austria
  6-8 October
  Linz Austria
  Measurement and control exhibition.
  http://www.smart-automation.at/

Drives and Controls
  12-14 October
  Telford UK
  Covers the drives, motors, transmissions and 
  automation markets.
  http://www.drivesexpo.com/

HET Instrument
  1-5 November
  Utrecht The Netherlands
  25th Anniversary of this industrial automation and 
  laboratory technologies exhibition.
  http://www.hetinstrument.nl/

Asian Conference on Remote Sensing
  3-7 November
  Chiang Mai Thailand
  http://www.aars-acrs.org/
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

* 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/


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