Mach MAD Plug in (Maintenance and Diagnostics)

[poppabear]

UserLEDs are only in the range of 1000-2255,    "825" is an OEM Led and is read only.

scott

[poppabear]

HA!!!  Thanks to Zafar, he has found out that the "bug" that was causing the 3.7 to crash mach3 was (at least on his computer) the ACPI, so if you turn that off and re-install the 3.7 that should fix your problem for those of you that said that 3.7 was crashing mach3 (3 reports), and you had to go back to 3.5.  With the ACPI disabled Zafar has said that that fixed the problem.

If you need me to send you 3.7 again, if you want to try out turning off the ACPI let me know.

scott

[poppabear]

Just an update, when Brian gets out the new functions/way of doing plugins, with Rev 4, MADs price will be going to 25.00 per copy, and I will be doing some small extra user friendly feature stuff.

This will be a redo of the plugin, plus adding some nice user features to make it a little friendlier. Both old and new users the price will be 25 bucks per copy........

scott

[DaveCVI]

Scott -
That's still a great deal!

Will you make it so that the new version is useful for both V3 and V4 code?
I'd like to be able to use the new numbering scheme when working on V4 code and the old scheme when looking at V3 stuff.

And while I'm thinking about it, a suggestion:
It would be nice to be able to set a DRO/LED number without having to scroll sequentially thru the pull down values - I've used the 1700 range for the MachStdMillScreen set for V4 & it's getting a tad tiresome to scroll that far each time I use machmad :-0

Dave

[poppabear]

"And while I'm thinking about it, a suggestion:
It would be nice to be able to set a DRO/LED number without having to scroll sequentially thru the pull down values - I've used the 1700 range for the MachStdMillScreen set for V4 & it's getting a tad tiresome to scroll that far each time I use machmad :-0"

Yes, that is one of the changes I am making........  I may just do a last update to V3 MAD, call it 3.8 that has the ability to enter directly the code.... just
been to lazy to go back in and change all that, but I will send out a 3.8 to all on my mailing list.
If you bought a copy from Peters or Aurturos website, then you will need to download the last V3 update from those sites......

The new Plug in, be adding in the Parameter ability, to the V4 as soon as Brian gets the new VB/Parameter system stabilized.......

V3/V4 compatablilty.......   as far a the plugin goes v3 and v4 will NOT be compatable, the plugin code it self is being completely restructured, BUT, as far as implementing the V3/V4  VB, OEM: Dros, Leds, etc. both old and new, as long as the old Calls are supported, I will leave them in......

Dave,  BTW:  Thank You for the feed back, you the first guy who has ever given me any feed back on MAD.......... 

scott

[DaveCVI]

Scott -
Yea, customers: the source of all problems in a business ;-)   - Take the lack of feedback as a good thing <grin> - you know how it is with people (myself included) - we complain about things we don't like, tend to ignore the things we do.

So here is some more feedback: MachMad is the a very handy tool. I'm working on a V4 screen set (Prototype being done on V3) and I use MachMad all the time in the process. I am always using the VB window to run a 3-4 line test of something to figure out what mach is really doing (as opposed to what a doc says it might do) - it's much easier than opening an editor & creating a button etc.

Here is a feature I'd love to have - but I suspect it may not be possible external to mach itself...
The problem: The lack of common IDE features makes debugging mach VB code a real pain - it feels like a nostalgic exercise in using early '70's programming tools. Thankfully, the Cypress VB embedded in mach provides breakpoints, but it offers no way to monitor or change variable values while debugging.
The wish: I'd love to have a way to monitor VB variables (I use MM to monitor Mach DRO, LEDS etc)  - but I suspect that being able to do that requires you to be inside the interperter.

BTW- my understanding of the current plan is that while the V3/V4 plugins are different, the V3/V4 macros will be able to coexist on V4. V4 VB code will use a directive up front to tell mach the macro is (all) v4 code calls. Existing VB macros (really any macro w/o the directive) will be interpreted as V3 calls.

Dave
 

[poppabear]

Dave,

   Thanik you for the feedback 

I have changed all the dropdowns to Editable dropdowns and have been checking them, I do believe I have them all, so now you can enter the code, directly into the drop box main line.

Here is the way that will work:

for instance to switch to page 3 of a screen, put the number 3 into a button drop down, then "Press" the activate button and it will goto screen 3, etc.

your Wish:   That would be nice, but as the VB interpreter IS inside Mach3, so I dont have anyway to get to that kinda stuff, my suggestion for what that is worth,
is set your vars, = to a DRO (for numbers), and a User Label in mach for your strings..........  and watch those DROS, and/or lables in mad they change when the var does..........  sorry, that is the best I can do, withoug Brian being involved.......

I will do the best I can to make V3/V4 VB stuff work in a "make sense" manner in the new one.

3.8 will be out very shortly......
so, check your email............

scott

[poppabear]

Greetings,

     Mach MAD 3.8 is out (for those that have purchased from me directly, you will get an update,
Via email, for those that bought copies from Pete or Aurturo then you will need to download the
New version from their respective sites.

New for version 3.8 is a minor upgrade:

Now in the list/dropdown boxes, you can now just put your OEM code number in directly, instead
Of scrolling down the drop down list for it.  The Draw back for that ability is this.
If you choose to enter an OEM number directly,

i.e.
Your using the "Button" functions, and lets say OEM code 3 is in there, and you want to make
It OEM code 1, just put a 1 in the dropdown box and hit the button and poof you go to screen 1.

BUT, if you choose to go back (on that dropdown), and use the autoscroller after using the manual number entry override, you have to pick (scroll and pick), the OEM code TWICE for it to take!!!!!!  If you don't enter your numbers manually then you don't have to worry about this.

ALL dropdowns now have this feature, so if you know what numbers you want, you can enter them your self for much faster use then scrolling down the long list……….

scott

[DaveCVI]

Hi Scott,

I installed MM 3.8.

It seems to have brought back a bug I think I remember from early versions?
With 3.8 installed, I get a MM dialog box that I have to "OK" whenever I close mach.

FYI, this didn't happen with the prior version (which I think was 3.7 but I'm not positive as I didn't check the version # before I uninstalled it to install 3.8 )

Dave

 

[poppabear]

that is an error box, for ONE of your Serial or TCP Modbus windows, Open each one, and look at all your configs, in the modbus the "Local Var" boxes range from 0-128, so in one of those boxes, you have some other number intered, use the scroller when you find which one, and pick "0" from the scroll list twice then hit OK.......

With Hand editing, you can choose to put numbers that are outside what the box will take for what it represents, and I put ranges on the boxes, if you out of range, you will get errors like that.

scott