Syntactical (textual) programming languages have high learning curves, but experienced programmers can accomplish considerable work with a few well-crafted lines of code. Unfortunately, most test engineers aren’t expert programmers, so they sometimes turn to graphical test languages that make it easy to get a simple program working but require considerable effort and skill if the task becomes complex.
To combine the best of both worlds, ComputerBoards has created SoftWIRE™. This add-on to Visual Basic (VB) 6 lets you wire icons to create and compile test programs without writing code, yet gives you the full power of the language.
SoftWIRE is built around the Microsoft technology known as an ActiveX Designer. Developers can create a separate visual design window within VB and customize a class of objects with their own properties, methods, and events. ComputerBoards is among the first to use Designer by creating Diagrammer, the SoftWIRE programming window.
Now, in addition to the standard VB Form, there is a second design-time window. At its top are tabs leading to various ActiveX controls that you place on the Diagrammer with a mouse click. When appropriate, such as for GUI controls, an object also appears on the form.
You make logical and dataflow connections among Diagrammer controls by drawing wires. The wires support the expected data types (int, single, double, array, Boolean, and string). Interestingly, controls adapt to data types automatically. For instance, when the SoftWIRE Sum control gets two numbers as inputs, it adds them; when it sees two strings, it concatenates them.
The built-in ActiveX controls handle almost every common test-oriented task. The initial release includes almost 100 controls: 18 data acquisition, 10 GPIB, 18 user interface, 10 math, 24 logic, and 15 system and program-flow constructs. This number is expected to almost double in the next release, adding functions such as direct I/O for serial and USB ports, more extensive support for IEEE 488 instruments, four-/eight-input logic gates, and expanded math and statistics along with more GUI controls.
To expand functionality beyond what’s supplied with SoftWIRE controls, you have several options. First, a UserFunction control holds any legal VB code. Then, double-clicking on any SoftWIRE control brings up the VB code window. In the control’s RunBlock event, you add code to modify that control’s behavior.
Next, you can manually open the VB code window and add instructions where desired; for instance, in the FormLoad procedure. Finally, you’re free to drop conventional VB controls as well as any third-party ActiveX controls on the VB Form.
For now, debugging tools consist primarily of those inherent in VB itself. However, a Map Error To Text block takes a control’s error number and displays descriptive text. Another technique connects a Counter control and Label to another control’s output pins to keep track of its activity. And the Wait and Variable controls can delay comparison blocks so you can observe the order of execution.
SoftWIRE will accommodate ComputerBoards’ upcoming USB peripherals (slated for March), although today it has no generic USB support. Neither does it come with a control for serial ports, but you can handle port operations through VB itself. Nonetheless, SoftWIRE does include a control that allows activation of devices on the X-10 home-automation protocol through a serial port.
ComputerBoards has placed the SoftWIRE interface specs on its web site, which allows anyone else to convert an ActiveX component into a SoftWIRE-compatible object. $495. ComputerBoards, (508) 946-5100, www.computerboards.com.
Published by EE-Evaluation Engineering
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February 2000