FieldServer FS-8700-115 User Manual

Driver Version:

1.03

Document Revision:

1

.

Driver Manual

(Supplement to the FieldServer Instruction Manual)

FS-8700-115 ASCII Driver (General Purpose)

APPLICABILITY & EFFECTIVITY

Effective for all systems manufactured after January 2013

A Sierra Monitor Company

FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Driver Description ............................................................................................ 3 1

1.1 Driver Limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Driver Scope of Supply ................................................................................................................................... 3 2

2.1 Supplied by FieldServer Technologies for this driver ..................................................................................... 3

Hardware Connections ................................................................................................................................... 4 3

Data Array Parameters ................................................................................................................................... 5 4

Configuring the FieldServer as an GPA Driver Client ....................................................................................... 5

5

5.1 Client Side Connection Parameters ............................................................................................................... 6

5.2 Client Side Node Parameters ......................................................................................................................... 7

5.3 Client Side Map Descriptor Parameters ......................................................................................................... 7

5.3.1 FieldServer Related Map Descriptor Parameters ................................................................................... 7

5.3.2 Driver Specific Map Descriptor Parameters ........................................................................................... 7

5.4 Map Descriptor Example 1 – Data Recording ................................................................................................ 9

5.5 Map Descriptor Example 2 – Polling ............................................................................................................ 10

Configuring the FieldServer as a GPA Driver Server ...................................................................................... 11 6

Appendix A. Useful Features ................................................................................................................................ 12

Appendix A.1. Separating Data Streams .................................................................................................................. 12

Appendix A.1.1. Customizing Data Stream Separation using Connection Parameters. ....................................... 12

Appendix A.1.2. Changing the default end of stream character using the registry. ............................................ 12

Appendix A.2. Interaction with the WebServer Driver ............................................................................................ 12

Appendix B. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................... 13

Appendix B.1. Driver Specific Stats .......................................................................................................................... 13

Appendix B.2. Driver Error Messages ...................................................................................................................... 13

FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web:www.fieldserver.com

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Toll_Free: 888-509-1970 email: [e-mail]

FS-8700-115 ASCII Driver (General Purpose) Page 3 of 13

FieldServer Mode

Nodes

Comments

Client

1

Only 1 node per port.

Server

The driver cannot serve data

FieldServer Technologies PART #

Description

FS-8915-10

UTP cable (7 foot) for Ethernet connection

FS-8915-10

UTP cable (7 foot) for RS-232 use

FS-8917-02

RJ45 to DB9F connector adapter

FS-8917-01

RJ45 to DB25M connection adapter

GPA (GENERAL PURPOSE ASCII) DRIVER DESCRIPTION

1

The serial GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Driver allows the FieldServer to accept data from remote devices which
produce an ASCII byte stream. A typical example of such a device is an electronic scale producing an output similar
to the one below.

:weight 0.57 Kg Tare 44.3 Kg 1 2 3 4 -5 -6.7

The driver waits passively for messages. When a message is received the driver converts each space delimited
string of characters/numbers into a number. The numbers so formed are stored in consecutive elements of a Data
Array. Referring to the example above, the driver will store the value .57 in the 1st element of the Data Array (DA),
the value 44.3 in the next element, the value 1 in the next, the value 2 in the next etc.

The driver is also capable of sending custom poll message to a remote device. Some devices may require a
character or stream of characters sent to it before it will output its data on a serial port.

The driver can process negative numbers.

1.1 Driver L i m i t a t io ns

Only one data stream per connection - if two different streams of string data are sent to the same port, the

data from the one will overwrite data from the other.

The driver can only process numbers that are presented in a simple numeric form. Hexadecimal, Exponent-

mantissa and other complex forms cannot be processed.

The driver will overwrite the existing values with the new values. Values will be appended only if the new

message has more values than the previous message, e.g. if a message with 5 values follows a message
with 3 values, the first 3 values will be overwritten and the last two values will be appended.

Max Nodes Supported

DRIVER SCOPE OF SU P P LY 2

2.1 Sup plied by FieldServer Technologies for thi s d ri v e r

FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web: www.fieldserver.com

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Toll Free: [phone] email: [e-mail]

FS-8700-115 ASCII Driver (General Purpose) Page 4 of 13

RJ45 CAT 5 Cable

FieldServer

P1

18

FS-8917-02

ASCII Data Source

Eg. Scale

N1

18

FieldServer Part #

8915-10

UTP cable

Connect to an Ethernet Port on

the FieldServer

Hub/Router

FS Function

RJ45 Pin#

DB9F Pin#

Color

RX 1 3

White

GND

4 5 Green

TX 8 2

Blue

HARDWARE CONNECTIO N S

3

The FieldServer is connected to the vendor device as shown in connection drawing.

Configure the ASCII Passive Client according to manufacturer’s instructions

FS-8917-02 Pinouts

FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web: www.fieldserver.com

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Toll Free: [phone] email: [e-mail]