artisan TRACKPOINT 3 4211A, Operation And Maintenance Manual

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TRACKPOINT 3 OPERATION
3-7
Device List Status Blocks:
The communication function within
Trackman is an ActiveX module. Internal
to Trackman it is called the “TrakComX”
module (TrakComX.ocx). It is used for
communication with various "devices"
over Serial (COM) Ports or TCP_IP Sock-
ets. Each "device" (TrackPoint, depth sen-
sor, compass, gyro, GPS, etc.) that
Trackman connects to creates a 'copy' of TrakComX for that "device". (See Technical Note below.)
A “Status Block” for each of the devices is shown in the lower right corner of the screen (Trackman
Status Bar). It shows the Device number along with a simulated “LED” that blinks with the input or
output of data. For example, two of these are shown above, one for “device” 1 and one for “device”
4: The two small green rectangles on the right side of each window act as transmit and receive in-
dicators (left is transmit, right is receive) that ‘flash’ to indicate activity. The yellow background
behind a number indicates an error has occurred on that device. Left-clicking on the number brings
up the Error/Data Viewer window which can be used to display a running list of errors of the re-
ceived data. Putting cursor
over the device number
shows a tool tip for that
device giving device name,
port number and baud
rate.
Error/Data Viewing Window
Technical Note:
A software function within Trackman called TrakComX (aka a 'WinPort'), handles both Serial Ports
and Sockets, each WinPort can handle a single Serial Port or Socket. Due to hardware constraints
in Windows, if a Serial Port is already in use by an existing copy of WinPort an attempt to create a