Dynapro Technologies Dynapro ET TCS, Application Developer'S Manual

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The Communication Monitor provides easy troubleshooting of communications between the host
and TCS. Once the Communication Monitor is entered, the TCS translates all codes that cross
the communications link directly into their equivalent characters for display. While the
Communication Monitor is active, codes sent from the host do not affect TCS programming and
host report requests are ignored.
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To enter the Communication Monitor, first enter the Setup Screen, then either press the
COMMUNICATION MONITOR touchkey or type Shift/C on the optional keyboard.
While the Communication Monitor is active, the TCS operates as described below. For ideas on
using Communication Monitor capabilities to best advantage, see the last heading in this chapter,
Using the Communication Monitor.
To exit the Communication Monitor, press the SETUP switch, or press the Set Up key on the
optional keyboard. Because one of the purposes of the Communication Monitor is to monitor the
control sequences generated by touching touchkeys, it is not possible to exit the Communication
Monitor using the touch panel.
When the Communication Monitor is exited, the Setup Screen reappears. Subsequent codes
received from the host are once again buffered and are not processed. For more information
about how the TCS handles codes while the Setup Screen is active, refer to Host Communication
During Setup Session, earlier in this chapter.
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On entering the Communication Monitor, the TCS display is cleared. Then, each 7- or 8-bit code
received or sent by the TCS is directly mapped into its equivalent position within the Standard or
Extended Character Set and the resulting character is displayed. This includes all codes received
from the host from the time the Setup Screen was entered until the Communication Monitor is
exited, and all codes generated either by touching the TCS touch panel or typing on the optional
keyboard.
Figure 4-1 shows the Communication Monitor in operation. While it is active, the
Communication Monitor displays characters across the entire TCS display, in the order received
and sent. If the TCS and host are transmitting simultaneously, the resulting character strings may
be interleaved on the display. To identify the source of each code, characters representing TCS-
generated codes are highlighted, whereas characters representing host-generated codes are
displayed normally (not highlighted). However, there is no visual distinction between TCS touch
panel input and keyboard input.
The specific character displayed for each code crossing the communication link depends on the
character font mapping in effect for the Displayed Screen. If the default mapping is in use (the
Static ASCII Character Font is mapped into the Standard Character Set and the Static Special
Character Font is mapped into the Extended Character Set), the characters shown in Appendix C,
Character Fonts, are displayed.