Flachmann und Heggelbacher Docklight V2.2, User Manual

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Docklight V2.2 User Manual 07/2016 Copyright 2016 Flachmann und Heggelbacher GbR
Working with Docklight
Preconditions
·
You need the specification of the behavior of the serial device you want to simulate,
e.g. what kind of information is sent back after receiving a certain command.
·
A second device is connected to a PC COM port, which will communicate with your
simulator.
This second device and its behavior is the actual object of interest. An example could be
a device that periodically checks the status of an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
using a serial communication protocol. You could use Docklight to simulate basic UPS
behavior and certain UPS problem cases. This is very useful when testing the other
device, because it can be quite difficult to reproduce an alarm condition (like a bad
battery) at the real UPS.
NOTE: The second device may also be a second software application. It is possible to
run both Docklight and the software application on the same PC. Simply use a different
COM port for each of the two applications and connect the two COM ports using a
RS232 null modem cable . You can also use a virtual null modem for this purpose.
Performing the test
A) Creating a new project
Create a new Docklight project by selecting the menu
File > New Project
B) Setting the Communication Options
1. Choose the menu Tools > Project Settings...
2. Choose communication mode Send/Receive
3. At Send/Receive on comm. channel , set the COM Port where your serial device
is connected.
4. Set the baud rate and all other COM Port Settings required.
5. Confirm the settings and close the dialog by clicking the OK button.
C) Defining the Send Sequences used
Define all the responses of your simulator. Think of responses when the simulated
device is in normal conditions, as well as responses when in fault condition. In the UPS
example mentioned above, a battery failure would be such a problem case that is hard to
reproduce with the original equipment. To test how other equipment reacts to a battery
failure, define the appropriate response sequence your UPS would send in this case.
NOTE: See
Testing a serial device... to learn how to define Send Sequences.
D) Defining the Receive Sequences used
In most cases, your simulated device will not send unrequested data, but will be polled
from the other device. The other device will use a set of predefined command sequences
to request different types of information. Define the command sequences that must be
interpreted by your simulator here.
For every command sequence defined, specify Answer as an action. Choose one of the
sequences defined in C). If you want to use two or more alternative response sequences,
make several copies of the same Receive Sequence, give them a different name (e.g.
"status cmd - answer ok", "status cmd - answer battery failure", "status cmd - answer
mains failure") and assign different Send Sequences as an action. In the example, you