C-Link Protocol Commands
Record Layout Definition
B-48
Model 42
i
Trace Level Instruction Manual
Thermo Fisher Scientific
The subsequent lines in the ERec Layout response describe the appearance
of the full panel. The full instrument panel as it appears on the screen has
two columns of lines. Each line is composed of three major components:
(1) a text field, (2) a value field, and (3) a button. None of these three
components is required. The text field contains statically displayed text.
The value field displays values which are parsed out of the response to a
DATA/ERec command. It also displays, though background changes,
alarm status. The button, when pressed, triggers input from either a dialog
box or a selection list. There are five kinds of buttons, B, I, L, T, and N.
Each line in the layout string corresponds to one line on the display. The
layout string describes each of the three major fields as well as translation
mechanisms and corresponding commands.
The first field in the layout string is the text. It is delimited by a ':'. The
string up to the first ':' will be read and inserted in the text field of the line.
This is followed by a possible string enclosed in quotes that is used to place
a string into the value field.
The value source, which is the item (or word) number in the DATA/ERec
response, appears next. This is followed by an optional bitfield designator.
The datum identified by the value source can be printed as a string 's',
hexadecimal 'x', decimal 'd', or floating point 'f', or binary 'b' number.
Typically, bitfield extractions are only done for decimal or hexadecimal
numbers.
Floating-point numbers can be followed with an optional precision
specifier which will be used as an argument to printf's %f format (e.g., a
field of '4' would be translated into the printf command of '%.3f').
Alternately, the special character '*' can precede the precision specifier; this
causes an indirection on the precision specifier (which now becomes a field
number).
This is useful when formatting, for example, numbers which have varying
precision depending on the mode of the instrument.
Binary numbers can also have an optional precision specifier which is used
to determine how many bits to print. For example, the specifier 'b4' will
print the lowest four bits of the parsed number.
There are serious restrictions on where an 's' field may appear: currently
sources 1 and 2 must be 's', and no others may be 's'.
Format Specifier for
EREC Layout
Text
Value String
Value Source