C-gate ?

Hi PGOLD,

One way to see the C-Gate application events is to telnet to the Status Change Port (things you type are in bold):

C:\> telnet localhost 20025

You will then see messages in the form:

lighting on //WTEST/254/56/2 #sourceunit=1 OID=0ef19080-b567-102c-84b6-d95fdaad71b2
lighting off //WTEST/254/56/2 #sourceunit=1 OID=0ef19080-b567-102c-84b6-d95fdaad71b2

These are roughly equivalent to the messages that appear in the Toolkit application log for a network.

For your purposes, you can simply ignore the messages that don't begin with "lighting".

Alternatively, you can use the 'events' command to turn on these messages in your command session instead:

C:\> telnet localhost 20023

project load wtest
200 OK.
project use wtest
200 OK.
events e0s1c0
200 OK.
#s# lighting off //WTEST/254/56/1 #sourceunit=0 OID=0ef16970-b567-102c-84b5-d95fdaad71b2
#s# lighting off //WTEST/254/56/2 #sourceunit=0 OID=0ef19080-b567-102c-84b6-d95fdaad71b2

(the 's1' part turns on the status change event messages)

There isn't a way to automate network opening when you connect to a session I'm afraid, but if you are doing this programmatically it's fairly straightforward to script the command sequence.

 

No it doesn't. Out of interest, what would you use that for?

 

Cgate understands cbus at a level where you don't need to mess about with the low level gory bits of the PCI.

something important to understand about the PCI: You CAN ONLY EVER HAVE ONE PIECE OF CLIENT software connected to it. Cgate provides a high level multiplexing interface which removes this limitation - but you don't talk PCI-speak to cgate, you talk cgate-speak.

Now, why does this limit come about?

For the same reason that such limits apply to all other similar bus systems - you NEED to run transactions into the bus (a transaction being a stream of commands, with answers coming back, all separated in time from each other). The trouble you have is maintaining the relationship-in-time between commands in a transaction.

Suppose for example that I wanted to send and receive a bunch of information... I might send out a query (please PCI, run an MMI for me and return to me the groups states). This is fine, I get the answer to the command I sent.

Now, assume 2 clients running into the same PCI. One sends a command (get MMI), the other wants to just monitor lighting event changes as they happen). Over time.... which client should get which traffic? How does the PCI KNOW which client wants what?

Unless the PCI is made vastly more complex (and bear in mind it only has a single serial port or USB port anyhow).... then untangling the transaction-oriented mess is impossible. In fact it goes even further and lower level than that, but the above is a sufficient reason for why it can't be done.

Cgate on the other hand builds a complete internal object model of the network, its devices, and so on. Cgate KNOWS whats going on. You can do things like query cgate for a group state and it won't even bother sending anything on the bus at all - it does not need to, because it knows.

Cgate acts like a big complex multiplexer/demultiplexer, with an object model thrown in for good measure, and it will allow multiple clients to work connected to cbus through a single PCI, it also allows multiple connections into a large site - for example in commercial buildings you might have 2 CNIs and 2 PCIs connected to the physical site network(s) - and all controlled by a single cgate which sees this as one large composite network.

This is the power of cgate, which a PCI can't ever have or do, and never will.

 

Hi petra,

If you can describe a little more what "functionality" you are looking for there's a good chance we can help you achieve this through C-Gate.

 

I don't understand how you can say this... cgate speaks and understands everything that is defined for and can happen on c-bus. One of the design teams goals (necessities) is that as c-bus protocols get extended, c-gate muct be brough along to match. If you can do it on the bus, you can do it through c-gate.

Well in theory that might be possible. However, that is not how cgate works, and it is unlikely to be modified now to allow this. After all, cgate has been on sale in in use for over 10 years.... it fills its needs just fine.

 

I've added the idea of filtering events by criteria such as specific applications to the to do list (#18181)