OOONEIDA - FBench

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: beta 2

Notes: FBENCH -- IEC 61499 Development Kit Copyright (c) 2007 Holobloc Inc, University of Auckland Beta 2, March 2009 Release Notes: --------------------------------------------- 1. New features such as zooming and drag and drop handling 2. Bug fixing --------------------------------------------- Beta 1, Oct 2007 Release Notes: --------------------------------------------- The Beta 1 version is mainly a bug fixing and testing version. 1. New user manual and developer's guide have beed added. 2. Now compilation and debug are working again. 3. Fixed many bugs Please refer to the user manual for basic usage of FBench and Developer's Guide for development information. The next beta will further improve the current functionality and make FBench more usable as FBDK and the Developer's Guide will be completed. --------------------------------------------- Alpha, May 2007 Release Notes --------------------------------------------- 1. New features 2. Known issues 3. Introduction to FBENCH: Running 'Flasher4.fbt'. 4. More information, Bug\Error reporting 1. New features --------------------------------------------- Several major changes have been made since the March build. * New plugin system - External classes can be loaded according to an XML descriptor and accessed via the menu. * Remote debugging has been merged with the main trunk as a plugin. * Support for compiling algorithms and transition guard conditions written in Structured Text. * System importing\exporting (Project environment) now supports systems with composite blocks. * New GUI elements for adding and editing basic blocks. * Many bug-fixes and tweaks. 2. Known issues --------------------------------------------- * Lines are not drawn when drag-connecting Events and Variables, or EC States. * Certain blocks in the source library may fail to compile. * ServiceInterface blocks will fail to compile. * Basic blocks require remote.bat to be running in order to function correctly. 3. Introduction to FBENCH: Running 'Flasher4.fbt'. --------------------------------------------- Before you begin: Extract the FBENCH software to a directory of your choice (eg. C:\FBENCH\). FBENCH needs to know the location of the Java compiler. If you do not have it please go to http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp and install the JDK. Edit preferences.ini so that the path to javac points to your installation of javac. eg. The first line of preferences.ini may read: javac \\Program Files\\Java\\jdk1.6.0\\bin\\javac -classpath ./fbrt.jar; a) Start FBENCH by running FBENCH.BAT in the root of your installation directory. b) Click OK to dismiss the splash screen. c) Click the 'File' menu and select 'Open' to open a function block file. Alternatively, you can press the 'Alt-O' keyboard shortcut. d) Browse to the ita folder and select FLASHER4.FBT, then click OK. e) When the block has been loaded you will be presented with the main view in FBENCH. * On the far left is the toolbar - It holds shortcut buttons for parsing changes to the XML document, saving, closing tabs and jumping to the next or previous tab. * The large view area in the upper middle displays the layout of the FLASHER4 function block. Visible are the blocks input and output events and variables, as well as their associations and names. It is also used to edit the block's ECC and Algorithms. * The right area displays the element tree. From here, version and compiler information, the block's ECC and algorithms can be accessed. Clicking on nodes in the tree changes the central view to reflect your selection. Below the tree is the Properties window, which displays editable properties for the selected element. For example, when the top-level node in the tree is selected, the attributes 'Name' and 'Comment' are visible - to edit their values double click on the corresponding cell in the 'Value' column. * The bottom area displays the XML text for the current block. When an element is selected in the tree or main view, the corresponding XML element is highlighted. Also available are the SRC and Java source code for the block, displayed as tabs. f) Change the name of your working version of FLASHER4 by selecting the top node in the tree (named FLASHER4) and double-click the value of the 'Name' attribute in the Property window (below the tree). Change it to MYFLASHER4 (or anything else of your choice). Press Enter confirm the change. g) To change the package that the block is compiled in, select the 'CompilerInfo' treenode. Change the header attribute from 'package fb.rt.ita;', so the package of your choice, for example 'package fb.rt.tutorial;'. h) Save the block by selecting File menu, Save as, then choosing XML... The block is automatically placed in the correct folder of the source tree. i) The function block needs to be compiled before it can be launched, to do this open the 'Compile' menu and select 'Compile Java'. Alternatively, press 'Alt-J'. j) A results dialog is displayed. On the left is the Java source code belonging the block, and the right panel displays the compilation results. If the operation was not successful any errors will be displayed here. Click 'OK' to dismiss the dialog. k) Currently in workbench the remote host needs to be started in order for launched basic blocks to work correctly. To do this, run 'remote.bat' in the installation directory. This step is intended to be performed automatically in future versions of FBENCH. l) The block is now ready to be launched. Open the 'Run' menu and choose the 'Launch' submenu. Select 'Launch'. A new dialog should be displayed representing your MYFLASHER4 block. Input events (INIT and REQ) are displayed as buttons, and output events as LED's (the circles on the right-hand side, currently black). The input variable, MODE, is presented as a text field, and the output variables LED0 to LED3 are also LED's (They are type BOOL. Other types, for example an INT value, may have another widget such as a text field.) m) Other things to try: * Open FLASHER_TEST.SYS and use it to create a test system for MYFLASHER4, by saving a copy under your new package and change the type of the FLASHER4 block named FLASHIT (located in the RES1 resource) to one of MYFLASHER4. * Browse the source library. NOTE: Not all blocks will compile successfully. These are known issues. * Create a new block. To do this, select File > New > FB Type > Basic. Remember to change the name of your new block (using the Property table) to avoid overwriting the Basic template. * Export\Import a system. Select File > Project Environment. This dialog allows one to create a new 'Project', where a System file and all associated FB files are copied from the source tree to a destination folder. They can also be packed into a JAR archive for portability. To import a project, choose 'Import' and select a generated .prj or .jar file. * Check out the example plugin. Open exampleplugin.xml in any Text or XML editor. * It is not obvious in the current version, but you can associate events with input or output variables by holding the right mouse button and dragging from an event to a variable and releasing the mouse. EC States can also be connected in a similar manner. In future versions of FBENCH there will be a visible indication of this functionality. 4. More information, Bug\Error reporting --------------------------------------------- Please visit http://www.ece.auckland.ac.nz/~vyatkin/fbench/index.html to contact Dr. Valeriy Vyatkin, or file a bug report.