SRBox Port Number configured at runtime?

[DGirard]

Great. Using a local StartupInfo file is exactly what I wanted.

- Doug

On Jan 27, 5:15 pm, David McFarlane <mcfar... at msu.edu> wrote:
> Doug,
>
> OK, thanks for fleshing out the details.  As long as the COM port
> remains stable on each machine, and you know what it is for each
> machine, then the clumsy but simple way to work around this is just
> to make a custom E-Run (.ebs2) file for each possible COM
> port.  I.e., on your development station, open your .es2 file, and
> generate a .ebs2 with COM set to 1 (label it something like
> "MyExpt(COM1).ebs2)"; then set COM to port 2 and generate another
> .ebs2 file (e.g., "MyExpt(COM2).ebs2)"), etc.  Once you have a
> collection of .ebs2 files for any COM port, just copy the appropriate
> file to each machine, and voila, all should run.
>
> But say you want a single .ebs "image" that you can run on each
> machine, using an external "config" file to customize it for each
> machine.  Since you have EP2, you can take advantage of the new
> StartupInfo File feature, and in fact this very situation is covered
> in section 1.6.2.6 of the New Features Guide (but PST staff should
> have told you this already).  (If you used EP1 instead of EP2, the
> the documentation for the StartupInfo File points the way to another
> workaround:  you could store the COM address in an external text
> file; then, with some inline code, read it using Input# statements,
> and then, using the SRBox initializaton code already generated in the
> InitDevices subroutine as a guide, construct your own inline code to
> initialize the appropriate COM port.)
>
> I was a bit afraid that your COM port could change arbitrarily from
> session to session on a single machine, and that you wanted E-Prime
> to dynamically configure itself on each session.  That *would* have
> been a tall order!
>
> (BTW I regularly advise *against* using a "runtime" installation, as
> I have explained athttp://support.pstnet.com/forum/Topic3736-4-1.aspx,http://groups.google.com/group/e-prime/browse_thread/thread/1ab4456e7...
> , andhttp://groups.google.com/group/e-prime/browse_thread/thread/caa60dee3....)
>
> -- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
>
> At 1/26/2011 03:10 PM Wednesday, you wrote:
>
> >Thanks for your response, David. On one machine, the COM port number
> >won't change once I plug in the USB SRBox and it gets assigned a port
> >number. HOWEVER, from machine to machine, the COM ports assigned may
> >be different. That is a problem for us. We would like to be able to
> >develop and generate one script file and distribute it around to
> >different machines that have only the runtime version of E-Prime on
> >them (no developer components). Currently, when our application is
> >"compiled" the COM port number basically gets hard-coded into the
> >code, so we would have to generate 4 different versions of the code
> >for all possible COM port assignments. This seems a bit ridiculous.
>
> >To answer a few of your other questions: We are using E-Prime 2.0. And
> >someone from the IT department installs the runtime components of E-
> >Prime on our machines as an Administrator, but afterward we are only
> >ever running as a User (not an admin).
>
> >Thanks again,
> >- Doug
>
> >On Jan 25, 11:26 am, David McFarlane <mcfar... at msu.edu> wrote:
> > > Doug,
>
> > > Stock reminder:  1) I do not work for PST.  2) PST's trained staff
> > > takes any and all questions
> > athttp://support.pstnet.com/e%2Dprime/support/login.asp, and they
> > > strive to respond to all requests in 24-48 hours -- this is pretty
> > > much their substitute for proper documentation, so make full use of
> > > it.  3) If you do get an answer from PST Web Support, please extend
> > > the courtesy of posting their reply back here for the sake of others.
>
> > > That said, here is my take...
>
> > > What version of E-Prime do you use?  More importantly, what do you
> > > mean by "when we plug the device into a computer, it will be assigned
> > > whatever COM port is available"?  Do you really mean that any single
> > > computer has dynamically assigned COM ports that can change whenever
> > > you plug a device into it?  I have never heard of such a thing, so I
> > > would like to know more.  Typically COM port addresses remain static
> > > in any one machine, so once you know what it is on that machine you
> > > can plug the SRBox into the COM port and it will not change, and you
> > > can edit the .es or .es2 file for that machine to refer to the
> > > appropriate COM port (just make sure that the COM port lies in
> > the range 1-4).
>
> > > There are ways to do something like what you ask in both EP1 and EP2,
> > > but I don't yet understand why your situation requires this.
>
> > > BTW, if you do not have admin access to these PCs, then how do you
> > > get EP installed on them in the first place?
>
> > > -- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
>
> > > At 1/23/2011 09:30 AM Sunday, you wrote:
>
> > > >We are using an SRBox and it seems we have to configure the COM port
> > > >number at design time. This doesn't work for us since when we plug the
> > > >device into a computer, it will be assigned whatever COM port is
> > > >available. We won't have administrative access on these machines, so
> > > >we won't be able to reassign the COM port with Device Manager. Even if
> > > >we could, it is possible that another device is currently using that
> > > >COM port number. So basically, we need the ability to specify the COM
> > > >port number of the SRBox to e-Prime at runtime. Is there a way to do
> > > >this with an external config file or something?
>
> > > >Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
> > > >Doug
>
>

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