Docklight News

TL;DR; Docklight Scripting V2.1 USB HID support didn't work on Windows 10. Here is an updated version with additional improvements: https://docklight.de/download/Docklight_Scripting.zip The Problem Apparently, Windows 10 has a different behavior concerning HID access than earlier versions. Docklight Scripting uses HIDAPI from Alan Ott / Signal 11, and the problem was recently detected and resolved in the HIPAPI implementation  (see  https://github.com/signal11/hidapi/issues/231 ).  The Solution We updated Docklight Scripting's HIDAPI code, so it can now successfully open a HID connection in Windows 10: We also added two Docklight-specific improvements concerning USB HID access: Added support for variable Output Report IDs You can work now with varying, non-zero Output Report IDs using the :I communication channel option, e.g. USBHID:4D8:F708:I Now the first character of your Send Sequences is used as the Output Report ID (instead of the def...

For industrial measurement equipment, the classic serial RS232 DB9 or SUB D9 interface is still very much alive. In most cases because this was the original design. And all the device has to do, now and forever, is to pass a few measurements and respond to a few basic commands. However, in a world where RS232 DB9 connectors for PCs almost always come as external USB-to-RS232 adapters, and tablet computers with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are becoming increasingly popular for operating panels, this does not really make sense any more. This is why equipment makers are gradually updating their connectivity, many times keeping their application layer serial protocol, but providing a modernized transport layer and physical connector to the end users. Popular solutions include: USB connector with integrated RS232-to-USB UART, e.g. using FTDI or Prolific chipsets and boards. Embedded Serial Device Server for TCP/IP via Ethernet or Wifi, e.g. Lantronix XPort or MOXA device server modules. ...

The free updates to Docklight and Docklight Scripting are out now. You can download the updated software from here: Docklight runs smoothly on the fresh Windows 10 Download Docklight V2.1 and Docklight Scripting V2.1 It has taken us quite a while to come up with the final features, and here's why: We actually spend a lot of time working with Docklight, not on  Docklight. Docklight & Kickdrive powered Touch Panel UI New functions that go into Docklight are either things our users needed to solve a specific problem. Or we needed it ourselves, to build some interesting applications for equipment control & configuration. The pretty touch panel to the left was made using a  Docklight DLL  inside a  Kickdrive Runtime Application . It talks to a Technosoft controller using a custom serial protocol including a checksum. So in Docklight and Docklight Scripting V2.1 you can benefit from a very accessible checksum/CRC calculator...

UPDATED 2016-06: See our latest extensions and USB HID related fixes for Windows 10 . Did you design a custom USB HID device and wonder why you cannot test its application protocol with the same ease as serial COM (RS232, ..) or network TCP connections?  Well we did, too, along with quite a few of our users. So it was high time to get this feature off the wishlist and into the software. See the Docklight FAQ - USB HID , or download the new software directly from here:  https://docklight.de/download/Docklight_Scripting.zip While we are still on our way to a concise and fully documented implementation, we found the current V2.0.200 version already very useful for our own projects with fullmo.de - a Microchip PIC based communication gateway running a custom ASCII protocol via USB HID. How to use Docklight Scripting V2.0.200 can connect to your custom HID device via the VID (vendor ID) and PID (product ID) code, if you use the following commun...