EasyCode Manual r5 10-03
Contents
1. Start Time o0 lin k 081 40 End Time 00 01 54 00 brings up its info box so you can enter the number of iterations to eran repeat the loop This can always hO be changed later Limit of 99 iterations Loop Options O Multi Channel heviriei lisans 2 O crame 5 Limit of 16 loops per channel heave Cancel 4 loops K 3 A heavy black rectangle appears below and right of the new loop This represents the time that the loop is repeating the loop s second iteration in this example During this time the channel is occupied repeating the loop and its contents Do not create timebars in this repetition area 4 The loop row is extra wide to allow for nesting loops up to four deep on top and inside one another Inner loops and their repetition areas must all lie within their containing outer loops You must delete nested loops in reverse order or EasyCode beeps 23 Channel 1 5 When moving a loop timebar its outline becomes as long as its total rep etition length Also you are automatically constrained inside any outer loops the loop in the example above cannot move any farther right Channel 1 a 6 Creating or changing the number of iterations or the start end times for a loop alters its repetition area and automatically lengthens or shortens any outer loops Any timebars beyond the loop will also be moved left or right2. OC trigger Dn Color and Duration only appear on Taare Bf the Mac version of EasyCode Duration is immediately updated whenever the start or end times are modified See Custom timebar colors p 31 for more color info TTL In Options Double clicking a very small timebar may be difficult Shorten the Display Interval zoom in or click once and choose Get Info Alternately choose the next timebar to the left or right and use Tab or Shift Tab to select the small timebar or use the marquee next page 2 min Time O min 1 min 2 min Z min 4 min 5 eee a aa Channel 1 a 6 Drag inside a timebar to move it Delete key deletes selection min Time min 1 min z min min d min a ae Channel 1 Channel 2 7 Cut copy and paste under the Edit menu will duplicate or move timebars between channels or programs Note You cannot paste a timebar overlapping an existing one EasyCode will beep Move one Undo under the Edit menu 38 Z Ctrl Z reverses the last change made 15 Group selecting EasyCode now supports selecting moving copying and past ing multiple timebars In order to change several timebars at once they must first be selected Selecting a group of timebars can be accomplished in several ways e Holding the Shift key down while clicking on timebars alter nately selects and de selects them adding or removing them from the current group selection e Dragging a recta
3. U 1 50 D00002 40 D QQ OO O 7 10 U AO Oooo 10 00 00 00 10 0 1 Simple Test Event Loop Start Valve On Valve Off TTL On TTL Off TTL On TTL Off Loop End End Of List Event Loop Start TTL On TTL Off Valve On valve Off TTL On TTL Off Loop End End Of List User s Manual For research use only Josef Kewekordes II Heath S Lukatch Dave Ilstrup Tim Niemi James Matley Dean Diershow 1993 2004 AutoMate Scientific Inc All rights reserved EasyCode ValveBank and ValveLink are trademarks of AutoMate Scientific Inc Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc IBM PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Inc Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp 1 Copyright This manual and the software described in it are copyrighted with all rights reserved Under the copyright laws this manual or documentation on disk or the software may not be copied in part or in whole without written consent of AutoMate Scientific Inc except to make one 1 backup copy of the software The same proprietary and copyright notices must be affixed to any permitted copies as were affixed to the original This exception does not allow copies to be made for other individuals or any other computers whether or not sold Under the law copying includes translating into another language or format You may not sub license lease lend rent or grant other rights to
4. lt and gt and comma and period on the PC will zoom in or out one interval respectively as will the small and large mountain icons on the Mac see next page You may also wish to adjust the units in which time is displayed on screen Time units correspond to the values printed above the top of the Homie Drs play rn window Hrs min sec may be gt ee ME 10 Hour Display Interval Time Units Hours Minutes Begin Display From Seconds Display Units are used here Untitled 1 Time min 1 min 2 min Z min Sal o SN I _ Untitled 1 Time min 40 min Channel 1 valve Hi Ba tt The same valve and TTL commands at Display Interval 10 minutes with buzzers and loops turned off Display Interval corresponds to this period of time Several additional commands facilitate quick jumps to specific times in your program Begin Display From brings up a dialog box in which you may type a new starting display time The screen will update with this new time at the left margin This command is available from the Display menu or by clicking the rectangle in the lower left corner of the programming window or by typing its key board short cut 8 B Begin the display from time r The large and small mountain icons Mac only zoom the dis play interval in and out respectively The Home Display command under the Display menu imme diately jumps the d
5. Inc or its licensor licensees be liable for contingent special direct indirect or consequential damages for the breach of any express or implied warranty or resulting from the use failure or malfunction of any product including damage to property and to the fullest extent permitted by law damages for personal injury even if AutoMate Scientific Inc has been advised of the possibility of such damages or if this warranty is found to fail its essen tial purpose If you choose to use this program you agree that AutoMate Scientific Inc s liability is limited to the reimbursement of the cost of the product or program licensed to you All other warranties including but not limited to warranties for fitness or merchantability for a particular purpose are expressly excluded No verbal changes to this policy will be authorized DISCLAIMER AutoMate does not warrant that the program is free from all bugs errors and omissions only that it operates substan tially as described in this User s Manual AutoMate Scientific Inc manufacturers and sells goods in accor dance with U S federal state and local laws but assumes no responsibility or liability for laws regulations duties or taxes imposed by any foreign country All terms and conditions hereof shall be governed by the laws of the State of California Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for incidental or consequential damages s
6. a serial Receive by EasyCode will re synchronize both devices If several sends to the ValveBank are beeping as unsuccessful 1 Cancel the transfer on both ends click Cancel or type 86 period on the Mac and press Cancel on the ValveBank 2 Send any program from the ValveBank even a blank one and receive it in EasyCode If successful you should then be able to send correctly from EasyCode to the ValveBank The window of the dummy program received by EasyCode may be closed without saving it If this Receive also fails however check the cable connections Are you sending to several ValveBanks Is the serial port being used selected under Preferences in the File menu Finally try turning the ValveBank off and re starting the EasyCode application on the Mac or re starting Windows and EasyCode on a PC If all else fails contact AutoMate Scientific for technical support at the phone number on the back of this manual Serial cable EasyCode transmits to ValveBanks using a standard null modem cable with the following simple wiring 3 3 5 __ 5 ground 22 Loops Loops are used to simplify repetition of seguences in a single channel or in several channels as a multi channel loop They are created modified copied and transmitted much like other timebars The following examples should help clarify loops Channel 1 1 Draw a loop to enclose other timebars to be repeated 2 Creating a loop immediately
7. all or any portion of the software or documentation except as expressly provided for in this agreement without the written permission of AutoMate Scientific Inc 2 License You are authorized to use this software on a single computer and copies for this purpose ONLY will be permitted Inter departmental and network use require the purchase of multiple copies of the software or a multi use license Contact AutoMate Scientific Inc to obtain information on multi use licenses PLEASE respect the time that we have put into this project and give your friend a copy of our address instead of a copy of the software 3 Transfer All of the material purchased with all backup copies may be sold or given to another person or organization if you notify AutoMate Scientific Inc who will then transfer ownership registration and customer support to the recipient The new possessor will then be legally bound by the same terms and conditions of this agreement Table of Contents OEE EE 5 Hardware and software requirements 5 Macintosh Windows basics 5 Before you install EasyCode 6 Installing EasyCode 6 Starting and quitting EasyCode 7 Serial port set up 7 ValveBank 4 and 8 7 Choosing active channels 8 Macintosh and PC Windows Differences 9 User s guide notation 9 Preferences 10 Macintosh auto scroll timebar editing 10 Using FasyCode u co ss U UU RE ens 11 Experiment notes 11 Customizing your display 12 Zooming in and out
8. loop is repeating or you will generate the following error The selected item starts or ends within a loop s repetition area Error code 402 Move or delete the offending timebar to eliminate the error Below The same error while the loop is selected You could move the loop or change tts iterations The selected loop s repetition area encloses action events Error code 403 26 TTL Input options Three TTL Input options are available to instruct the Valve Bank to react to external signals through its TTL Input port See the TTL Input Commands sub chapter in your ValveBank manual for a full description of the commands that these TTL options translate into Access the special options through the usual Get Info box for any valve timebar not TTL s Start Time o0 00 00 foo End Time 0025 d 50 00 TTL In Options EJ TTL Enabled O Mirror S Trigger On Selecting TTL Enabled un greys Trigger Off three TTL In options Enter a Trigger Time o0 05 00 foo Trigger Time length for either TRIGGER ON or OFF as Trigger time must be less or equal to the total length of the timebar Channel 1 valve egm i MC Sample timebars of each TTL In option l tor mirror trigger on trigger off White inner lines in second two timebars represent their Trigger Time Mirror The valve will mirror its channel s TTL input during the timebar While the TTL input is High the val
9. universal to both versions of EasyCode However subtle wording differences are noted with brackets for the Windows specific notation For example a refer ence to serial com ports means they are called com ports on the PC and serial ports on the Macintosh Macintosh keyboard shortcuts usually use the command key 8 5 for Save while Windows uses the Ctrl key Ctrl S FasyCode sir Edit Display Experiment Program Window Help New Untitled 4 Opens Untitled 6 Close x Save min E Miri x min Save as Save Listing Print Listing Ctrl P Print window Printer Setup Serial Port Preferences Exit Alara Colors Snap To Options Channel 3 valve Channel notes ttl here Begin Display From ctrl E rl EasyCode PC window with Preferences sub menus Hardware Preferences The Preferences option under the File menu sample screen previous page differs between the Macintosh and PC The Macin tosh Preferences dialog box shown on page 6 includes serial port ValveBank4 8 and guides options These three options appear as sub menus on the PC The actual settings are functionally identical between the two platforms Note Most FasyCode settings apply only to the current docu ment select channels display interval or individual timebars but changes made to Preferences settings apply to all documents opened on that copy of EasyCode Preferences settings ar
10. E asyCod e Macintosh amp PC Windows File Edit Display Experiment Program Simple pH Simple Test Time sec 10 sec KE Bank 1 Channel 1 Channel Time ENED DU 0U0 00 00 Loop Start N 10 00 00 00 00 Valve On 00 00 02 30 Valve Off 00 00 03 00 TTL On 2 00 00 04 30 TTL Off Channel 2 00 00 07 00 TTL Dn 00 00 08 10 TTL Off 00 00 10 00 Loop End x 00 00 10 01 End Of List Channel 3 Channel 2 Time Event U OO Loop Start x 10 i 00 00 01 00 TTL On Channel 4 00 00 00 1 50 TTL Off sawa sss 00 00 02 20 Valve On 00 00 04 50 Valve Off OO 00 07 40 TTL On sra ens 00 00 07 20 TTL Off DE ss 00 00 10 00 Loop End OO 00 10 01 End Of List AutoMate Scientific Inc User s Manual 812 Page St Berkeley CA 94710 U S A Version 2 0 amp 3 0 800 998 MATE 6283 internationale 510 845 6283 faxe 510 280 3795 e maile info autom8 com WWW S http www autom8 com AutoMate Scientific Inc FasyCode 2 0 amp 3 0 Macintosh amp PC Windows S File Edit Display EHperimeni Program Simple Time sec 10 sec Channel 1 valve ttl loops Channel 2 kas Channel Channel 4 valve ttl loops Begin Display From BE al Channel 1 Time DU 00 00 JOD 00 QO O0O 30 DU 00 0 2 00 UNLAR DU 0U0 7 00 Oo 00 08 10 OO 00 10 00 Oo 00 10 0 1 Channel Time DUO 00 00 00 OQ O0 0 1 00
11. SE la G Preferences dialog under the File menu They are created on the Mac by clicking or dragging in the white bar where the time units are displayed On the Windows version they are created by drag ging left to right from the channel headers then a dialog box 17 Guides continued appears for entering an exact time or removing the guide Once cre ated user guides can be moved by dragging them and deleted by dragging them back off the left edge of the screen Guides are useful visually for lining up timebars but their real strength is when Snap to guides is turned on in the Preferences dialog Thereafter timebars snap to the nearest user or interval guide when being created resized or moved Programming tips Open and Save program files under the File menu as with any Mac or Windows application even open several programs at once You are limited to 32 timebars per channel 64 events max Save amp 5 frequently Group tips gt gt PC Only You cannot drag a timebar that overlaps the edge of the screen or lies off screen Be careful selecting entire rows or channels The Mac version will automatically scroll left or right as you drag off the screen gt gt Any time a Multi channel loop is included in a group selection all of its linked partners and inner nested loops are auto matically included gt gt Get Info does not apply to a group However you may Get Info on an individual time
12. agram on the next page and the Computer Interfacing chapter of the ValveBank manual for more TTL input information Remember ValveBank8 s only have TTL Inputs for their first four channels EasyCode lets you use them in any chan nel not knowing which banks may be transmitted later as channels 1 4 The TTL Inputs can be used for computer or other timer interfacing allowing a computer to operate valves using the ValveBank as a driver to respond to sensor inputs pressure tem perature flow or level sensors bubble detectors to deliver timed feedings or otherwise react to TTL generating devices 28 Valve output Timing diagrams Sample TTL input is bottom graph TTL RESPOND 00 00 05 00 TTLIGNORE 00 00 16 00 On Off TRIGGER ON 00 00 05 00 TRIG LENGTH 00 00 On Off VALVE ON 00 00 00 00 TRIGGER OFF 00 00 05 00 TRIGGERON 00 00 04 00 disables TRIGGER ON or TRIG LENGTH 00 00 OFF On 02 00 VALVE OFF 00 00 05 00 Off Sample TTL INPUT High Low t 0 5 sec 10 sec 15 sec 29 Advanced Features amp Tips Speed screen display e Eliminate unused channels Select Channels under the Program menu e Turn off unused rows use Show under the Display menu e Try the Black amp White not color or greys setting in the Monitors control panel Multiple documents FasyCode allows you to have any number of program files open at once Open files are listed under the Experi
13. annels that programming is not erased and will appear in the List window Scroll up and down to review the listing choose Print from the File menu for a hard copy of the ValveBank program or choose Save as text file from the File menu to store a formatted ASCII listing of your program to disk This text file can then be read with any word processor EasyCode cannot read text file programs Editing in the List window Individual commands can be edited from the List window by double clicking them A standard Get Info dialog box will appear from the timebar associated with the command Once changes have been made click OK and the List window will be updated 19 Communicating with the ValveBank In the ValveBank programming language all of the timebars become a start and end command pair see your ValveBank manual for a full description of the commands available After selecting a timebar its starting and ending times are accessible using Get Info 88 1 or double click under the Edit menu Sending programs 1 Check your cable connections to both computer and Valve Bank see Serial port set up p 7 Make sure the ValveBank is plugged in and turned on Scroll to Serial Mode on the ValveBank and select Receive Enter a program number in which to save the incoming code Press Enter until the ValveBank screen reads Ready to receive QI gt Q N On the Macintosh or PC 1 Choose Send under
14. bar without disturbing the group selection by clicking on it the timebar appears with an individual selection outline then choosing Get Info Graphic printing Choose Print from the file menu to print a graphic view of your program Select how much of your program to print with the print screen dialog box Enter by time duration on the Macintosh i and number of pages on the PC 18 Printing times Start Time oo 00 00 o0 End Time a4 25 48 00 Duration o4 25 48 Unn Listing your program You can see your entire program as it will look in the Valve Channel 1 valve tt O0 00 00 00 Loop Start x 10 00 00 00 00 Valve On loops 00 00 02 30 Valve Off 00 00 03 00 TTL Dn 00 00 04 30 TTL Off Channel 2 00 00 07 00 TTL Dn 00 00 08 10 TTL Off 00 00 1 0 00 Loop End Channel 3 Channel 1 Time 000a 10 0 Channel 2 Time Bank by choosing List Program L under the Program menu shown on next page A List window appears complete with program and channel notes Event End Of List Event NUN NN Loop Start N 10 00 00 00 1 00 TTL On Channel 4 D U 00 0 7 50 TTL Off OOOO 2 40 Valve On 0000 0400 Valve Off U A TTL On Begin Display From 88 ST Go oleo0 Luon End 00 00 10 0 End Of List Channel 3 Remember if a channel has been programmed and then turned off using Display Ch
15. command 8 or Ctrl down while pressing the following keys N New program X Cut O Open file C Copy S Save file V Paste W Close window I Get Info O Quit EasyCode Z Undo P Print window a Zoom out Error checking Fh Zoom in J Selection B Begin from K Program H Home zero L List program Tab Select next timebar right Shift tab Select previous timebar left Dialog boxes Tab Jump to next entry box Return or Enter OK Esc Cancel 33 Warranty AutoMate Scientific Inc warrants its products against defects of workmanship and or material for ONE YEAR from the date of sale Any product that fails to perform as specified may be returned freight pre paid to the factory with a written explanation of the problem for examination and repair or replacement If it is defective AutoMate Scientific will repair or replace at our option the product without charge and return it to you If the examination indicates that non compatible fluid destructive environment accidental damage modification or abusive practices have occurred all labor materials and freight costs shall be at the expense of the customer Due to the nature of research laboratory applications AutoMate Scientific Inc will NOT accept the return of any products which have been used with HAZARDOUS MATERIALS or in a harmful environment This warranty is in lieu of all other warranties whether oral or written express or implied In no event shall AutoMate Scientific
16. d modified printed and saved using PC Paintbrush that comes with most PC systems If subsequent print outs are muddy because of difficulty printing greys switch the Monitors control panel to Black amp White not greys before taking the snap shots This creates smaller files on your hard disk too Alternately adjust the palette in PC Paintbrush Sample files Be sure and check the folder of sample files included on your EasyCode disk remember to use a back up copy or from hard disk All of the samples found in the back of the ValveBank man ual are included as well as several newer examples These pro erams are intended as templates You will almost certainly need to modify them for your own configuration solutions and accessory channels calibration flow rates and fill times and specific timing requirements Remember to do a Save As which will allow you to save with a new name and to a different drive instead of a Save OZ which would overwrite the sample file if you make changes and want to keep the original sample files Special thanks to Susan Abrahamson and the Grussem lab at U C Berkeley for the Silver Stain protocol and program Please calibrate the sample templates to your system and test before using them Send in your warranty card and we will keep you updated on new releases of EasyCode and additional sample templates Keyboard shortcuts Many EasyCode features can be accessed by keyboard Hold
17. e stored with EasyCode and will be preserved next time you run the pro gram Macintosh auto scroll timebar editing The Macintosh version offers automatic screen scrolling as you create edit or move timebars off the left or right edges of the screen 10 Using EasyCode At this point you need to begin associating the channels you see in EasyCode with the channels on your ValveBank s For a ValveBank4 channels 1 through 4 represent valves and TTL s File Edit a a a E SR Experiment Program Time min 10 min 20 min 40 min 40 min sa ii T Channel 1 tt 0 1 M Buffer 1 Channel 2 valve ttl Type notes here k loops Channel 3 valve tt loo ps Channel 4 Begin Display From 386 Teli 1 through 4 Taken another step you should associate channel one with the solution to flow through valve one or accessory controlled by TTLone The small notes box below each channel number allow you to keep track of what each channel is controlling Experiment notes By selecting the Notes option under the Experiment menu you can enter a message up to 255 characters long pertaining to the particular experiment you are working on This window is stored when you save a program to disk and is independent of any notes typed into individual channels TTL stands for Transistor Transistor Logic a 5 0 volt standard for representing on and off used by the ValveBank to control and monitor externa
18. e with your ValveBank through a serial com port with the provided cable PC s and Macs are equipped with multiple serial ports located on the back panel of the case you may use any one For ex ample if the printer com port is already used by a printer or network cable insert the serial cable in the modem port a different com port You must tell EasyCode which serial port you are using through the Preferences menu Serial port sub menu option under File Also see pg 20 Newer Macintosh and PC computers without serial ports re quire a USB to serial adapter available from AutoMate ValveBank 4 and 8 The Preferences Hard ware sub menu option allows you to configure EasyCode for use with either Preferences Communications port O Modem Port m Printer Port Valve Controller m Ualve Bank 4 Valve Bank 8 the ValveBank4 or 8 control snap To Nothing ler This affects the number Guides of channels used and serial transfers Choosing active channels This release of EasyCode supports up to 16 ValveBank chan nels in a single program This corresponds to four networked ValveBank4 s two ValveBank8 s or any combination thereof EasyCode always groups channels in fixed banks of four 1 4 5 8 9 12 13 16 A program intended for an eight channel ValveBank8 will be treated as two banks of four channels Since the groups of four Select the channels to use for this experiment cha
19. first ValveBank connect it to the second and click send The order in which to send to several ValveBanks will be determined by the solutions and valves represented by the channels in EasyCode keep track Repeat this process for each ValveBank one or two banks to any ValveBank8 s Choose the banks that you would like to transmit programs to Receiving programs Programs can also be received from ValveBanks for editing on your computer This might be necessary if you have made changes or done fine tuning to ValveBank programs using the keypad on the controller and now wish to maintain the revised code in EasyCode 1 Choose Receive under the Program menu in EasyCode so that it indicates Ready to receive 2 Choose Serial Mode on the ValveBank and select Send 3 Choose the source program number and press Enter to begin the transfer After transmitting EasyCode performs a verification of the data and the ValveBank should display Successful Send Anew program window will be created in EasyCode 21 Troubleshooting serial transfers Both the sender and receiver of ValveBank serial data transfers perform a data verification step If a discrepancy is found you will hear a beep and the sending device will attempt several retrys Oc casionally your computer and the ValveBank will get out of sync with one another during sends and retrys especially if the serial cable is disconnected during a transfer Often
20. ies for installation or use e Take a moment to fill out and mail your registration card As a registered user you will receive important product support and update information To install EasyCode Macintosh You can use EasyCode Mac directly from floppy disk re member to always use a backup disk instead of your original However execution loading and saving ValveBank programs will be faster and more convenient from a hard disk To install EasyCode Mac on your hard disk 1 Create a new folder on your hard disk named EasyCode 2 Copy the FasyCode floppy disk into this new folder OR Drag the floppy disk icon onto your hard disk To install EasyCode PC Windows 1 Double click the setup installer on the floppy disk 2 Follow screen instructions for drive and directory choice An extra folder named Samples contained on the EasyCode floppy disk is optional and may be deleted if desired It contains the sample ValveBank programs listed in the ValveBank manual 6 Starting and quitting EasyCode You start and quit EasyCode like any other Mac Windows ap plication Double click the EasyCode icon in the EasyCode folder Macintosh users can double click saved ValveBank program files to launch and load them To quit choose Quit Exit from the File menu If you have made changes to a program file and have not saved them EasyCode asks if you wish to save or discard them Serial port set up EasyCode must communicat
21. isplay back to time zero short cut 3 H 15 Programming in EasyCode Programming sequences for ValveBank valves TTL s buzzers and loops is accomplished by dragging timebars in specific rows of the desired channels in the programming window These timebars represent when an activity will occur i e when a valve will be open or buzzer will be on The sequential examples below will step you through creating and editing timebars Untitled 1 Z min Time min 1 min min 3 min een C Kam 2 min Time D min 1 min 2 min Z min 4 min S 2 Click and drag left to right only inside a valve TTL buzzer or loop shaded row to create a timebar Use the time indicator in the upper left corner and the grey vertical interval guides as references 1 min Time min 1 min 2 min Z min 4 min i Bank buzzer F 2 min Time O min 1 min 2 min Z min 4 min S 4 Click once on a timebar to select it click between rows upper time indicator bar on PC to de select When a timebar is selected the Tab key selects the next timebar to the right and Shift Tab selects the next timebar left 14 5 Double click a timebar or choose Start Time o1 21 00 00 Get Info under Edit menu to End Time 01 46 48 00 ene aa box for a Duration o0 25 48 00 d Type new time values Bar Color ii Tab key advances to the next entry box TTL In Options are ML Enabled O Mirror explained in the TTL chapter
22. l devices See the Technical Notes chapter of the ValveBank manual for more information and uses 11 Customizing your display In general you will adapt the EasyCode window to the Valve Bank system you use most often For speed reasons it is most effi cient to turn off all of the channels and rows that are not in use The Show option under the Display menu allows further control of what is displayed in the EasyCode window For users who do not need TTL s loops buzzers or valves the Show sub menu under Display J Valves Display Interval allows these rows to be selectively ee turned off and on As with Select Channels programming in a row that is subsequently turned off is not lost It will re appear when those rows are later displayed and when the program is Listed to the screen see p 19 Begin Display From 6 Home Display 36H Zooming in and out of your program The Display Interval sub menu under Display allows you to adjust the length of time drawn horizontally across the screen If you are using very short valve or TTL commands you will need to select a shorter time interval for Display Interval 1 Second the timebars to be accessible Like mem o wise if you are creating avery long Begin Display From B 10 Minute program and want to see a greater length of time displayed choose a higher interval The selected interval corresponds to the width of the grey guides on screen see next page 8
23. lve loops Here a nested inner loop was added inside a channel with a multi channel loop This automatically lengthens the containing loop in channel 2 to compensate for the new repetition time see example 6 on previous page which in turn lengthens all of the other linked multi channel loops 29 All of this may seem excessive simply to keep multi channel loops tied together but if either the starting or ending time of one channel s loop was individually changed its channel would quickly lose sync with the others it was meant to coordinate with EasyCode handles all of the hard work for you Multi channel loops may be nested but may only be the outer most loop Any channel may contain a total of up to 16 loops with any combination of nesting up to four deep or multi channel loops The ValveBank has no multi channel loop command Easy Code automatically generates LOOP START and LOOP END com mands in each participating channel at exactly the same times Consistency error checking The Consistency sub menu under Program allows you to check selected timebars or entire programs for illegal structures illegal timebars in loop repetition areas see example too many events gt 32 timebars or too many loops in a channel gt 16 You may also turn active warnings on and off Illegal timebar Channel 1 valve tt loops You cannot place a timebar during a repetition area shown by the black rectangle when a
24. ment menu where you can eas ily switch between them Cut copy and paste across documents to combine programs or pieces of programs Use the Windows menu on the PC to Tile Cascade Arrange or Close All open document windows Mac PC file sharing FasyCode on both platforms read each other s files Transfer FasyCode files by high density disk or network Typing in a program You cannot type ValveBank commands as shown in the List window directly into EasyCode from the keyboard However if you wish to type a program from a print out or notes with precise times simply click and drag timebars anywhere in rows as you need commands valve TTL loops etc and immediately select Get Info to call its info box p 15 Here you can type any start and end times even if it will completely reposition the timebar Hence you simply drag create timebars anywhere quickly then type in new valid times and repeat through your listing for each pair of on off commands and all channels 30 Custom timebar colors Macintosh Colors of individual timebars can be changed in their Get Info box Click on the color box to display the standard Apple color picker Start by sliding the right scroll bar to its top Then choose a color by clicking inside the wheel or typing numbers di rectly into the small boxes on the left Click OK to finish color selection and return to the dialog box All EasyCode color boxes default to black which displa
25. ngle marquee around timebars selects all timebars touched or enclosed by the marquee see below e Clicking in a row valve ttl etc selects all timebars in that row even if off screen Clicking in a channel header grey box on the left side of each channel except for the channel notes box or between rows on the PC selects all timebars in that channel e Holding Shift down while clicking on a row or header allows an entire row to be added or removed from the current selection Click here to select all timebars in a channel Time min loops 1 Drag a marquee to select several timebars or hold the Shift key to add or remove timebars from the current selection Click in a shaded row to select all timebars in that row 2 Timebars in a group selection appear with a heavy border hollow corner boxes on the PCJ 16 Time min Channel 1 can Channel 2 Channel T 3 Cut copy and paste work for group selections as well as delete and move Click once in a channel to highlight it as a paste destination Guides Vertical guides grey lines automatically appear below each Display Interval Additionally user defined guides blue lines can be created to facilitate lining up events at the same time across channels Guides must be activated under the Guides Snap to Time O min Channel 1 valve ttl loops Channel 2 T Channel Channel 4 Conr
26. nnels are fixed a pro Bank Bank 3 gram using channels 3 Pithanneli Ct inneke 7 PZ Channel 2 C Channel 10 4 5 and 6 would have to Channel 3 Channel 11 be transmitted as bank 1 P Channel 4 CO Channel 12 ch 1 4 and bank 2 5 8 a Bank 4 even though it only uses C Channel 5 C Channel 13 four channels Choose C channel 6 C Channel 14 L Channel 7 LC Channel 15 C Channel 8 L Channel 16 Select Channels under the Experiment menu to change the number of channels used in a particular experiment Check boxes with X s represent active channels Speed tip Screen redraws will be faster with fewer channels Turn off any unused channels for quicker response If you program in a bank of channels then turn those channels off any programming in the disabled channels will NOT be lost it simply is not displayed Return to the Select Channels option to view the hidden data Macintosh and PC Windows Differences While every effort has been made to keep the Mac and Win dows versions of EasyCode identical several differences exist Some relate to nuances or conventions of the respective operating systems Ouit is called Exit in Windows while others are actual programming changes Sample screens throughout this manual are taken from the Macintosh version but should be functionally identical to Windows User s guide notation References to menu choices and dialog boxes throughout this instruction manual are generally
27. o the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you 34 20
28. of your program 12 Programming in EasyCode 14 Creating and editing timebars 14 Group selecting 16 Guides 17 Programming tips 18 Group tips 18 Graphic printing 18 Listing your program 19 Editing in the List window 19 Communicating withtheValveBank 20 Sending programs 20 Multiple ValveBank transfers 21 Receiving programs 21 Troubleshooting serial transfers gt Serial cable 22 TOO a e a aaa am aa a kak e epi 23 Multi channel loops 24 Consistency error checking 26 continued 3 Table of Contents cont d BE INOUE OPO u uuu Timing diagrams Advanced Features amp Tips Speed screen display Multiple documents Mac PC file sharing Typing in a program Custom timebar colors Graphic screen snapshots Sample files Keyboard shortcuts La Y ec H Getting Started Welcome to FasyCode an accessory program for the Valve Bank line of automated valve and pump controllers EasyCode provides a simple click and drag interface for programming on off seguences using graphic timebars Researchers can save and load these programs to a hard disk print out program listings then download completed programs into the ValveBank s memory in one simple step Once downloaded the program remains in the ValveBank s memory and the ValveBank can then be disconnected from the computer EasyCode does not currently supp
29. ort direct control of the ValveBank or connected valves from your computer Programs must be downloaded into the ValveBank then run using the ValveBank s keypad Hardware and software requirements EasyCode needs the following minimum configuration to run Macintosh e A Macintosh 512E or later model e 2 MB under System 7 e System 6 0 5 or later OS 9 and X Classic compatible e Temporary use of one serial port or USB port e Serial cable AutoMate supplied null modem cable e USB to serial adapter IBM e An IBM PC or compatible with 2MB RAM e Microsoft Windows 3 1 to 95 EasyCode 2 0 Microsoft Windows 98SE 2000 XP version 3 0 e Temporary use of one com port e Serial cable AutoMate supplied null modem cable Macintosh Windows basics If you re new to the Macintosh or Windows you may want to familiarize yourself with these basic skills This manual assumes you know how to Open an application Move a window change its size and close it Choose a command from a menu Enter information in a dialog box Use a scroll bar to scroll through a list or through infor mation ina window e Selectanitemina window by clicking it with the mouse For details see your Macintosh or Windows documentation Before you install EasyCode Before you install EasyCode we recommend that you e Check the system requirements on the previous page e Make backup copies of your EasyCode product disk and use the cop
30. the Program menu This will create a List window of the Valve Bank code about to be transferred de scribed on the previous page and perform a consistency check for errors A program with errors cannot be sent see the Consis tency section p 26 to help identify the problem 2 See the next page for multi ValveBank programs otherwise click Send to begin the transfer A progress box will show four channels of programming being transferred to the des ignated ValveBank memory slot The ValveBank performs an internal verification and should display Successful Receive upon completion 3 ValveBank8 s will prompt you to send a second bank of pro gramming Press Cancel at this point to save one bank If EasyCode has difficulty and retrys sending see pg 22 20 Multiple ValveBank transfers If you have more than four channels active under Select Chan nels EasyCode will prompt you with a check box for which banks of programming you wish to transfer Each bank represents four channels of programming and is transmitted individually see Choosing active channels p 8 ValveBank4 s accept one bank and ValveBank8 s can receive one or two banks a 4 or 8 channel program If you are using several ValveBanks as a network E Bank 1 you must transfer banks mae of programming to each G nan 3 one When FasyCode D Bank 4 has completed sending the first four channels disconnect the serial cable from the
31. to prevent overlaps Example The number of iterations has been increased from two to three for the inner loop Now its iteration rectangle is twice as long and the outer loop has increased as well Multi channel loops Draw a loop in any channel and click Multi channel in its info box to make it a multi channel loop Identical loops will appear in all channels you check in the info box Multi channel loops are spe cial structures that facilitate repeating of sequences across several channels Once created they are linked to one another so that alter ing one will change all of its partners 2 min Time O min Channel 1 valve loops Channel 2 valve loops Channel valve loops Channel 4 valve loops Create an ordinary loop or select an existing one 24 Start Time 00 00 02 20 Click Multi channel End Time o0 02 46 20 Select the channels you wish B the multi channel loop to HT UU appear in The channel it Loop Options was originally drawn in R Multi Channel J Channel 1 is automatically included bi Ciannelz and grayed out zy EMEL Individual loops can also be P Channel 4 Z Sa gt disconnected later from the multi channel link by un clicking them Z min Time min Channel 1 valve Joo ps Channel 2 valve loops Channel 3 valve loops Channel 4 valve loops Channel 1 valve loops Channel 2 valve loops Channel valve Joo ps Channel 4 va
32. ve will be Open TTL Low Closed Open closed logic can be inverted on the ValveBank Trigger On Instructs the ValveBank to begin watching the TTL input associated with its channel When that TTL input goes High that channel s valve will open like a Mirror above but only for the amount of time specified by the Trigger Time If the TTL input is already High when the TRIGGER ON command is processed the valve is opened immediately and 27 Trigger On timed according to the Trigger Time as usual cont d TRIGGER ON only triggers once Use loops to repeat trigger see below A VALVE OFF command is included at the timebar s end time to discontinue the pending TRIGGER ON command or override any rigger Time remaining Time min 10 min 20 min 30 min 40 min Channel 1 valve loops Use a loop to trigger repeatedly This example will open valve one for up to 10 minutes out of every 30 minute period as many times as the loop repeats Trigger Off o EasyCode translates the Trigger Off timebar into a VALVE ON command at its start time then a TRIG GER OFF command at the end time minus the Trigger Time entered The TRIGGER OFF instructs the ValveBank to watch its TTL input like a TRIG GER ON but when the TTL input goes High the ValveBank CLOSES that channel s valve Finally the TRIGGER OFF timebar is discontinued with a VALVE OFF just like a TRIGGER ON to make sure the valve closes at its end time See the Timing Di
33. ys in the standard timebar color for the corresponding row Setting a timebar back to black returns it to the internal default color Select time bar color 31 Graphic screen snapshots In addition to printing the graphic timebar window p 18 you can also capture a disk image of the current screen Arrange the entire screen exactly as you want scroll and position windows and increase the Display Interval under the Display menu to fit more across the screen Macintosh Press 86 shift 3 on your Macintosh keyboard Af ter a brief pause a new PICT file named Picture 1 will be created on your system hard disk Subsequent snap shots are numbered Picture 2 seguentially These PICT image files are of the whole screen menu bar background arrow cursor open dialog boxes and all They may be large files especially on big color monitor systems try a sample These PICT files may be opened by most graphic software imported into many word processors page layout and slide presentation programs or even translated into a PC compat ible format with the appropriate software If subsequent print outs are muddy because of difficulty printing greys switch the Moni tors control panel to Black amp White not greys before taking the snap shots This creates smaller files on your hard disk too Windows users Press the PrintScreen key and a screen snap shot will be created in the Windows clipboard It can be displaye
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