ActivSerial User`s Manual
Contents
1. A AVTOutputSerial Figure 1 1 The sub tools of ActivSerial in a bar code inspection application ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions 4 About ActivSerial ActivSerial 2008 04 23 Chapter 2 Using ActivSerial This chapter will explain how to use ActivSerial to output the results and evaluations of other ActivVisionTools via a serial interface In the corresponding Visual Basic projects ActivBarcode is used as the tool whose results are to be transmitted In fact the projects already contain a completely configured application which checks the bar code printed on magazines If you want to experiment with the projects in more detail we recommend to read the User s Manual for ActivBarcode and the User s Manual for ActivDecision 2 1 Configuring the Communication via the Serial Interface 2 2 Selecting the Output Data S gt 2 lt Using ActivSerial 2 1 Configuring the Communication via the Serial In terface The RS 232 serial protocol leaves some room for configuration For example you can transmit data at different speeds rates or choose to include a parity bit after each character for error checking These parameters can be specified in the dialog DialogSerialOptions Of course the selected values must be identical to the ones selected on the other side of the line 1 e for the device that reads data from the serial interface Visual Basic Pre2. Execution Settings 1 Application v Mode Serial Options Data Selection Execute Slaves Enable Writing Single Run Stop IV Selected Results IV Customized Text COM2forAVT HyperTerminal File Edit View Call Transfer Help Dij 5 8 cl 1 02 Connected 0 13 50 Auto detect 19200 8 N 1 Figure 3 1 Customizing the output text Private bBarcodeResultsExist As Boolean Private sCode As String Private bCodeEval As Boolean Private handleCode As Integer The following code fills these variables with results in the handler for the event Start First the results of ActivBarcode are extracted from the collection of tool results ActivSerial 2008 04 23 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface 15 bBarcodeResultsExist False For Each atToolResult In cToolResults If atToolResult Name AVTBarcodeiD1 Then Set atBarcodeResult atToolResult bBarcodeResultsExist True End If Next If bBarcodeResultsExist False Then Exit Sub End If Then we focus on the results of the first ROI Set atROIResult atBarcodeResult ROIResult atBarcodeResult ROIResultNames 0 S gt O lt The relevant evaluations and feature values all belong to the first object in the ROI bCodeEval atROIResult ObjFeatureEvaluation handleCode 0 sCode atROIResult ObjectValue handleCode 0 The variables for the feature handles are also declared globally and set
3. For each example in this manual there is a corresponding Visual Basic project these projects can be found in the subdirectory examples manuals activserial of the ActivVisionTools base directory you selected during the installation default C Program Files MVTec ActivVisionTools Of course you can also create your own Visual Basic projects from scratch Note that the screenshots in the manual may differ slightly from the corresponding Visual Basic projects To follow the examples actively first install and configure Activ VisionTools as described in the manual Getting Started with Activ VisionTools We recommend to create a private copy of the example projects because by experimenting with the projects you also change their state which is then automatically stored in the so called description files extension dsc by ActivVisionTools Of course you can restore the state of a project by retrieving the corresponding description file from the CD Contents 1 About ActivSerial 1 Li T troducmg AcOymenal us AR 2 1 2 TheSub Toolsof ActivSerial ooo ooo nn 2 2 Using ActivSerial 5 2 1 Configuring the Communication via the Serial Interface 6 22 the Output Data msp ed RR Pa dee REO RA 8 3 Tips amp Tricks 11 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface 12 Chapter 1 About ActivSerial This chapter will introduce you to the features and the basic concepts of Act
4. upon loading the form Private handleCode As Integer Private Sub Form_Load handleCode AVTBarcode1D1i FeatureHandleCode End Sub For more details about the access of feature values and evaluations please refer e g to the User s Manual for ActivBarcode section 4 3 on page 26 ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions 16 Tips Tricks In the handler for the event WriteCustomizedText the customized output can now be created based on the global variables containing the extracted code and its evaluation Private Sub AVTOutputSerial1_WriteCustomizedText sCustomizedText As String Dim sOutputText As String sMonth As String If bCodeEval False Then s utputText 0 Else sMonth Right sCode 2 s utputText 1 amp amp sMonth End If sCustomizedText s utputText amp vbCrLf End Sub The customized output is restricted to the application mode by inserting the following code at the beginning of the event handler If Not AVTViewi ExecutionMode eApplicationMode Or _ bBarcodeResultsExist False Then Exit Sub End If On the other side the output of the selected results is restricted to the configuration mode by removing the output data from the string parameter in the handler for the event WriteSelect edResults in the application mode Private Sub AVTOutputSeriali_WriteSelectedResults sText As String If AVIViewi ExecutionMode eApplicationMode Then sText End If End Sub W
5. 02 50 17 02 51 439914840550825 17 02 52 17 02 54 439914840550823 Connected 0 09 38 Auto detect 19200 8 w 1 SCROLL Figure 2 2 Selecting the output data preconfigured version for the use with the example projects can be found in the in the subdirectory examples manuals activserial ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions 10 Using ActivSerial ActivSerial 2008 04 23 Chapter 3 Tips Tricks This chapter contains additional information about ActivSerial e g how to use the program ming interface of ActivVisionTools to output customized text via the serial interface 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface 12 Sl or dk RR Rr exon 12 3 1 2 Example a eo ee A NAUES 13 11 S gt 2 lt 12 Tips amp Tricks 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface The previous chapters and sections showed how to use the ActivSerial interactively i e via the graphical user interfaces presented by the underlying ActiveX controls In this mode you can configure the output via the serial interface rapidly and easily without any programming However there is more to ActivVisionTools than the graphical user interfaces Because Activ VisionTools comes as a set of ActiveX controls it provides you with an open programming interface thereby offering full flexibility In this secti
6. User s Manual ACcTI SERIAL Microsoft Windows Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows XP Visual Basic Microsoft NET Visual C Visual C and ActiveX are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation All other nationally and internationally recognized trademarks and tradenames are hereby rec ognized EC Copyright 2002 2008 by MVTec Software GmbH M nchen Germany Sotware GmbH Edition 1 November 2002 ActivVisionTools 2 1 Edition 2 January 2005 ActivVisionTools 3 0 Edition 3 February 2006 ActivVisionTools 3 1 Edition 4 May 2008 ActivVisionTools 3 2 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher More information about ActivVisionTools can be found at http www activ vision tools com How to Read This Manual This manual explains how to output the results of other ActivVisionTools via the serial interface RS 232 using ActivSerial It describes the functionality of ActivSerial and its cooperation with other Activ VisionTools with Visual Basic examples Before reading this manual we recommend to read the manual Getting Started with Activ Vision Tools which introduces the basic concepts of ActivVisionTools and the User s Manual for ActivView to learn how to load and display images
7. ed output text This parameter can be modified in a corresponding event handler Private Sub AVTOutputSeriali WriteSelectedResults sText As String To be more exact the event WriteSelectedResults is raised as soon as the internal ActivSerial 2008 04 23 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface 13 output buffer is full If many results are selected the event may therefore be raised more than once for one processing cycle In the example described in the next section the event 1s therefore only used to prevent the output of the selected results in a certain execution mode e WriteCustomizedText As its name suggests this event is the main gate to customized output It is raised if the box v Customized Text in AVTOutputSerial is checked As a parameter the event passes an empty string Private Sub AVTOutputSeriali WriteCustomizedText sCustomizedText As String In the event handler you can insert your own data into the string which is then automati cally transmitted once per cycle 3 1 2 Example The ActivVisionTools distribution includes the example Visual Basic project cus tomized serial_customized vbp which shows how output customized text The following tasks are to be solved via the programming interface e In the configuration mode selected results as shown in figure 2 2 on page 9 are to be transmitted e Inthe application mode customized data is to be transmitted con
8. f DialogOutputDataSelect you can navigate through the results In the right part of DialogOutputDataSelect you can select data for output by check ing the corresponding boxes You may output different items depending on the evalua tion of an object By clicking on the column labels with the right mouse button you can check or uncheck all boxes in this column similarly you can check and uncheck whole rows or all rows of a certain tool In the frame Output you can select whether to transmit the date and time of the current processing cycle in front of the selected results in the check box v Date and Time If you check v Tags the data is enclosed by tags Note that both options are more useful in conjunction with ActivFile which also uses this dialog In the frame Output Format of AVTOutputSerial you can specify the output format of the individual data items If you check v Append CR LF a carriage return and linefeed character is transmitted after each line Note that a line can consist of multiple items which are separated by the delimiter selected in the combo box Separator For example all items selected for a certain feature are transmitted in one line If you check v Selected Results in AVTOutputSerial the output is enabled the use of the other check box is explained in section 3 1 on page 12 At the end of the next processing cycle the selected data is transmitted via the serial i
9. following section 2 1 Configuring the Communication via the Serial Interface 7 D Click the button to open the dialog TA 199148 4028 Ex Options ActivSerial Serial Interface Baud 19200 v StopBits 1 Tja A p gt Data Bits 8 v FlowControl none Parity v Timeout 1000 ms Format HG M Append CR LF Separator Tabulatr Write TAGs 3 specify the transmission data rate 4 specify the number of bits per character 5 specify the error checking mode 2 specify a serial interface port n 10 x JA Composite Detect Display Results 1 Code Region Elements Candidates v Connected Serial S An gt Port COM1 Settings a Data Selection r Enable Writing IT Selected Results Customized Text 6 specify the number of stop bits 2 specify the flow control mode specify a timeout 9 specify the output format Figure 2 1 Configuring the communication protocol If your computer is equipped with two serial interface ports you can test the communica tion by connecting the two ports with a suitable cable crossed input output lines and then using a program called HyperTerminal which is part of most Windows distributions to read from the serial interface The HyperTerminal file COM2forAVT ht in the subdirectory exam ples manuals activserial of the ActivVisionTools base direc
10. hen using the programming interface of ActivVisionTools you leave the safe world of the graphical user interfaces where all input is checked for validity automatically In contrast if you try to access a non existing object or result via the programming interface a run time error 1s caused which terminates your application To avoid this you can use the Visual Basic error handling mechanisms 1 e set up an error handler which examines any occurring error and reacts in a suitable way For example the event handler vor Start contains the following error handler ActivSerial 2008 04 23 3 1 Customized Output Via the Programming Interface 17 Private Sub AVTOutputSerial1_Start atIconicData As _ ActivVTools AVTImageMessageClass _ variable declarations On Error GoTo ErrorHandler body of the procedure Exit Sub ErrorHandler Dim sTitle As String If Left Err Source 11 ActivVTools Then sTitle ActivVisionTools Error Elself Left Err Source 10 Customized Then o sTitle Incorrect Project Configuration Else sTitle Runtime Error amp CStr Err Number End If Call MsgBox Err Description vbExclamation sTitle AVTView1 RunState False End Sub The main goal of the error handler is to react upon an ActivVisionTools error with a popup dialog instead of terminating the application For this the source of the error is examined Within the example project the correct configuration of the project
11. is then checked For example the following code checks whether the bar code is extracted at all i e whether the box v Code in AVTOutputSerial is checked if not an error with the source set to Customized is raised and then caught in the error handler If atBarcodeResult FeatureUsed handleCode False Then Call Err Raise 1 Customized Code must be calculated End If To test the effect click Run and then uncheck v Code the dialog shown in figure 3 2a appears Incorrect Project Configuration EI IN Code must be calculated Figure 3 2 Popup dialog resulting from not extracting the bar code ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions 18 Tips Tricks The following code checks that exactly one ROI is present in which at least one bar code is extracted before accessing the results To test the effect start the continuous execution and create a second ROI or select another bar code type in AVTBarcode1D End If focus on ROI If atROIResult ObjectNum gt 0 Then access results Else Call Err Raise 1 Customized No bar code found End If Else Call Err Raise 1 Customized Expecting exactly 1 ROI End If ActivSerial 2008 04 23
12. ivSerial It gives an overview about ActivSerial s master tool and its dialogs which are described in more detail in chapter 2 on page 5 11 Introducing ActivSerial 1 2 TheSub Tools of ActivSerial S gt 2 lt 2 About ActivSerial 1 1 Introducing ActivSerial In many machine vision applications the task is not only to inspect images and calculate cer tain results but to communicate those results to the surrounding process The process can then react on them e g remove a faulty part from the conveyor belt One possible communication channel between the process and the computer is the RS 232 serial interface This interface was originally developed to use terminals with remote computer systems therefore most PCs already come with one or more of such ports On the other side many stored program control systems are also equipped with a serial interface primarily to download programs from the host computer As its name suggests the RS 232 serial interface transmits data as a series of bits which are partitioned into groups of 5 8 bits and enclosed by special start and stop bits and perhaps also a parity bit for error checking Typically those bit groups are interpreted as characters Further more the RS 232 protocol provides different mechanisms for data flow control by software or by hardware ActivSerial provides an easy to use access to the RS 232 serial interface All you need to to it to configu
13. nterface The figure shows an example output on the HyperTerminal as described in the previous section a 2 2 Selecting the Output Data D Click to open the dialogs w Selecting the Output Data Output Data Selection 2 navigate through the results E 3 select the output data lolx General IV Date and Time Tags Pat jAVTBarcode1D1 TBarcode1D1 Tool ROI Name Rectanglel 1 AVTBarcodelD1 Objects Tool Li i S Good Objects Bad Objects 25 Li iL gt Rectangle1_1 II Ji 5 Li m lt Good Objects DD mi L m Bad Objects 1 DD Li JL 4 za Options sel xl r Serial Interface Baud 19200 y Stop Bit Data Bits 8 Flow Control Parity none v Timeout 1000 ms none x okay Valug Min Max Interpretation Operation Li Serial Port A 1 I I com IV Connected Setting Serial Options Data Selection r Output Format 10l x v Append CR LF Write TAGs Separator 4 select delimiters Enable Writing w Selected Results Customized Text COM2farAVT HyperTerminal S ni xi File Edit View Call Transfer Help 04 14 08 5 check to enable writing Sode 04 14 08 Code 04 14 08 Code 04 14 08 Code 04 14 08 Code 17 02 49 17
14. on we show how to output customized text via the programming interface Please note that we assume that readers of this part have at least a basic knowledge of Visual Basic To work with the programming interface you must first add the ActivVisionTools type library to the project s references by checking the box labeled ActivVisionTools Type Library in the Visual Basic menu dialog Project gt References Detailed information about the programming interface can be found in the Reference Manual 3 1 1 Basic Principles The programming interface ActivSerial provides four events which allow to integrate your own code into the corresponding event handlers below we describe the three that are most useful for customixing the output e Start This event is raised when ActivSerial starts to execute In a parameter it passes the results of the connected ActivVisionTools i e the calculated features values and their evalua tions This access to the results is important to determine the content of your customized output A corresponding event handler looks like this Private Sub AVTOutputSerial1_Start atIconicData As _ ActivVTools AVTImageMessageClass _ cToolResults As Collection e WriteSelectedResults If the box v Selected Results in AVTOutputSerial is checked this event is raised before ActivSerial transmits the result data selected in the dialog DialogOutputData Select The event has a single parameter which contains the formatt
15. paration for the following example Example Please open the project configuringNserial configuring vbp which contains an already configured bar code inspection application Execute the application Run gt Start or via the corresponding button Load the image sequence barcode magazinel seq The following steps are visualized in figure 2 1 OOO eeood ActivSerial 2008 04 23 The combo box Port allows to select the serial interface port which is to be used for out put AVTOutputSerial automatically opens the corresponding device If it succeeds the check box to the right is checked if the device cannot be opened e g because an other application already uses it an error message appears You can uncheck the box to close the connection Open DialogSerial0ptions by clicking Serial Options in AVTOutputSerial Specify the data rate used for the transmission in the combo box Baud The number of bits per character can be selected in the combo box Data Bits The combo box Parity offers different modes for error checking The number of stop bits transmitted after each character can be selected in the combo box Stop Bits The combo box Flow Control offers different modes for data flow control In the text box Timeout you can specify a timeout for the communication The elements in the frame Output Format allow to configure the format of the output data itself They are described in the
16. re the communication and to select which results and or evaluations are to be transmitted Please note that ActivSerial cannot be used to input data via the serial interface An alternative method to connect to your process control is to use a so called digital board These boards provide multiple input and output lines to signal events to and from the process For more information please refer to the User s Manual for ActivDigitallO 1 2 The Sub Tools of ActivSerial ActivSerial provides only a master tool AVTOutputSerial and two dialogs that let you select results for output and configure the output format In figure 1 1 AVTOutputSerial and the two dialogs are shown in an example ActivVisionTools application where ActivSerial used to output the results of ActivBarcode d AVTOutputSerial is the master tool of ActivSerial It allows to enable the output and to open the two dialogs described below How to use AVTOutputSerial is described in more detail in chapter 2 on page 5 Via AVTOutputSerial you can open a dialog that allows to configure the communication via the serial interface and the output format How to use this dialog is described in section 2 1 on page 6 A second dialog allows to select which results of which ActivVisionTool are to be sent via the serial interface How to use this dialog is described in section 2 2 on page 8 ActivSerial 2008 04 23 1 2 The Sub Tools of ActivSerial ActivVie
17. sisting of an extended evaluation 0 incorrect code 1 correct code followed by the last two digits of the code which encode the issue of the magazine only if code is evaluated as Figure 3 1 shows this customized output for the complete image sequence The example project is already configured just start it and click the button Run in AVT ViewExecute As described in section 2 1 on page 6 the preconfigured HyperTerminal COM2forAVT ht for the use with the example projects can be found in the in the subdirectory examples manuals activserial In the following we take a look at the Visual Basic code that solves the tasks described above The first problem is that we need the actual results of the processing cycle i e the extracted bar code and its evaluation when creating the customized output in the handler for the event WriteCustomizedText but this information can only be accessed within the handler for the event Start Therefore the following variables are declared globally ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions S Y gt z O lt 14 Tips amp Tricks iw Writing Customized Text Using the Programming Interface ni xj Code Type EAN 13 Add On 2 Em Checksum Composite Detect Result Options Display Results IV Code Code Elements Position Region Candidates Serial 1 Port COM1 v IV Connected
18. tory is configured to match the example projects double click it in the Windows Explorer to start it You can check the values of the communication parameters by opening the dialog File gt Properties and then clicking Configure after closing the connection ActivVisionTools 3 2 Your Fast Track to Solutions Using ActivSerial 2 2 Selecting the Output Data The next step after configuring the communication is to specify what is to be transmitted using the dia log DialogOutputDataSelect In this dialog you can select from all available results 1 e the calculated features of objects ROIs and tools and if you are using ActivDecision as in the example projects the evaluation of features objects ROIs and tools Section 3 1 shows how to further customize the output via the programming interface Visual Basic Preparation for the following example Example If you worked on the previous example you may continue using this project Other wise open the project selectingNserial selecting vbp Execute the application and load the image sequence barcode Wnagazine1 seq The following steps are visualized in figure 2 2 only components of ActivSerial shown O Q ActivSerial 2008 04 23 Click Serial Options and Data Selection in AVTOutputSerial to open the di alogs DialogSerial0Options and DialogOutputDataSelect In the left part o
19. w ActivBarcode ActivDecision The Sub Tools of ActivSerial 15 xl Code Type Jana 3 Add On 2 7 Checksum 7 Composite Detect XS Result Options Display Results dp gt v Code Code Elements IT Position Region IT Candidates 2 ry Options ActivSerial x Serial Interface Baud 19200 Stop Bits fi E Data Bits 8 Flow Control none E Parity v Timeout 10000 ms r Output Format IV Append CR LF Write TAGs Separator Semicolon E Dutput Data Selection NN E Pot com1 v Connected Enable Writing IT Selected Results 2 Serial Options Data Selection 3 mi Custorhized Text m General m Tool IV Date and Time IV Name Tags okay ROI Y Name okay m Object IE okay Path AWTBarcode1D1 okay Value Min Max Interpretation Operation J Tool ROI Object AVTBarcode1D1 E 101 Rectanglel 1 Good Objects Bad Objects Objects Tool Bad Objects Tool Good ROIs Bad ROIs Rectangle1_1 Objects ROI Good Objects Bad Objects Good Objects Tool Good Objects ROI Bad Objects ROI Code Length Code Length E E 7474777777 9990909999191 Sosa A 101 1 1 1 v DE YT YTYTT111 77777777777 9900005905554
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