RFShell Usage

 

RFShell is the scripting front end to RFControl.  

 

RFShell can be started from a command window or from another application.  If a file is specified, commands will be read from the file, otherwise, commands will be read interactively.

 

RFShell provides commands to

 

• Launch RFControl and attach to a TPI RF Synthesizer board conected to a USB port

• Connect to an existing instance of RFControl

• Define variables and reference them in subsequent RFControl and Script commands

• Increment variables by an arbitrary positive or negative number

• Define loops that iterate for a specified number of times

• Delay for a specified number of milliseconds

• Pause a script running from a file until the user presses the <return> key

 

Commands for Launching /or or connecting to RFControl

 

The attach command launches RFControl opens the communication channel between RFControl and RFShell, and attempts to attach to the TPI RF board that corresponds to the provided key.

 

attach HEXKEY -hide/-show portnumber

 

where:

 

HEXKEY is the encrypted form of the TPI board serial number

hide/-show will hide/display the synthMachine front panel

portnumber is the TCP/IP port to use for communication

 

The host command opens the communication channel between RFShell and an existing instance of RFcontrol on the machine named hostname (or at the ipaddress).

 

host hostname/ipaddress portnumber

where:

 

hostname/ipaddress is either the name of, or the ip address of, a machine on the network where RFControl is running

portnumber is the port to use with RFControl

 

RFShell programming commands:

 

    variables:

    setvar varname number  - set varname to number

    incvar varname number  - increment varname by number

 

    loops:

 

    loop start name count  - mark beginng of a loop labeled "name" that will loop "count" times

    loop end name          - mark end of the loop labeled "name"

 

    delay and wait:

 

    delay timeval    - delay "timeval" ms

    wait                    - wait for the user to hit the RETURN key when executing commands from a file

 

Issuing RFControl Commands

 

        command* number   - send an RF command with number as the "value" parameter

        command* $varname - send an RF command with varname substitued for the "value" parameter

 

        *command: Available commands are listed in the RFControl Section above

 

     exit:

   

        exit                   - exit the RFShell

 

Demonstration Mode

 

RFControl demonstration mode can be initiated by launching RFControl with Hexkey d04017edd70894f7.  In this mode, all USB I/O is disabled so it is not necessary to attach a board or load the FTDI drivers.  

 

Use the -show option after the Hexkey to display the front panel to display the commands issued to RFControl.

 

It is still necessary to load a calibration file.  For demonstration mode, the default caltable.csv file can be used.  It should be placed into /Program Files (x86)/SynthMachine.