PATRUCCO - WinWedge: FAQs - Technical support

Why do I get no data at all in the analyze window?
Usually this is because you have the wrong port settings, the wrong cable, or your device is improperly configured. More information.

Why do I get unrecognizable characters in the analyze window?
The reason that you are getting unrecognizable ASCII characters in the Analyze window is because you probably have not setup the serial communication parameters correctly in Winwedge. In order to fix this problem you will have to find out the communication parameters for your device and set up WinWedge to exactly match these parameters. If you do not know the parameters used by your device you will need to either consult the users manual for the device or contact its manufacturer for this information.
You can set up WinWedge by selecting the SETTINGS option from the PORT menu, and select the appropriate serial communications parameters. Once WinWedge is configured properly you should see recognizable data in the analyze window.

You can also use the Port Analyze feature in the Software Wedge to try different parameters until you get data that appears correct. Try different baud rates using seven data bits, even parity, and one stop bit until you get data that looks either partially or completely correct. Finally, try different combinations of parity, number of data bits and number of stop bits until all data is correct. Most devices use either seven data bits with Even or Odd parity or eight data bits with No Parity. One stop bit is also used more frequently than two.

It is also worth noting that some serial devices will still send strange characters even when the communications settings match exactly. Some older devices that were designed for outputting to serial printers will often send printer control codes that appear as garbage in the analyze window. In many cases there is a setting on the device that can disable this, but you should contact the manufacturer of the device to find out whether the data you are receiving is normal, and what your options are. Even those that do not send printer control characters will often send unprintable characters such as STX, ETX, carriage return and Line feeds as part of the data stream. The manual that comes with your serial device should provide you with sample data that you can compare what you are actually receiving.

Why can I receive data in the analyze window, but not after I activate WinWedge?
The fact that you are getting data in the analyze window and not when the wedge is activated implies that the communication is established and the wedge is receiving data.

The first thing you should check is whether or not the WinWedge Window (when Activated) is displaying your data. If the data appears there but not in your application, then check which Mode you are in (Keystrokes or DDE) and verify that the settings are correct. It is important to realise that Setting the Wedge for DDE Mode will not result in the data being sent to any open Window like it can in keystrokes mode. In Excel for instance you must write macros to actually manage the DDE transactions.

There is also a small number of applications (such as applications that run in a DOS Window) that cannot receive the keystrokes from WinWedge. Try sending the data into Notepad and see if that works, if it does then it could be an incompatibility with the application you are trying to send the data to.

If no data appears in the WinWedge Window when it is activated then the record structure is not defined properly. To correct this problem take another look at the data in the Analyze window and make sure that the "Start of Record Event" and the "End of Record Event" have been defined properly. By default, WinWedge expects a carriage return as the end of a record. This will appear in the Analyze window as a music note character. If you do not receive this character from your device then it means that WinWedge received your data but is still waiting for this carriage return character to signify the end of the record before transmitting the data to your application. To correct the problem change the end of record event to a time delay between records, a fixed number of bytes received or a character that your device does transmit such as an ETX.

If you are confident that your start and end of record events are correctly defined, make sure that you have selected the proper parsing and filtering parameters for each field. Check your delimiters or field lengths, and try removing any filters you set to see if that corrects the problem.

Finally, if you are inputting very large data records, you may also need to increase the size of the serial input buffer.

Why does data go into Notepad and not my application when I activate the wedge?
The reason that the data is going into Notepad is because it is the default setting in WinWedge. If you want the data to go into another application, you must specify that application by entering the appropriate "Application Title Bar Text". To specify the application, choose the "Send Keystrokes To" option under the MODE menu and specify the appropriate Title Bar Text for the application that you want to send data to. The title bar text is the text that appears in the title bar of the application’s main window. If you want the wedge to launch your application the first time it receives any data, you can also specify the full path for the application’s executable file name in the text box labeled "Command Line". Note: You must specify the full path. For example if you have any application called Excel.Exe under the directory "C:\MSOFFICE", then your complete path would be C:\MSOFFICE\EXCEL.EXE.

How do I place a date and time stamp to my data?
You can use the following six keywords to place the date and time stamps: {Year}, {Month}, {Day}, {Hour}, {Minute}, and {Second}. If you would like the date and or time stamp placed before the data, then you would place the date and time stamp functions in the "Record Preamble" text box. If you would like the date and time stamp to be placed after the data, then you would place the function in the "Field Postamble" text box. For example if you only want the date stamp before the data, then you place the following keywords in the "Record Preamble" text box. {Month}/{Day}/{Year}.

How do I set up WinWedge to continuously send out prompts at regular intervals?
The "Timer Controlled Output" can be used to send a string or prompt to a device at a specific time interval. To set up the timer controlled output select "Serial Output Strings" from the DEFINE menu and specify the time interval and the timer controlled output string that you want sent out the serial port. If you want the timer to be enabled as soon as the wedge is activated, then check the "Enable Timer On Activation" option. If you are using the wedge in send keystrokes mode, then you can enable and disable the timer from the QUIT menu after the wedge has been activated or you can use the [TIMER-ON] and [TIMER-OFF] DDE commands to turn on and off the timer.

Can the Wedge run in the background while I work with another program in the foreground?
It is possible to work with another program while WinWedge is running on the same PC. There are several ways that you can set up WinWedge to work. If you simply want to log data to a disk file, you can set up WinWedge in "Log To Disk" mode and all data will be logged to a disk file in the background while you work with some other program in the foreground. In a similar manner, you can set up WinWedge to communicate with another application using DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange). With DDE, again, all operations occur in the background so you can have WinWedge and the application that is receiving data from the Wedge running in the background while you work with another program in the foreground.

WinWedge can also be configured to convert incoming serial data to "keystrokes" and therefore trick other programs into accepting the incoming serial data as if it were being typed in on the keyboard. In order for this to work correctly, the other application must be running in the foreground, which makes it more difficult to work with a separate application while collecting data with the Wedge.

Is WinWedge Year 2000 compliant?
WinWedge is designed as a tool for inputting serial data from instrumentation into a PC. It is not an application that stores data or acts as a database where date information plays any role in the functionality of the product.
It generally does not have anything to do with dates and times therefore the year 2000 issue does not affect the product to any great extent. Although it does have some simple date and time stamping capabilities, in the vast majority of applications, the Wedge is not used to generate date information. In WinWedge for Windows, the system date is used for all date functions and is generated by the operating system (which is fully year 2000 compliant).

Some of the date stamp functionality in the Wedge has been designed to provide the year portion in a 2 digit format with the century portion of the date either excluded altogether or hard coded by the user. In the rare circumstances where a user has the Software Wedge configured to provide a full four digit year portion in a date stamp, you may have to edit their configuration for the Wedge to hard code in a "20" instead of a "19". This process is trivially easy. (After making the change you should not need to do it again for another 100 years.)

Can WinWedge be used to implement Modbus Protocols?
WinWedge does not have the ability to calculate check sums or make logical decisions on data. This means that it does not directly support any high level protocols like modbus. It does not mean that you cannot use WinWedge to communicate with modbus devices. You can, in most cases, implement any protocol that you like, including Modbus, using features of the application that will be using the Software Wedge.

For example, you could use the macro language in whatever program you are feeding data into to implement the protocol, and then simply use the Software Wedge to do the serial input and output. If you were using a program like Excel, Access, Wonderware, Fix DMACS, etc., you could use the macro or script languages in these programs to calculate any necessary checksums on your data or perform logical functions to control the flow of data. WinWedge would simply act as a tool providing the other application with a way to both send and receive serial data.

Why is it that when I use the Auto_Close() macro (from the examples in the manual) to close WinWedge automatically Excel causes a General Protection Fault in Module Excel.exe?

This only happens in Excel 2000 when you choose Exit from the File menu, it does not happen if you click on the X in the top right hand corner of the application. Normally when you quit an application that was connected via DDE to another application, the DDE Links are automatically terminated, but a bug in Excel 2000 causes this error. To fix the problem add the following line of code to the end of the Auto_Close Macro:

DDETerminate chan

Will WinWedge work with Windows 2000/XP?

Yes. All current versions of WinWedge including the 16 bit versions will work with Windows 2000 and XP. Versions released prior to 1998 may not work correctly, and we recommend you upgrade to the current release. To check your version go to the Help Menu and click on About.

When Trying to use the Port > Analyze feature or Activate WinWedge on a Windows NT/2000/XP machine you receive the error "Com n not available".

Possible causes of this error include:

Another instance of WinWedge is running and accessing that port.
Another application (e.g. Hotsync for a Palm Pilot) is running and accessing that port.
The port has been disabled. Common on laptops with multiple devices attached in order to free up an interrupt (IRQ).
The port is malfunctioning or absent. Check in Control Panel: try removing it and rebooting/reinstall the drivers.
The Com Port was disabled in your Bios.
The Serial device was auto detected by NT/2000 as a Serial Mouse.

When Trying to use the Port > Analyze feature or Activate WinWedge on a Windows NT/2000/XP machine you receive the error "Set Com State Failed."

This error is caused by your buffer size settings. NT based systems will not accept settings that are not an integer multiple of 2. For example setting your Input buffer size to 32767 will cause this error, but setting it to 32766 will not.

When Trying to use the Port > Analyze feature or Activate WinWedge on a Windows NT/2000/XP machine you receive the error "Set Com Time Outs Failed."

Usually the same or similar error will occur when trying to access that com port from another piece of software such as HyperTerminal.

In most cases removing the com port in the Device Manager and restarting Windows (which will then automatically detect the com port and reinstall the driver) will resolve this problem. If after restarting the problem has not been resolved manually reinstall the driver: Open the Control Panel, double click on the System Icon, click on the Hardware Tab then open the Device Manager. Scroll Down to the Ports and doble click on the problem port. Click on the Driver Tab and select Update Driver. Let Windows search for a suitable driver and even if it says the current driver is the best one make sure you follow through the wizard until it is finished. This will reinstall the Driver. No reboot should be necessary.

When Trying to use the Port > Analyze feature or Activate WinWedge on a Windows NT/2000/XP machine you receive the error "Unable to allocate queues, try reducing buffer size."

Usually the same or similar error will occur when trying to access that com port from another piece of software such as HyperTerminal.