Datasheet

Release Notes - New Features included in Release 2.4.0
Page 62 of 89
4.3.2 Shop Floor Data Capture (SFDC)
4.3.2.1 Shop Floor Data Capture Enhancements (SR4150)
A range of enhancements have been made to the TROPOS SFDC programming language which
significantly enhances the capabilities for the development of shop floor data capture systems to
meet expanding customer requirements.
This range of enhancements has largely been driven by the need to run SFDC programs on dumb
terminals in addition to the existing hand-held devices.
Key enhancements have been provided to improve screen handling, text string manipulation, multi-
level task nesting, file handling and support for non-printing characters.
a. Multi-level task-nesting (“do” verbs) has been improved.
Previously, if nested to more than 1 level, it could lose track of which line of the parent task to
go back to.
b. “exit” verb implemented in task files.
exit task – exits the current task only
exit group – exits the current group of tasks (not fully implemented)
exit sfdc – exits from sfdc without going back to the “task” prompt.
c. “clearstore” verb implemented
– to allow w. and d. type datavalues to be cleared when required (does not clear infinite life
fields (life=9)).
Note – this happens automatically when a top-level task is finished, but is now possible from
within a task.
d. “input” verb now allows:
nonl switch – no newline required (i.e. keyboard is polled for pressed keys) *
wait=n switch – wait for n tenths of a second for input
delim=x switch – take single character x as end-of-input-string
These only work usefully in certain combinations, e.g:
nonl
- useful if a single character is to be input, without the need for a carriage return.
nonl wait=100 delim=A
- will wait for 10 seconds for a string of characters which ends in ‘A’. If it doesn’t get this, it sets
w.$gotinput to 0, otherwise it sets it to 1.
nonl is the master switch – the others only apply if this is set.
If wait is not set, it waits for ever.
* Note – nonl on “input” is not currently available on Windows.
e. “input” verb now allows: