Devices

Detailed Description

Device classes are used to provide access to the actual components of a system.

All device classes inherit the interface iDevice. Each device class has its own set of methods for accessing the device specific functions. See Classes section below for all supported device classes.

Each device instance is associated with a physical component or functional unit. These devices are provided by different hardware entities like the mainboard or extension cards. See Hardware support for an overview of the supported devices for the different hardware platforms.

Each hardware entity can provide multiple devices of the same type and each device can have multiple channels. For example:
A VisionBox mainboard with two digital I/O modules provides two DigitalInput and two DigitalOutput devices. Each device may provide eight input and output signals.

Note

• After a device is closed, the RTCC / FPGA logic remains operating in the last state for most devices. For example, the existing Multiplexer connections stay active until reboot, or until the Multiplexer gets reconfigured. Exception: the Strobe and IOScheduler devices will be deactivated after the device is closed.
  
• Many devices can be reset explicitly by calling the Reset() method.
• If a USB device is unplugged, all device indexes remain constant and unique, until all programs have stopped using the library. Therefore, it is possible that a gap is created when a device with a lower number is unplugged.

Opening and closing devices

Device objects for a specific hardware component can be opened only once at a time, except for the Service device. This is guaranteed across all processes on the system.

There are two ways to open and close device objects:

• By constructing a device object and using the methods iDevice::Open() and iDevice::Close()
• By opening the Device Factory for a specific hardware entity and using the methods VIBSystem::OpenDevice() and VIBSystem::CloseDevice()

Note

Mixing the device's Open() / Close() API with the factory's VIBSystem API is not allowed for the same device object.

Open devices using the Open() method

After a device object is created with the default constructor, the member function Open() has to be called before the device can be used. The Index parameter specifies the component for the given device type across all hardware entities.

The device can be closed manually with the function Close(), or automatically by the object destructor.

Example:

{
    // Create the device object (not opened yet)
    VIB::DigitalInput digitalInput;
 
    // Open the second DigitaInput device on the system
    digitalInput.Open(1);
 
    // Use the device specific methods
    digitalInput.ConfigureDebounceTime(1000, 1000);
 
} // The device automatically gets closed when the object is destructed

The hardware entities are enumerated in the following order for determining the Index parameter with Open():

• VIB::SYST_BASEBOARD: VisionBox / VisionCam / VisionSensor mainboard (contains the RTCC on most systems)
• VIB::SYST_INTERNAL_PCI: Machine Vision Controller card with RTCC
• VIB::SYST_CL: Camera Link card, provides access to VIB::CameraLinkIn, VIB::Rs422 and VIB::Rs232 devices
• VIB::SYST_NETWORK: Smart NIC card, provides access to VIB::PowerOverEthernet and VIB::TriggerOverEthernet devices
• VIB::SYST_EXTERNAL_USB: Machine Vision Manager with RTCC connected via USB

For example, consider a VisionBox with one digital I/O module provided by the mainboard and two digital I/O modules provided by the Machine Vision Controller. The Index parameter for DigitalInput::Open() corresponds to the following components:

• Index = 0: I/O module on the mainboard
• Index = 1: first I/O module on the Machine Vision Controller
• Index = 2: second I/O module on the Machine Vision Controller

Open devices using the VIBSystem factory

See page Device Factory for a detailed description.

Classes
class	VIB::CameraLinkIn
	This class represents the Camera Link grabber module. More...
class	VIB::CameraTrigger
	This class controls the digital camera trigger output. More...
class	VIB::DigitalInput
	This class controls a group of digital input signals. More...
class	VIB::DigitalOutput
	This class controls a group of digital output signals. More...
class	VIB::IOScheduler
	This class controls the I/O Scheduler which can store and emit output signals in hard real-time. More...
class	VIB::LCD
	This class controls the status display of the Machine Vision Controller. More...
class	VIB::Led
	This class controls the status LEDs. More...
class	VIB::Multiplexer
	This class controls the Multiplexer unit which connects signal sources and sinks with each other. More...
class	VIB::PowerOverEthernet
	This class represents the PowerOverEthernet (PoE) module, which allows gathering information about the current state of attached PoE devices. More...
class	VIB::Rs232
	This class allows sending and receiving data over a serial port. More...
class	VIB::Rs422
	This class controls the RS-422 interface. More...
class	VIB::Service
	This class contains functions associated with the hardware component (serial number, system temperature, watchdog, firmware updates). More...
class	VIB::Strobe
	This class controls the LED Strobe Controller. More...
class	VIB::TriggerGenerator
	This class controls the FPGA Trigger Unit. More...
class	VIB::TriggerOverEthernet
	This class represents the TriggerOverEthernet (ToE) module which allows the generation of GigE Action Commands. More...