Simulation - CAN Message Data Viewer

[Jay Dee]

I play with CAN and also the legacy SPI components quite a bit. The SPI legacy has a nice feature that during simulation you can see what data is being exchanged.
Would something similar be possible with the CAN?
The CAN VNET has helped a lot but if you are struggling to get you system working as expected it would be great to know what data bytes are being sent out and recieved, thus really helping to track down where the error lies.
Something relatively simple where the message IDs must be pre-selected and just shows the DLC and up to 8 data bytes, would be fantastic.
Ever optimistic,
John.

If you dont ask you'll never get...

[Enamul]

HI John,
I was thinking week before that Vnet is fine why you are then looking for this..But this week CAN bus storm is flew over me and I am struggling with just Vnet..I need a handy message viewer..so I am also looking for any Forum member who can come up with a solution or might be MM great guys!
Enamul

[Steve]

I can offer two solutions for you.

The first is to create a separate CAN message "sniffer" program that sits on the VNET and monitors every incoming message. These messages can be viewed on a display or in the watch window during a paused group simulation.

The second is to run the VNET Server is debug mode (create a shortcut to the exe and add -d to the end of the target box (see image). This will show you activity on the VNET so you will see messages being sent. But I don't think it interprets the CAN messages, so you won't be able to see the exact contents.

We have plans to expand the VNET capabilities in Flowcode V6.

[Jay Dee]

Thanks guys,
Ill give those options a try.
Just to give a bit of justification to the initial request. VNET is great and really helps when simulating a whole system but I spend lots of time flicking between my two instances of FC.
Often I'm only working on a simple CAN Node and when simulating it would just be good to have a very simple monitor screen for the CAN data that should be streaming out, just as an initial check that all is working as expected as is done with the SPI
I appreciate time and resources limit what nice features can be added but you have to ask.... In the mean time I'll try the ideas Steve suggested. Thanks again. J.