Using vNet injector in FC8

[planeri]

I was searching for examples using the vNet injector in Flowcode 8, but every video or fcfx file I found was from previous releases. I see this particular function has seen some changes: before you should run Flowserver executable, go to the vNet menu in Flowcode, create a new vNet with a particular client name and add nodes to this virtual net. Now I can't find any executable and the vNet menu in FC is gone, so I don't really no how to initialize the virtual net.

The first time I added a vNet injector Windows firewall asked for permissions, but I can't communicate two simultaneous FC instances. I tried the example in the wiki (https://www.matrixtsl.com/wiki/index.ph ... 7bda03dc82), the TX injector shows the sent characters, but none of them are received by the RX injector.

Any recommendations on how to make this work in FC8?

[Benj]

Hello,

I have just had a look into this for you and managed to replicate the problem you are having, data is being sent out but not received.

I'll have a comb through and see if I can find out what's gone wrong as well as some working examples for you to play with.

[planeri]

I'll have a comb through and see if I can find out what's gone wrong as well as some working examples for you to play with.

Thanks,I hope you can solve it! Those examples will surely come in handy!

[Benj]

Hello,

Right I've just pushed a set of updates to the Flowcode 8 update system to fix a number of minor bugs relating to vNet. I couldn't get the old vNet UDP communications working at all so for now I have switched this over to TCP comms and this is now working nicely.

Here is a really basic example using a single instance of Flowcode to send and receive data. Both the send and receive vNet properties are connected to the same port.

SingleInstanceVnet.fcfx

(12.04 KiB) Downloaded 319 times

Again using a UART component here is basically the same thing but using two instances of Flowcode.

UartVnetDemoTx.fcfx

(10.56 KiB) Downloaded 307 times

UartVnetDemoRx.fcfx

(11.54 KiB) Downloaded 324 times

Here is a simple modbus example showing a master and slave working together using vNet. It should work out the box just start the slave simulation before you start the master and everything should work. If you have access to the console window then this provides a nice level of detail to the comms both at the high level modbus and the low level TCP vNet comms.

ModbusMasterDemo.fcfx

(10.7 KiB) Downloaded 305 times

ModBusSlaveDemo.fcfx

(12.17 KiB) Downloaded 327 times

Please let me know how you get on.

[Zane]

Hi Ben,

Would these bugs also be present in FC7? I have tried to get my VNET injector running but have had no luck. I get the message UDP socket on channel 6 failed. I have seen another post relating to this. I have tried disabling my firewall and this has no effect. Do you have any ideas where i can look next?

Thanks

[Benj]

Would these bugs also be present in FC7? I have tried to get my VNET injector running but have had no luck. I get the message UDP socket on channel 6 failed.

Hi Zane,

Hmm yes possibly, here is an updated v7 version of the vNet component.

InjectorVnet.fcpx

(169.07 KiB) Downloaded 321 times

Let us know how you get on. It's possible you will also need a new DLL but let's try without first to avoid complicating things.

[Zane]

Hi Ben,

I installed the latest component, put a VNET and RS232 component into a project, very basic with an initialize for the rs232 component and then sending out a character every second in a loop. Looking at the console it looks like there is still an issue. Once again tried with the firewall off.

1.JPG (25.2 KiB) Viewed 7480 times

Thanks

[Benj]

Hello,

Please can you try extracting the attached .dll file into your "Flowcode 7components/dll" folder. Be sure to add the .dll file and not the .zip file.

TCPIP_DLL.zip

(53.99 KiB) Downloaded 328 times

Let us know how you get on.

[Zane]

Hi Ben,

The extracted DLL file has been installed and I have set up two instances of flowcode each sending and receiving characters. It looks like they are sending but not receiving. Looks like only the one channel is being opened up. See what you think, hope i have set it up correctly?

Running both of these programs in simulation, both instances of flowcode are extremely slow to respond to any commands. I have tried running another flow chart separate to these without the Vnet or rs232 component and it responds normally.

1.JPG (43.18 KiB) Viewed 7465 times

Thanks for your help

[Benj]

Hello,

In your programs one thing I spotted was the incoming and outgoing channels. In one program you use channels 0 and 1. The other program should be 2 and 3 or other unique values. Also the UART components hadn't been linked to the injector components.

Here are some files that hopefully will work better for you.

Node1.fcfx

(9.45 KiB) Downloaded 278 times

Node2.fcfx

(11.56 KiB) Downloaded 274 times

[Zane]

Hi Ben,

Ok with the unique channel instances it works fine now. Once again thanks for your good work.

Zane