Visual Basic .NET - Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet¶

Simple¶

Download (ExampleSimple.vb)

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Imports System
Imports System.Threading
Imports Tinkerforge

Module ExampleSimple
    Const HOST As String = "localhost"
    Const PORT As Integer = 4223
    Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet

    Sub Main()
        Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
        Dim iqr As New BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object

        ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
        ' Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        ' Turn relays alternating on/off 10 times with 100 ms delay
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To 9
            Thread.Sleep(100)
            iqr.SetValue(1 << 0)
            Thread.Sleep(100)
            iqr.SetValue(1 << 1)
            Thread.Sleep(100)
            iqr.SetValue(1 << 2)
            Thread.Sleep(100)
            iqr.SetValue(1 << 3)
        Next i

        Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
        Console.ReadLine()
        ipcon.Disconnect()
    End Sub
End Module

Basic Functions¶

Class BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)¶

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:

Dim industrialQuadRelay As New BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)

This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetValue(ByVal valueMask As Integer)¶

Parameters:	valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Sets the output value with a bitmask (16bit). A 1 in the bitmask means relay closed and a 0 means relay open.

For example: The value 3 or 0b0011 will close the relay of pins 0-1 and open the other pins.

If no groups are used (see SetGroup()), the pins correspond to the markings on the Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet.

If groups are used, the pins correspond to the element in the group. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

All running monoflop timers will be aborted if this function is called.

Function BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetValue() As Integer¶

Returns:	valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the bitmask as set by SetValue().

Advanced Functions¶

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetMonoflop(ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer, ByVal time As Long)¶

Parameters:	selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1] valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1] time – Type: Long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

Configures a monoflop of the pins specified by the first parameter bitmask.

The second parameter is a bitmask with the desired value of the specified pins. A 1 in the bitmask means relay closed and a 0 means relay open.

The third parameter indicates the time that the pins should hold the value.

If this function is called with the parameters (9, 1, 1500) or (0b1001, 0b0001, 1500): Pin 0 will close and pin 3 will open. In 1.5s pin 0 will open and pin 3 will close again.

A monoflop can be used as a fail-safe mechanism. For example: Lets assume you have a RS485 bus and a Quad Relay Bricklet connected to one of the slave stacks. You can now call this function every second, with a time parameter of two seconds and pin 0 closed. Pin 0 will be closed all the time. If now the RS485 connection is lost, then pin 0 will be opened in at most two seconds.

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetMonoflop(ByVal pin As Byte, ByRef value As Integer, ByRef time As Long, ByRef timeRemaining As Long)¶

Parameters:	pin – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 15]
Output Parameters:	value – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 1] time – Type: Long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1] timeRemaining – Type: Long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

Returns (for the given pin) the current value and the time as set by SetMonoflop() as well as the remaining time until the value flips.

If the timer is not running currently, the remaining time will be returned as 0.

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetGroup(ByVal group() As Char)¶

Parameters:	group – Type: Char Array, Length: 4, Range: ["a"C to "d"C, "n"C]

Sets a group of Quad Relay Bricklets that should work together. You can find Bricklets that can be grouped together with GetAvailableForGroup().

The group consists of 4 elements. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

Each element can either be one of the ports ('a' to 'd') or 'n' if it should not be used.

For example: If you have two Quad Relay Bricklets connected to port A and port B respectively, you could call with ['a', 'b', 'n', 'n'].

Now the pins on the Quad Relay on port A are assigned to 0-3 and the pins on the Quad Relay on port B are assigned to 4-7. It is now possible to call SetValue() and control two Bricklets at the same time.

Function BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetGroup() As Char()¶

Returns:	group – Type: Char Array, Length: 4, Range: ["a"C to "d"C, "n"C]

Returns the group as set by SetGroup()

Function BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetAvailableForGroup() As Byte¶

Returns:	available – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 15]

Returns a bitmask of ports that are available for grouping. For example the value 5 or 0b0101 means: Port A and port C are connected to Bricklets that can be grouped together.

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetSelectedValues(ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer)¶

Parameters:	selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1] valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Sets the output value with a bitmask, according to the selection mask. The bitmask is 16 bit long, true refers to a closed relay and false refers to an open relay.

For example: The values (3, 1) or (0b0011, 0b0001) will close the relay of pin 0, open the relay of pin 1 and leave the others untouched.

If no groups are used (see SetGroup()), the pins correspond to the markings on the Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet.

If groups are used, the pins correspond to the element in the group. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

Running monoflop timers for the selected relays will be aborted if this function is called.

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetIdentity(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)¶

Output Parameters:

uid – Type: String, Length: up to 8 connectedUid – Type: String, Length: up to 8 position – Type: Char, Range: ["a"C to "h"C, "z"C] hardwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] firmwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] deviceIdentifier – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the device identifier.

The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g' or 'h' (Bricklet Port). A Bricklet connected to an Isolator Bricklet is always at position 'z'.

The device identifier numbers can be found here. There is also a constant for the device identifier of this Bricklet.

Callbacks¶

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done by assigning a procedure to an callback property of the device object:

Sub MyCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay, ByVal value As Short)
    Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", value)
End Sub

AddHandler industrialQuadRelay.ExampleCallback, AddressOf MyCallback

The available callback property and their type of parameters are described below.

Event BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.MonoflopDoneCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay, ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer)¶

Callback Parameters:	sender – Type: BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1] valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

This callback is triggered whenever a monoflop timer reaches 0. The parameters contain the involved pins and the current value of the pins (the value after the monoflop).

Virtual Functions¶

Virtual functions don't communicate with the device itself, but operate only on the API bindings device object. They can be called without the corresponding IP Connection object being connected.

Function BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetAPIVersion() As Byte()¶

Output Parameters:	apiVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255] 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]

Returns the version of the API definition implemented by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.

Function BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.GetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean¶

Parameters:	functionId – Type: Byte, Range: See constants
Returns:	responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function ID parameter. It is true if the function is expected to send a response, false otherwise.

For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled, because those functions will always send a response. For callback configuration functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by SetResponseExpected(). For setter functions it is disabled by default and can be enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶

Parameters:	functionId – Type: Byte, Range: See constants responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value: false) and callback configuration functions (default value: true). For getter functions it is always enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
• BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9

Sub BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.SetResponseExpectedAll(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶

Parameters:	responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.

Constants¶

Const BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER¶

This constant is used to identify a Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet.

The GetIdentity() function and the IPConnection.EnumerateCallback callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier parameter to specify the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

Const BrickletIndustrialQuadRelay.DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME¶

This constant represents the human readable name of a Industrial Quad Relay Bricklet.