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Flexiport provides a consistent interface for communicating over a range of data port types. Currently serial (including serial-over-USB), TCP and UDP ports are supported. Logging is possible, which allows communications sessions to be played back at a later date without the original hardware present.
The SerialPort, TCPPort and UDPPort port types are cross-platform, usable on Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. If this library is compiled as static on Windows, you must define the FLEXIPORT_STATIC preprocessor variable when compiling code that includes port.h, flexiport.h or timeout.h.
For a full list of classes and functions, see the API documentation.
Necessary:
#include <flexiport/flexiport.h>
#include <flexiport/port.h>
Optional if port type-specific features are required:
#include <flexiport/serialport.h>
#include <flexiport/tcpport.h>
#include <flexiport/tcpport.h>
#include <flexiport/logwriterport.h>
#include <flexiport/logreaderport.h>
If BUILD_EXAMPLES is enabled when the library is compiled and installed, example sources are installed under “${prefix}/share/flexiport-2/examples”. These can be used as a basis for creating your own software.
The examples can be built by making a directory (anywhere on your system where you have write permissions will do), changing to that directory and executing CMake with the examples’ source directory as an argument. For example, if you have installed Flexiport into /usr/local, you could do the following:
$ cd ~
$ mkdir flexiport_example
$ cd flexiport_example
$ ccmake /usr/local/share/flexiport/example
This example requires a serial loopback device. You can make one by connecting pins 2 and 3 of a 9-pin serial port. You must specify a path to this serial port with the -d option. You may additionally specify extra options for the flexiport object, such as a timeout. e.g.:
serial_example -o type=serial,device=/dev/ttyS0,baud=57600,timeout=2.5,debug=2
The example will test sending and receiving several strings to check that the SerialPort object is functioning correctly.
This example also comes with a log file pair for use with the LogReaderPort port type. Using a log file pair means the hardware (in this case, the loopback device) does not need to be present to execute the example. You can use the log file pair like this:
serial_example -o type=logreader,file=example.log
See the LogReaderPort object documentation for more options that can be used with log file pairs. See the LogWriterPort object documentation for details on how to make your own log file pair for testing your programs.
The tcp_example is simple to use. Simply execute it, and it will fork off a child process, then use this to test a connection between two TCPPort objects.
You may specify additional options for the TCPPort objects using -o, such as a timeout. e.g.:
tcp_example -o timeout=1,debug=3
The udp_example is similar to the tcp_example, replacing the TCPPort object with a UDPPort object.
You may specify additional options for the UDPPort objects using -o, such as a timeout. e.g.:
udp_example -o timeout=1,debug=3
PortToPort is a simple utility to forward data between two flexiport devices. It was mainly written with the idea of forwarding data from a local hardware serial or USB port to a TCP port, which is connected to another TCP port on a remote computer. If the TCP port on the remote computer is also a flexiport device, this allows for transparently changing between using a local hardware device and a remote hardware device in that program (in most cases).
Options must be given for both the left and right ports. For example:
porttoport -l type=serial,device=/dev/ttyACM0,timeout=0.1 -r type=tcp,listen,timeout=0.1
Another TCP port can then connect to the right port (which is waiting for one to do so) and communicate with the hardware device connected to the serial port.
Execute “porttoport -h” for a list of all available options.
Because Windows lacks a readily-available implementation of getopt, command line options are not available for the examples on this platform. Hard-coded options will be used instead; change them in the source file and recompile if you need to change the port options.
This software is developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Approval number H20PRO-881. This software is licensed under the Lesser General Public License. See COPYING.LESSER.