Echelon ISI - Manual (Page 60)

ISI Programmer’s Guide 58
General Considerations
You can develop applications for the Neuron C ISI library using the
NodeBuilder
® 3.1 Development Tool or the Mini EVK Evaluation Kit. The
Neuron C ISI Library is included with Mini EVK, and is available as a free
download for the NodeBuilder 3.1 Development Tool. New updates for the
Neuron C ISI Library are posted periodically, so check
www.echelon.com/isi for
the latest version before starting a new development.
The NodeBuilder tool includes the LonMaker Integration Tool, and the
LonMaker tool is used to create a managed network when using the NodeBuilder
tool. As a result, without special debugging considerations, self-installation will
be disabled for your devices when you try to debug them with the NodeBuilder
tool. You can also encounter the same problem if you use the LonMaker tool with
the Mini EVK to take advantage of the network debugging capabilities of the
LonMaker tool. This chapter describes the special considerations required when
debugging an ISI application in a managed network.
As described in Chapter 2, ISI applications use a SCPTnwrkCnfg configuration
property to enable and disable self-installation. With this configuration property,
self-installation functions may be enabled or disabled at any time. When testing
an ISI application, test the application with and without self installation enabled
(i.e. both settings for the SCPTnwrkCnfg configuration property), as the ISI
engine impacts the network behavior as well as the timing of the application
algorithm.
When developing and debugging an ISI device, there are two aspects of the device
that must be developed and debugged—the device application and the ISI
implementation.
Developing and Debugging the Application
When developing and diagnosing the application algorithm, such as a washing
machine’s or compressor’s control algorithm, the application may enable or
disable the ISI engine. If the ISI engine remains enabled during this work (the
SCPTnwrkCnfg configuration property remains set to CFG_LOCAL), see the
next section for considerations. Typically, the operation of the ISI engine will be
irrelevant to the correct operation of the application algorithm, and the
SCTPnwrkCnfg configuration property may be set to CFG_EXTERNAL to
disable the ISI engine. In a managed environment, the network management
tool such as the LonMaker tool will automatically set the SCPTnwrkCnfg
configuration property to CFG_EXTERNAL when commissioning your device.
This will disable the ISI engine and prevent any interference with the
NodeBuilder tool.
Developing and Debugging the ISI Implementation
You can develop and debug ISI applications with the NodeBuilder Development
Tool or the Mini EVK Evaluation Kit. The Mini EVK is fully compatible with ISI
applications and does not require any special considerations for development.