Overview, 45 sum – Echelon Neuron C User Manual

Page 57

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Neuron C Programmer’s Guide

45

Changeable-Type Network Variables

on page 68 describes how to

implement network variables that allow their type to be changed at

installation time.

Overview

As described in Chapter 1,

Overview

, a network variable is an object that

represents a data value and may be connected to multiple devices on a network.

How many network variables a Neuron-hosted device can support depends on the

device’s memory map, the system firmware, and the development tool version, as
shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Network Variable Limits

Neuron System

Firmware Version

NodeBuilder

Development Tool
Version

Maximum Number of

Network Variables

Version 15 or earlier

Any

62

3.1 or earlier

62

Version 16 or later

FX or later

254

The maximum number of network variables for applications developed with the

Mini EVK Evaluation Kit or the Mini FX Evaluation Kit is 32. The limits for
host-based applications depend on the development product used.
Important: The NodeBuilder CodeWizard declares network variables so that

they are placed in RAMNEAR memory by default. However, because of the
larger number of network variables that are available for devices built with the

NodeBuilder FX Development Tool, your device could run out of available

RAMNEAR memory. In this case, declare as many network variables as
necessary to use RAMFAR memory:

1. Within the NodeBuilder CodeWizard, right-click the network variable

and select Properties to open the NV Properties dialog.

2. Within the NV Properties dialog, click Advanced to open the Advanced

NV Properties dialog.

3. Within the Advanced NV Properties dialog, select far. Click OK to close

the dialog.

4. Within the NV Properties dialog, click OK to close the dialog.

Network variables are defined within the program that runs on an individual

Neuron Chip or Smart Transceiver. As an example, consider a lamp program

with one network variable, named nviLamp (see Figure 6 on page 46). Also,
consider a switch program with one network variable, named nvoSwitch. The

same lamp program is installed on each of the three lamp devices, and the same

switch program is installed on each of the two switch devices in the figure.

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