Using i/o data in your application, Using i/o data in your application -8 – National Instruments NI-DNET User Manual

Page 39

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Chapter 4

NI-DNET Programming Techniques

NI-DNET User Manual

4-8

ni.com

For strobed and polled I/O connections, determination of a valid

ExpPacketRate

can be somewhat complex. If you have trouble

estimating an

ExpPacketRate

value for strobed/polled I/O, set the

PollMode

parameter of your initial call to

ncOpenDnetIntf

to

Automatic

. When you use this automatic EPR feature, the

ExpPacketRate

parameter of

ncOpenDnetIO

is ignored for

strobed/polled I/O (

ConnectionType

of

Strobe

or

Poll

), and NI-DNET

calculates a safe EPR value for you. This automatic EPR is the same for all
strobed and polled I/O connections (scanned I/O).

After you start communication, you can use the

ncGetDriverAttr

function to determine the value calculated for

ExpPacketRate

. From that

value, you can then experiment with other

ExpPacketRate

configurations

using

PollMode

of

Scanned

or

Individual

.

The following information is used by NI-DNET to calculate a safe EPR:

•

NI-DNET assumes that it is the only master in your DeviceNet system.

•

The

BaudRate

parameter of

ncOpenDnetIntf

determines the time

taken for each message.

•

The

InputLength

and

OutputLength

parameters of each

ncOpenDnetIO

determine the time needed for each I/O message.

•

NI-DNET assumes that each strobed/polled I/O device can respond to
its command within 2 ms.

•

NI-DNET sets aside a fixed amount of time for explicit messages. This
time depends on the baud rate.

Using I/O Data in Your Application

Appendix A,

DeviceNet Overview

, explains that the data transferred to and

from a DeviceNet device on an I/O connection is usually processed by an
Assembly Object within the slave device. Input assemblies represent the
data received by NI-DNET from a remote device, and output assemblies
represent data that NI-DNET transmits to a remote device.

To use a device’s I/O data within your application, you need to understand
the contents of its input and output assemblies. You can find this
information in the following places:

•

Printed documentation provided by the device’s vendor.

•

If the device conforms to a standard device profile, the I/O assemblies
are defined within the DeviceNet Specification.

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