Here's a quick intro to scanning your first Network with the C-Bus Toolkit. Its pretty straight forward, we're going to assume you're using a PCI (serial interface to C-Bus) to get access to the C-Bus Network and that you know which COM Port the PCI is attached to.
First, start the software up. You'll see this:
You need to let the C-Bus Toolkit know which COM Port your PCI is connected to. You do this by selecting "Set Default Interface" from the "File" menu. You'll see this:
Select the correct COM Port from the drop down list. I've selected COM1: for this example.
Press the OK button when you've got the right COM Port selected.
You're now ready to scan your Network, press the "Scan Network" at the top of the screen, it's the 5th button in from the Left.
Toolkit starts 'probing' the COM Port to make sure it can communicate with the PCI, you will see this:
Once Toolkit has successfully communicated with the PCI it starts communicating with the C-Bus Network to determine what "Project" was last set on the Network. This process results in a specific Project (or Tag Database) being selected in Toolkit to be associated with this Network. Once the project has been identified you will see this:
This screen lets you know what project was found "DUNCAN" in this case and gives you three options, you can:
1. Create this Project (as it doesnt currently exist)
2. Select a different Project (that already exists)
3. Create a new Project with a different name.
As you can see, I've elected to create the "DUNCAN" project.
Press the OK button and Toolkit will start to Scan the Network in order to identify what units are present. The first thing Toolkit does is to check for Units that have a duplicate Unit Address. We're going to assume that no duplicate Units were found.
As the Toolkit identifies each unit you'll see this progress indicator update:
When the units have all been identified you'll see your list of Units shown like this:
As you can see the screen is split into two "Views", the "Units in Database View" and the "Units on Network View". The units that were found in our Network scan are shown in the Network View.
It is good practice to keep Databases of Networks that you are working with, this has a number of benefits including:
1. You can work on the Network whilst not being connected.
2. You can quickly re-establish Unit Programming after replacing Units.
3. Working off a Database View is quicker than working off a Network View
To add the units we just scanned to the Database so that we have a permanent record of the programming press the "All Units -> DB" button that you can see highlighted below:
This button will present the following dialog that gives you an opportunity to confirm the action and to fine-tune its operation:
As you can see, each of the units that will be added to the Database is shown, a small checkbox beside each unit allows you to select which units will be added, you can 'uncheck' units if you dont want them added to your Database for whatever reason.
Press the "Transfer" button to start the process, the units will be added to the Database and the programming contained within the units will be added to the database. This can be a lengthy process depending on the type and quantity of units that you have on your network.
If the quality of the communications on your Network is poor due to a fault or poor installation some units MAY fail to transfer, you will be advised of these failures and by pressing the "Transfer" button again at the end of the process you can have the Toolkit reattempt to transfer the Programming information from the Unit to the Database.
When you are happy that the Transfer process has successfully complete for each unit, press the "Close" button to close the Dialog.
You will then see a matching Database and Network view:
Selecting a unit in either view causes its matching unit to be highlighted in the 'other' view.
Scanning your first Network
Scanning your first Network
