Category : System Diagnostics for your computer
Archive   : SPC3.ZIP
Filename : SPC.DOC

LiteSPC

VERSION 3.0






1 INTRODUCTION


We originally designed LiteSPC, or just SPC, for use with modern
telephone systems. Some modern phone systems can report call-
related information to a serial port. This capability is
important to organizations that charge for telephone usage or
monitor telephone usage.

In many cases, a dedicated printer records the information as the
telephone system produces it. Company personnel scan the reports
at a later time to develop billing or usage information. This is
particularly true of smaller hotels, motels and inns. But the
approach is not without problems.

The transcription of the printed material is time-consuming.
Under some circumstances, the information is not available

quickly enough to insure accuracy. That is why some lodging
establishments have to ask whether you made telephone call just
before checking-out; they have to rely on your honesty. And, to
be sure, any operation that is labor-intensive is expensive.
Finally, the transcription may introduce errors. Think of the
last time your room bill included phone charges for calls you
never made. Or think of the last time your department was
cautioned about abuse of company telephones, when no abuse
existed.

This is where SPC can be value. SPC runs as a Terminate and Stay
Resident (TSR) program. It dutifully records, on the computers
disk, any information that arrives at the system's serial port.
The same information is instantly available for billing or
analysis purposes. And all of this without human intervention or
transcription errors.

Since its introduction, SPC has been used for applications beyond
its original purpose. A host of devices beyond telephone systems
produce information in serial form. These devices can be found in
all types of environments ranging from the office to the
manufacturing floor. And for good reason. Engineers have
recognized that information of all types is a useful by-product
of many other functions. Implementing the capture of this
information with a serial device is inexpensive and a product
salable feature.

For example, picture a modern production line. The finished
product moves on a conveyer to a scale that weighs the product.
If the scale detects an underweight or overweight product, it
sends information by a serial link warning of the condition. If
the product is within normal limits, a different serial message
is sent. Products that are not within the normal weight profile
are automatically removed from the line. Products that pass
successfully are branded with the correct weight for shipping
purposes.


LiteSPC Version 3.0



This scenario is not imaginary. One SPC user has implemented just
such a system for a client company. And the 'branding' machine
also produces serial information that is recorded by a second
copy of SPC. The changes that have gone into SPC version 3 are
the results of feedback received from that user.


2 FEATURES OF LiteSPC 3.0


The original version of SPC could monitor a single serial port.
Thanks to some custom modifications that we made, we were able to
run a second, independent copy of SPC for the user we mentioned
above. But this approach took too much valuable system memory.
SPC version 1 required approximately 25 KB of memory to run. The
customized version took exactly twice that amount of memory when
both copies were running.

SPC version 3 remedies this situation. Version 3 can monitor and
record information from both COM1 and COM2 simultaneously. The
information is stored in two independent log files for later use.
SPC accomplishes this in somewhat less than 28 KB. And version 3
fully supports the 16550 UART. If your system uses this type of
device, SPC will automatically recognize and activate it. The
result will be less likelihood of lost data, particularly at
higher baud rates.

And since some software still relies on the existence of a CTRL-Z
character to mark the end of a text file, SPC always places a
CTRL-Z at the end of its log files.

o It is highly configurable by the user.

o It can use either hardware or software flow control.

o It can run in a network environment.

o And most important of all, it does all of this while you
continue to use your system for other purposes.

Think about it. Now you can capture that valuable information
without the cost, time, and problems associated with
transcription. And SPC can provide an easy link to other
applications, written in any language, that can read a file but
don't have communications capability. SPC's uses are limited
only by your imagination.


3 INSTALLING SPC


A successful implementation of LiteSPC consists of copying the
SPC.EXE file into an appropriate subdirectory using the DOS COPY
command. And before using SPC, you must create a configuration



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LiteSPC Version 3.0



file using any standard ASCII text editor; but more about this
later. That's all there is to it. SPC will be ready for use
before you know it.


4 CREATING THE CONFIGURATION FILE


SPC, when loading, will attempt to open and read a file called
SPC.CFG. The information in SPC.CFG determines how SPC will
function once it is loaded.

You create the configuration file using any ASCII text editor.
The parameters are simple to understand and to use. We have
reproduced, in figure 1, the sample configuration file
distributed with SPC.

PORT=2
Log=spm2.log
baud=2400
parity=n
eor=^M^J
PORT=1
Log=spm1.log
baud=2400
parity=n
eor=^M^J
Figure 1: Sample SPC.CFG parameters

Each parameter consists of a keyword followed by an '=' sign,
followed by the value of the parameter itself. All parameters
must conform to the same general set of rules, summarized in the
table below.
























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LiteSPC Version 3.0



Table 1: Parameter Rules

o You may use only 1 parameter to a line, and the parameter
must be complete on that line.

o Keywords may be in either lower or upper case, or in mixed
case.

o The use of spaces before and after the equal sign are
optional and may improve readability.

o You may not embed spaces in either the keywords, or in the
parameter values.

o The sequence of parameters in unimportant, with the
exception of the PORT parameter. SPC assumes that the
parameter values encountered apply to the most recently
defined port. Therefore the first parameter in SPC.CFG
must be a PORT parameter.

o You only need define parameters for a single port if you
application requires a single port. Unless defined in the
configuration file, a port will NOT be used by SPC.


5 PARAMETER VALUES


It is important that you understand each of the parameters and
how they are used. For the most part, their usage is
straightforward.

PORT- The PORT parameter must precede the parameters for that
port, and must be the first parameter SPC encounters.
PORT may have a parameter value of either 1 or 2. The
port parameter remains in effect until the next PORT
parameter is encountered.

BAUD- The BAUD parameter specifies the baud rate at which the
currently defined port will run. Any numeric value is
acceptable, although the most common baud rates are
300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, and
57600. We cannot guarantee proper operation of SPC at
baud rates above 57600 unless your system uses the
16550 UART. See the notes and warnings section below.

PARITY- Valid values for the PARITY parameter are N(No Parity),
E(Even Parity), O(Odd Parity), M(Mark Parity), and
S(Space Parity). Please note that there is no
specification for DATABITS. SPC automatically
configures the number of data bits based upon the
PARITY parameter, so that the sum of the data bits plus
the parity bit always equals 8.




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LiteSPC Version 3.0



EOR- SPC writes data to its log file(s) when either the EOR
(end of record) string is encountered, or when its
internal buffer fills, whichever occurs first. Even
though you specify an EOR string, SPC will never lose
information. The EOR parameter simply insures that the
log file contains complete records at any point in
time. EOR defaults to a CR-LF (carriage return, line
feed) sequence.

To specify a new string, type the new character string,
up to 5 characters in length. Unprintable characters
are specified as a control sequence, using a carat (^)
as shown in figure 1. Figure 1 specifies CR-LF as the
EOR string. For example, to use escape as one of the
characters, you would specify ^]. You may use any set
of 5 characters, with the exception of NULL or any of
the extended ASCII characters.

LOG- Although SPC uses default names of SPC1.LOG and
SPC2.LOG for COM1 and COM2 respectively, you may wish
to use other names, or place the log file in other than
the default directory. If you wish to specify a
different name or path, use the LOG parameter and
specify a new name, following normal file naming
conventions.


6 COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS


Version 3 of SPC uses a minimum of command line arguments.
Command line arguments are preceded by a dash (-), and may be
either lower or upper case. The general form of the command line
is:

SPC [-a] [-f1] [-f2] [-u]


-a (audible). Valid only when initially loading SPC.
Produce an pleasing audible tone whenever SPC logs
information, regardless of the ports in use.

-f1
-f2
These arguments allow you to rename the current log
file for port 1 (-f1) and port 2 (-f2) while SPC is
loaded and running. The current log file will be
renamed to the name you specify, and a new log file
will be created when SPC has to log information. Please
bear in mind that if you rename the log file in this
manner that it is your responsibility to remove the
renamed file.





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-u (unload). Valid only when SPC is loaded. Forces SPC to
dump any remaining information to the log file,
terminate, and release its memory.

SPC will not accept incorrect combinations of command line
arguments. If SPC detects an error, it will display a usage
message and terminate immediately.


7 NOTES AND WARNINGS


1. SPC will support baud rates up to 115200 baud. However,
your success at higher speeds depends, in part, on your
particular system. Do not, for example, expect a PC-XT
class system to perform well at baud rates above 9600.

2. When SPC logs information to its log file, you may
experience a momentary delay in what you are doing on your
system. This is most noticeable if you are typing at the
keyboard. It may appear that, for a brief time, the
characters you are typing are not being recognized. BE
PATIENT, they will appear. This delay is expected and
should not be cause for concern.

3. If you are using SPC to monitor 1 or more ports with very
high activity, it is possible that your system may appear
to lock up. This is because SPC activates any time that it
recognizes incoming information. To free the system, you
must remove or disable the source of the information. To
avoid this problem, operate SPC at a lower baud rate, if
possible, or attempt to adjust the sending rate of the
device(s) that SPC is monitoring.

4. If you are using SPC to monitor 2 ports, it will perform
best if both ports are operating at the same speed. If you
cannot adjust the speed of the sending devices to create a
balanced situation, we recommend that the higher speed
device be connected to COM2. By using this approach, you
will guarantee that SPC will always service COM1 and COM2
in that order, lessening that chance of information from
the slower device being lost.

5. If you have multiple TSR's loaded on your system, SPC will
NOT unload until any TSR's loaded after SPC have been
unloaded. If you attempt to unload SPC with other TSR's
loaded, SPC will cease to capture information, but it will
not remove itself from memory until the time is right.









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LiteSPC Version 3.0









Index


B M
baud 6 memory 2
baud rate 4
P
C parity 4
configuration file 3 port 1, 2, 4
control sequence 5
COPY 2 R
CTRL-Z 2 rename 5
rules 3
D
delay 6 S
device 6 sequence 4
serial 1
K spaces 4
keyword 3 SPC.CFG 3

L T
lock up 6 telephone 1
log 2, 5, 6 text editor 3
log file 5 TSR 1, 6



























Copyright (c) 1991-1992, Information Technology, Ltd. 7












Contents


1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 FEATURES OF LiteSPC 3.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 INSTALLING SPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4 CREATING THE CONFIGURATION FILE . . . . . . . . 3
5 PARAMETER VALUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6 COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7 NOTES AND WARNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Index 7







































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Figures


Figure 1: Sample SPC.CFG parameters . . . . . . . . . 3















































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Tables


Table 1: Parameter Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4















































v