The following information is for the EMANT300, EMANT380

Exercise 15 – Create an Instrument User Interface

Objective

  • Use third party controls

  • Use Emant300 component

In this final exercise, you will build a computer based light logger with a modern GUI.

  1. Open the Visual Basic solution VB_2010_Solution.sln.

  2. Set the WinLogger project as the startup project.

  3. To view the project code, select the project's Form1.vb and press F7

  4. If you are using the EMANT380 Bluetooth DAQ, change the parameter to False and COM5 to the COM port you are using, See exercise 1 step 4.

    DAQ.Open(False,"COM5")

  5. For Windows Application, there is another Windows Forms view. To view the Form, select the project's Form1.vb and press Shift-F7

  6. Press F5 to Start without Debugging.

  7. Click the Start Button to start measurements. This Visual Basic program uses the Photodiode on the Light Application Adaptor to measure the light intensity. The result is shown in Lux. Cover the Photodiode with your hand or shine a torchlight on it to observe the change in light intensity measured.

  8. Change the values in the numeric control. The LED will change color if the light intensity exceeds the set value.

  9. Press the Stop button to stop measurements.

  10. Close the Window to end the program.

Program 15.1 WinLogger

Public Class Form1
Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_
Handles Timer1.Tick
  Dim volt, lux As Double
  volt = Emant3001.ReadAnalog(Emant.Emant300.AIN.AIN0, Emant.Emant300.AIN.COM)
  lux = 1333 * volt
  AnalogMeter1.Value = lux
  LineGraph1.Value = lux
  Led1.Value = lux > NumericUpDown1.Value
  Label1.Text = lux.ToString("0.0 Lux")
End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_ 
Handles Button1.Click
  Emant3001.Open(True, "COM5")
  Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_
Handles Button2.Click
  Timer1.Enabled = False
  Emant3001.Close()
End Sub

End Class

Controls

  • Label Control

  • NumericUpDown Control

  • Button Control - Property

    • Button1.Text → Start

    • Button2.Text → Stop

  • Timer Component

  • LED Control

  • LineGraph Control - Property

    • LineGraph.AutoscaleY → True

  • Emant300 Component

Note that the Timer and Emant300 are components. They do not appear (or is invisible) during run-time.

Events

An Event in Windows can be activated by the user clicking on a button or when the timer interval lapses.

When the Start button is pressed, connection is made to the DAQ module and the timer is enabled

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_ 
Handles Button1.Click
  Emant3001.Open(True, "COM5")
  Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub

When the Stop button is pressed, the timer is disabled and the connection to the DAQ module is closed

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_
Handles Button2.Click
  Timer1.Enabled = False
  Emant3001.Close()
End Sub

As the timer elapsed event is fired every 100ms, the voltage is read, lux is calculated and displayed. 

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)_
Handles Timer1.Tick
  Dim volt, lux As Double
  volt = Emant3001.ReadAnalog(Emant.Emant300.AIN.AIN0, Emant.Emant300.AIN.COM)
  lux = 1333 * volt
  AnalogMeter1.Value = lux
  LineGraph1.Value = lux
  Led1.Value = lux > NumericUpDown1.Value
  Label1.Text = lux.ToString("0.0 Lux")
End Sub

Assigning Values to the Controls

AnalogMeter1.Value = lux

assign the lux value to the AnalogMeter1

LineGraph1.Value = lux

assign the lux value to the LineGraph1

Led1.Value = lux > NumericUpDown1.Value

the Led1 state depends on whether the measured lux value exceeds the NumericUpDown setting

Label1.Text = lux.ToString("0.0")

In Exercise 4, you learnt about the Convert class in the System namespace. In this example, we convert a double to a string. The optional format “0.0” instructs the method to display the string with one decimal place.

Build this project from scratch

Temperature Alarm and Acknowledgment (optional exercise)

  1. Measure Temperature in oC

  2. Display result in Line Chart and thermometer.

  3. If temperature exceed preset value on Numeric Control, turn the physical Red LED on and leave on until alarm is acknowledged.

  4. When the physical button is pressed to acknowledge alarm, turn off Red LED

  5. Use check box to allow user to show temperature in oC or oF

Hint:

  • see Exercise 7, 8, 9

End of Exercise 15