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PMG-130 Program Command-Line Control

The PMG-130 application software also incorporates a Command-Line arguments interpreter for shell execution of the PMG-130.EXE program.  This makes it compatible to many third party DAQ software like LabView and others that allow shell calls.  Many functions are accessible from Command-Line arguments without actually bringing up the main dialog.  We will be adding many more, as customer requests are addressed, and we will make these available as downloads on our website. The basic command line structure follows the standard windows switch “/option” format. Switch commands must be separated by one or more spaces. Commands may also be enclosed in quotations as “option” with one or more spaces between quoted commands. If the filename contains spaces [“/d:\path 1\path 2\filename as .pmg”] as part of the name, then quotations are required to allow the command interpreter to identify the correct path and filename.  The command-line parameters that include filenames are identified and decoded by their three character file extension and are required to be in the accepted format by the PMG-130 software.

Accepted extensions *.pmg  *.ram  *.stp and *.cmd are standard saveset extensions and are attached when executing a SaveSet command using the stand alone PMG-130.exe program.  The extension *.cmd is explained previously using the Command-File Setup dialog accessed from the MAIN menu. Examples using the Command-Line arguments are as follows: Keep in mind that the maximum character line length is 255 characters total.

PMG-130.EXE  [“/d:\path\PMGcommand_file.cmd”]

PMG-130.EXE  [“/Cmd-Line Option 1”]  [“/Cmd-Line Option 2”] ••• [“/Cmd-Line Option n”]

Command-Line Options:

File Based Commands

[“/CMD  = d:\path\PMGcommand_file.cmd”] 
[“/PMG  = d:\path\PMGconfiguration_file.pmg”]
[“/STOP = d:\path\STOPconfiguration_file.stp”]

Parameter Based Commands

[“/RAM  = d:\path\SRAMconfiguration_file.ram”]
[“/STA  = 0xhhhhh”]
[“/FCT  = 0xhhhhh”]

[“/BLOCKSTART   = 0xhhhhh”]
[“/SCANCOUNT    = 0xhhhhh”] 
[“/DEV  = [ ddd  | OFF ]”

RunTime Based Commands

[“/RUN | HALT”]
[“/NOLOADPMG”]
[“/NOLOADRAM”]
[“/NOSHOW”]
[“/MSG”]

Command-Line  Assignments Definitions

The file specified with the *.cmd extension is a generated command file from the Start-Up menu selections “Start-Up” button to create a Command-File.  This is the only file required in the command line and will leave the PMG-130 in a known user defined state.   The file specified with the *.pmg extension is a standard MAIN menu saveset the user generates after setting up the PMG-130 for the desired start-up or Stop Device conditions.  The parameters in this file are all the IBR registers. This file may be located in any directory that the current system has access to.  This file is read into the local IBR buffer first (as with all setup parameters) for the initial start up conditions.  The STOP file, if specified, is loaded and the PMG is initialized with the parameters specified in the specified STOP filename.

“/CMD   = d:\path\PMGcommand_file.cmd”  - Pmg Command File.

“/PMG   = d:\path\PMGconfiguration_file.pmg”    - Pmg Standard Saveset parameter:
“/STOP  = d:\path\STOPconfiguration_file.pmg”  - Pmg Standard Saveset parameter:

The file specified with the *.ram extension is a standard SRAM menu saveset that the user generates after setting up the PMG-130 to the desired start-ups conditions. This file may be located in any directory that the current system has access to.  This file is read into the SRAM local buffer first as with all setup parameters.

“/RAM   = d:\path\SRAMconfiguration_file.ram”   - SRAM Standard Saveset parameter:
“/STA   = 0xhhhhh”  - SRAM Start Transfer Address (Optional)
“/FCT   = 0xhhhhh”  - SRAM Frame Count (Optional)

These parameters are used when the SRAM = command is active. They are ignored otherwise. If the SRAM= command is identified and the above parameters are not used, the transfer starts at the specified addresses in the SRAM file selected.  The parameters STA, FCT are override parameters to change the load location of the SRAM data in the array or transferred to the PMG-130 on-board SRAM or both.

“/DEV   = [ ddd  | OFF ]”  - Device Select parameter

The /DEV Device Select allows the user to address a selected device for communications. The PMG-130  will allow 0 to 255 decimal devices to be installed in each system.  If the device does not exist or is not a valid PMG-130, an error will be displayed (if the /MSG command is valid) otherwise the program will default to device 0.  The device parameters are shown in the Device Select setup which is accessed from the PMG-130 MAIN menu.

“/NOLOADPMG”  - Active on start-up parameters

The /NOLOADPMG insures all the parameters are loaded into the IBR holding buffers only, and the user must initiate an update command manually. The default is LOAD the PMG and all the IBR’s are set to the active core state at start-up.

“/NOLOADRAM”  - Active on start-up parameters

The /NOLOADRAM command will load the SRAM buffer array only and the user must initiate the SRAM TRANSFER command manually. The default is to transfer the SRAM data to the PMG-130 on board SRAM.

“/NOSHOW” - No Dialog Displays after Start-up

The /NOSHOW parameter allows the user to run the PMG-130.EXE program without the dialogs being displayed on the desktop after the Command-Line arguments have been processed.  This is useful when there are multiple calls to the PMG-130 program.  Since the PMG-130 program is a self contained multi-tasking program, several PMG-130 programs may be running at the same time controlling several different PMG devices. The user also has the option of using one PMG main program to control all the PMG devices in the system as well.

“/MSG” - Display a confirmation Message at Start-up

The /MSG parameter allows the user to confirm the loading of each Command-Line arguments parameters with a message window that will pop up when the device is loaded.  If an error occurs, this window will pop up to show the error that caused the message.  If the /MSG is omitted, no load confirmation messages will be displayed, however system error messages will still be displayed and the system will wait for the user response to confirm the message.

“/RUN | HALT” - Start-Up State of PMG-130

The /RUN | HALT Parameter allows the user to set the final state of the PMG-130.  If the /RUN command is selected, the PMG-130 will enter the RUN state setup by the PMG= file parameters in the command line. If the user selects the /HALT command (default setting at start-up) the system will enter an IDLE state specified by the STP= Command-Line argument.

“/BLOCKSTART = hhhhh” - SRAM BLOCK Starting Address (00000 - 3EFFF)

The /BLOCKSTART  SRAM BLOCK Start Address Parameter allows the user to change the BLOCK starting location of the SRAM. This is used when there are several BLOCKs or modulation schemes loaded in the SRAM.  Initially this is the same as the Start Address and reflects the current files as a SRAM BLOCK.  This may be only one of several BLOCKS and the user may change this to reflect the final starting address of the BLOCK desired. The following is an example of the use of this parameter.

“d:\path\PMG-130.EXE” “/BLOCKSTART = 03E00” “/DEV= 2”  “/NOSHOW” “/RUN”

This will change the SRAM BLOCK ADDRESS REGISTER EBR-08 on DEVICE 2 then return to the calling users program.  

“/SCANCOUNT = hhhhh” - Scan Count in hex digits (00000 - 3EFFF)

The /SCANCOUNT  Scan Count parameter allows the user to actively change the Scan Count on the fly.  This is used when there are several BLOCKs of schemes loaded in the SRAM. If the user is linking the PMG-130 program to a third party software package that allows an executable file to be linked, the user may just add this command in the Command Line Arguments and execute the PMG-130.EXE file. The following is an example of the use of this parameter.

“d:\path\PMG-130.EXE” “/SCANCOUNT = 0FE00” “/DEV= 1” “/NOSHOW” “/RUN”

This will change the SCAN COUNT REGISTER EBR-04 on DEVICE 1 then return to the calling users program.