ADQUIRE
Convenient Data Acquisition & Control

Part II


5.0  A Program Walk Through
     ======================

The purpose of this section is to familiarize you with the
operation of ADQUIRE.  It should only take a few minutes and
will give you a good idea of the program's capabilities and
its ease of use.  If you are in a hurry, just press the keys
stated for each step and proceed to the next step.

ADQUIRE can be operated by means of keystrokes or the mouse. 
If the mouse is used, the only time the keyboard is
necessary is for data entry.  The main keystrokes to
remember are:

"ENTER" - for proceeding to the next menu,

"CURSOR" and "TAB" keys -     for moving around the setup
                              tables,

Ctrl+"ENTER" - to indicate acceptance of a table,

"ESCAPE" - allows you to back out of any table or menu step.


The left button on the mouse is used in the same way as the
"ENTER" key.  The right button is the same as the "ESCAPE"
key. When the cursor is placed outside the table and the
left button is pressed twice within a period of about 1/2
second the changes are accepted and stored as when pressing
Ctrl+"ENTER".

The walk through is set up so that if you are in a hurry,
just press the keys as shown for each step.  To learn more,
read the description of each step, change data input and
watch program reaction.

Before starting, make sure that you are at the DOS prompt. 
However, ADQUIRE will operate well within Windows 3.x by
using a Windows PIF file.  Refer to your Windows manual
for more details on PIF file creation.

If you used the installation program to setup ADQUIRE and
allowed modification of the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat
files and have re-booted the computer since then, you should
be able to start ADQUIRE at any DOS prompt.  If you have not
done this or are not sure, make the subdirectory that
ADQUIRE is in, the default subdirectory.  You can do this as
follows:

1)  At the DOS prompt press the "DISK DRIVE LETTER" +
"COLON" and "ENTER".  For example to make the C: (hard
drive) your default drive press C: "ENTER".

2)  Make sure that the subdirectory that ADQ.EXE is in, is 
the default.  Do this by typing CD\subdirectory name and
then by typing "Dir", and then pressing "ENTER".  For
example, if the subdirectory is "ADQ" type CD\ADQ  and then
press  "ENTER".  This will put you in subdirectory ADQ of
drive C.

    Note:
     In order to leave Adquire press Alt + U, E. Ctrl+"C"
     can also be used, however the first way is  
     recommended.

Lets begin the Walk Through!

A)   First Glance

1)   Start the ADQUIRE Demo

     - Type ADQ
     - Press "ENTER"

     After a few seconds, the main screen of the program     
     will appear.

2)   Go to the Setup Menu

     - Press Alt + S

     Since the demo mode is always on in the demo  program,  
     you can go through the program, set up whatever cards 
     you want without actually having the cards installed. 
     The computer will simulate the operation of each data 
     acquisition or control card selected and give you data. 
     
     Of course this data is not of any value other than to 
     show you how the program operates and to ensure that
     you have it set up the way you want.

     Once you set up the program for the cards which you
     will use, and install those cards in the computer,
     ADQUIRE can recognize and operate those cards by taking
     the program out of "Demo" mode.  The demo program
     cannot be taken out of "Demo" mode.


3)   Move Around the PullDown Menu Bar by Cursor

     - Press the  "RIGHT CURSOR" several times
     - Press the  "LEFT CURSOR" several times

Notice the various items under each menu.  As you can see,
the main menu items are Setup, Display, Control and Utility. 
Along with the main menu items, a general help menu can be
found by placing the cursor on the equate sign found at the
top left hand corner with either the keyboard or the mouse,
and pressing the "Enter" key or clicking the left mouse
button.

4)   Move Around the PullDown Bar by Keystroke

     - Press Alt+S, Press Alt+U
     - Press Alt+C, Press Alt+D

5)   Move Around the PullDown Bar by Mouse

     -    Place Cursor over the Requested Item and press the
          "LEFT BUTTON".

If you have a mouse and would like to use it, place the
mouse cursor over the menu item that you require and click
with your left button. You can move around the complete
program this way.

6)   Access and View a Table

     - Press Alt+S
     - Press "P"
     - Press "ESCAPE"

The keystroke actions of the first two lines will be
referred to as "Alt + (the appropriate letter for the Main
Menu Item), (the appropriate letter(s) for the subsequent
menu items)" (i.e. Alt+S,P). The printer setup table
appears.

The similar mouse movement would be to place the cursor over
Setup in the main menu, press the left button, place the
cursor over P and press the left button again.

Remember that "ESCAPE" or the "RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON" will
reverse your actions and take you to the previous item
selection until you reach the main menu.

If the you had installed the sample files during
installation, then select the test setup for these files. 
This is done by selecting the Setup menu and choosing "Test
Name...".  A list of test names will be displayed.  Select
the one called "Demo1".  This will load the configuration
files that correspond to the following paragraphs.  If you
had not installed the samples and want to continue anyway,
just ignore specific references to the sample test setup.


B)   Viewing and Changing Information

1)   Access the General Setup Table

     - Press Alt+S,I,G

The General Setup Table should be in view. The cards being
used, their addresses in the computer, acquisition and
write-to-disk times, subdirectories, etc.,  are seen entered
in this table.  Note that the subdirectories listed in the
install program are those shown here.

2)   Notice the Cards Selected

The left column shows the selected cards.  These are set up
for this walk through.  If they are changed now, the
remaining text in this walk through MAY NOT be applicable. 
When setting up for your application and the cards you will
use, you will change this list accordingly.

You can press "ENTER" on the card fields to display a list
of card choices.  Select a card from   this list. If a DAS-8
or Metrabus selection is made, another setup table will be
displayed.  For the DAS-8 card, it will ask for the number
of EXP-16 cards to install.  For the Metrabus card, it will
ask for the number of MTherm-20 and MAO-8 to install. Press
Ctrl+"ENTER" to save the input and continue the setup.

3)  Change the Project Title

After reaccessing the table: 

     -    Press "TAB" until the Project Title is reached or
          Move the Mouse Cursor to the Project Title slot
          and click the "LEFT BUTTON" once.    

     -    Press "F1" to display a help message.

     -    Type any title in place of the one existing.

If you have a mouse, you will notice that it is much faster
to move to the desired location with it. The first click
with the left button places the input cursor in the desired
input box.  The second click of the same button will place
the cursor at the spot in the box where you would like to
start modification.

4)   Save and Use the Changes

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER" or Move the mouse cursor
          outside of the table and double click the "LEFT
          BUTTON".

     A sign will appear stating "Please Wait - Updating
     Files".  After the changes are saved, notice that they
     are used immediately and the new title can be seen at
     the bottom of the screen.

     If you changed information and decided not to keep the  
     changes, simply press "ESCAPE" or the right mouse
     button instead of Ctrl+"ENTER".  Try this, if you like,
     with the General Setup Table by changing the title
     again.


C)   Viewing and Changing Card Information

1)   Access the DAS-8 Card Information

     -    Press Alt+S,I,C A table will appear requesting the
          card name and number.

     -    Press "D" for Das-8 in the card space

     -    Move the cursor to the card number

     -    Press "1" for card number 1

     -    Press Ctrl + "ENTER" to exit this table and
          proceed to the Card Setup Table.  


     Since the Card Setup Tables are relatively similar, the
     DAS-8 card will be used as being typical of all cards.
     Note that if the required card is not the Das- 8, press
     enter or double click the left mouse button while in
     the Card Name field, and a list of cards will be
     displayed allowing you to make another selection. 
     Press the "ESCAPE"  button if you do not want to make a
     selection.

2)   Setup Channel Activation While in the Card Setup table:
     
     -    Type 1 for first Channel (Point)

     -    Type 8 for last Channel (Point)

     The DAS-8 card has eight analog inputs. This action
     will tell the program to operate all channels.  If a
     different range is used, the program will only check
     that range and thus reduce processing time.

3)   Name DAS-8 Card Analog Points 

     -    Use the up/down arrow keys or the "TAB"/
          "SHIFT+TAB" to move to each of the 8 analog points
          to observe the ease of movement within the table.  
          
     -    Try Renaming a point. 
          Below the channel range input you see the analog
          inputs. Each of these is a point name. Any name of
          up to 7 characters can be input.  This is also
          true for the I/O (input/output) names and counter
          names.  Change the name of "Meter7" to "Meter7a" 
          if it is shown.

4)   Access the Individual Point Routines

     -    Pressing "ENTER"  while in any of the point name
          locations will activate a parameter table for that
          point.  This table allows calculations to be
          performed on the point immediately after a value
          has been acquired from the acquisition card. 
          Error checks can also be performed. The individual
          point parameter routine is a powerful feature. 
          This means that you can generally obtain usable
          data (units such as gpm, psi, KW, KWH, etc.),
          directly from each point without using the Results
          Setup Table (Part "D" below). The "Results" table
          will be used mainly when creating equations which
          involve more than one point or are more complex.
          To save your input and remove this table, press
          CTRL + "ENTER".  To discard any input just
          submitted to this table, press "ESCAPE". In order
          to avoid activating the Point Parameters Tables, 
          use "TAB" , "CURSOR"  or the mouse instead of the
          "ENTER" key to move from one point to another.

5)   Save and Use the Changes    

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER" OR Move the mouse cursor
          outside of the table and double click the "LEFT
          BUTTON". The information has been saved to disk
          and is being used by ADQUIRE.

     Notes: 

          Remember that you can ask the program to forget
          the changes by pressing Escape instead of
          Ctrl+Enter. Also remember that you can press F1 to
          get contextual help. If while placing information
          in a setup table you decide to discard the changes
          you have just made and go to another part of
          ADQUIRE, simply press Alt and the first letter of
          the desired menu item. 



D)   Viewing and Changing Results Equations

1)   Access the Results Setup Table

    -   Press Alt+S,R

          You will notice that default Resultant Names are
          in the left hand side of the table ("Name"). What
          ADQUIRE identifies as the Results are the values
          obtained from the equations that you have entered.
          These equations can interact all your points
          mathematically and give you real time results.  As
          an example, if you are monitoring a furnace, you
          can get its efficiency in real time as well as its
          energy consumption, power requirements, etc. There
          are 16 available equations in Version 1.1 of
          ADQUIRE.  

2) Input an Equation

     -    Move the cursor to the fourth equation space

     -    Type (a DAS-8 point name + another DAS-8 point 
          name)/2. Example: (Das101+Das102)/2

          ADQUIRE will calculate the average of the two
          points.  You can also use boolean functions (@NOT,
          @AND, >,<,=) as well as a time function (@TM). 
          After you enter an equation ADQUIRE will check the
          validity of your equation and tell you if there is
          a problem.  Any points that have been entered in
          the card setup tables can be used in an equation.
          Enter as many resultant names and equations as you
          wish.  Please do not modify "Angle", "Sine1" and
          "Sine2".  They will be used later.

3)  Save and Use the Changes

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER" OR Move the mouse cursor        
          outside of the table and double click the "LEFT
          BUTTON"

          The information has been saved to disk and is
          being used by ADQUIRE.




E)  Inserting a New Test Setup

1)  Access the Test Name List

    -     Press Alt+S,T

          A list will appear with the names of the existing
          tests. If this is the first use of the program,
          there may only be one name (probably "Initial" if
          you left the default test name intact in the
          install routine).  It will also contain "Demo1" if
          you have installed the sample files. You can have
          up to 9 test setups stored in your computer and
          accessible by ADQUIRE.  Each test setup can have
          totally different input utilized by the user. This
          means different point names, different resultant
          equations, different graph configurations, control
          operations , etc.

2)   Insert Another Test Setup    
          
     -    Press "INSERT"

          A message will appear asking if you would like to
          continue.

     -    Press any key to continue

     -    Type A MAXIMUM 7 CHARACTER NAME (such as
          "Heating")

     -    Press "ENTER"

          When you create a new test setup, it will
          duplicate all the information used by an existing
          test setup.  The test it duplicates depends on
          which test name was highlighted when the "INS" key
          was pressed.  This is useful if you want to create
          a new test that is based on another. By pressing
          "ENTER" after inserting the new test name, you
          have indicated that you want to use this test at
          present.  You can come back at any time and make a
          different test active by placing the cursor over
          its name and pressing "ENTER." Any changes that
          you make now in your active test (i.e. point
          names, equations, etc.) will be saved only to the
          configuration files of the test that is active.   
          When you exit ADQUIRE, the current test name will
          be used when you start ADQUIRE up the next time.
          To delete a test name and its acquired data files,
          highlight the Test Name and press "DEL". Then,
          verify that you want the deletion at the message
          prompt.  A DELETED TEST NAME CANNOT BE RECOVERED!  
          
     Before you continue on with the walk through, please
     select the test name called "Demo1".  It contains the
     necessary setup files which corresponds with the
     following text.


F)  Displaying in Real Time

1)  Access Real Time Display

     -    Press Alt+D,R



    A list has appeared containing Table, Graph, and Screen.
    Let's look at one of each.

2)  Access a Real Time Table

     -    Press Alt+D,R,T,D,1

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER"

          You have selected the DAS-8 card display.

3)  Exit the Table

     -    Press "ESCAPE"

          ADQUIRE will return to the main menu.

4)  Access the Graph Settings Table

     -    Press  Alt+D,R,G

          A list appears containing graph names. Select
          "Sine1" by pressing "ENTER" while it is
          highlighted.  The "Graph Settings" table has
          appeared.  Move from field to field and press "F1"
          to determine what each field represents. The Sine1
          graph is currently set to use equations from the
          results table to plot a sine wave.  You can go to
          the Results Setup table now to see the equations
          or press Ctrl + "ENTER" to view the graph.

 Note:
     Graphs can only be displayed on computers supporting
     EGA /VGA graphics.


5)  Display the Graph

     -    Press Ctrl + "ENTER"

          The graph will appear.  It will show real time
          values as calculated by the result equations. The
          points are shown at the acquisition interval
          specified in the General Setup Table. Notice that
          the Y-Axis values adjust automatically to show the
          proper scale for the plot.


6)  Exit the Graph

     -    Press "ESCAPE"

          ADQUIRE will return to the main menu.

7)  Create a New Graph Name

     -    Press ALT+D,R,G

          This will place you in the list of real time graph
          names. Highlight "Sine1" then press "INS" then
          "ENTER".  A new space has been created in the
          list.  Type in a new graph name like "Sine2". 
          Press "ENTER" once to accept the name then press 
          "ENTER" again to view the graph settings table for
          Sine2. Change the title to "Two Sine Waves" and
          place a 2 in the "# lines" field.  Press
          CTRL+"ENTER" to display the graph.  We now see 2
          sine waves on the same plot.  Both sine waves are
          calculated in the results table. Press "ESC" to
          leave the graph display.  

     Note: 
          Use "INS" to create a new graph name and use 
          "DEL" to delete a graph name.


8)  Access a Screen

     -    Press Alt+D,R,S,S

     -    Press "ENTER"

          A real time screen will be displayed.  Real time
          screens can be created by the user with the Screen
          Creation module. This is an optional program that
          is used with ADQUIRE for creating screens that can
          represent the system you are monitoring or
          controlling. A total of 25 screens can be created
          for each test. You cannot create screens with any
          version of ADQUIRE that does not support this
          feature.  However, we have created a few screens
          for demonstration purposes.  These can be viewed
          in the ADQUIRE demo program or in a commercial
          version that supports the optional screen creation
          program.


9)  Exit the Screen

     -    Press "ESCAPE"

          ADQUIRE will return to the main menu.


10)  Select Another Screen

     Access a screen library by ALT+D,R,S.  

     A list of real time screen libraries is displayed. 
     There is currently only one screen library present. 
     Select this screen library and a list of screens
     contained within the library will be displayed.  Use
     the arrow keys and press "ENTER" to select a screen to
     view in real time.



G)  Displaying Stored Data

If you had specified in the installation program to install  
the sample files, the data files should be available for
this section of the walk through.


1)  Access the Stored Data Display 

     -    Press Alt+D,S

          A list is displayed giving you the option of
          displaying the stored data in table or graph form
          or to be printed on a printer.

2)  Access the Table Settings

     -    Press "T"

          Move around this table and press "F1" to become
          familiar with the options.  Make sure that the
          file type is the "DAS-8".  There is only data
          stored for this card.

3)  Display the Table

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER"

          The table will appear.  It will show stored values
          with the most recent value at the top.   The "NA"
          found in the table means that the channel was not
          active while monitoring was turned ON. Therefore,
          channels 1 and 2 were the only ones active while
          monitoring was ON.

4)  Display other data while in the Table

     New data extending from the previous data will appear
     in the table . The "UP" and "DOWN CURSOR KEYS" will
     display data one time interval from the present
     position.  The "LEFT" and "RIGHT CURSOR KEYS" will
     select other points (channels).  The "PgUp" and "PgDn"
     keys will display one screen interval at a time. These
     keys are available when using the past "PA", interval 
     "S" option, as specified in the Table Settings.

5)  Exit the Table

     -    Press "ESCAPE"

          ADQUIRE will return to the main menu.

6)  Access a Graph Settings Table

     -    Press Alt+D,S,G

     -    Place the cursor over "Sine" and press "ENTER"

          The Graph settings table for "Sine" will appear. 
          Move the cursor around the table, press "F1" to
          find out what some of the parameters are.

7)  Display the Graph

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER"

          The graph will appear showing stored values from
          the hard disk.

8)  Display other data while in the Graph

     New data extending from the previous data will appear
     in the graph. The "LEFT" and "RIGHT CURSOR KEYS" will
     show data one time interval from the present position.
     The "UP" and "DOWN CURSOR KEYS" will select other
     points (channels).  The "PgUp" and "PgDn" keys will
     display a new screen interval. These keys are available
     when using the past "PA", interval "S" option, as
     specified in the Table Settings.

9)  Exit the Graph

     -    Press "ESCAPE"

          ADQUIRE will return to the main menu.

10) Create a New Graph Name


     -    Press Alt+D,S,G

     -    Place the cursor over "Sine" and press "INS".   
          Type in a new graph name like "Sine2".  Press
          "ENTER" to accept the name then press "ENTER" to
          view the Graph settings for "Sine2". Change the "#
          Lines" field to 2 then press Ctrl+"ENTER".  Two
          lines are drawn on the same graph. You can include
          more graphs to a total of 15 by placing your
          cursor over the graph that you want to copy and    
          pressing "INSERT".  You can delete graphs by
          placing the cursor over the graph name and
          pressing "DELETE".



H)  Displaying Control Settings and Functions

     ADQUIRE presently accommodates up to 24 control points. 
     It is planned to increase this number soon.


1)  Access the Main Controls Table

     -    Press Alt+C

     -    Press "ENTER"

          The Control Operation Table has both display only
          fields and fields that can be edited by the user.
          The display only fields are the "Point", "Value",
          and "Al" fields while the "St" and "Type" fields
          can be changed so as to access the different
          control options.  

          The "Point" column is used to display the name of
          the control point. The number of control points
          shown in this table depends on how the cards are
          setup in the General Setup and in the Card Setup
          tables. 

          The "Value" column is used to display the Control
          Point value or the output value from the
          individual control tables.   This is only used
          when controls are ON.  When controls are ON, you
          can use the "F10" key to toggle between the
          display of the control point value and the output
          value.  A message can be seen at the bottom of the
          screen while viewing the Control operation table. 
          
          The "St" column stands for Status, and has three
          choices for inputs; "AUT" (AUTomatic) , "ON" (ON)
          or "OFF" (OFF).  When set to ON or OFF the control
          output is set either to its maximum value or its
          minimum value.  When it is set to AUT, the control
          output is determined using the control information 
          associated with the "Type" column.  

          The "Type" column is used to indicate the type of
          control to use for that point.  ADQUIRE supports
          three types of control; "O" (On/Off), "P" (PID),
          and "E" (Equation).  With each type of control
          there is associated with it a setup table for
          specifying the control parameters.  If this field
          is initially empty, placing a letter ("O","P", or
          "E") for one of the control types into this field
          and pressing "ENTER" will reveal the setup table.
          If a letter is already in the type column, go to
          that type column and press "ENTER"

2)  Access an On/Off Table

     The letter "O" indicating that the point uses an On/Off 
     table should be in the Type column of the first point.`
     If so, simply press the "ENTER" key.  If not, place an
     O in this column and press "ENTER".  

     The On/Off table allows the setting of ranges when the
     point will be either on or off. This is useful for
     digital outputs for the activation of heating, cooling,
     etc. Two dates and times are used for setback or a
     change in operation.  The control point can be a point
     or any number of points in an equation. The equation
     will be calculated in real time.

     The lower row "Real Time" is not accessible and
     indicates the control point value and the controller
     output value when the controls are on.

3)  Exit the On/Off Table

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER"

          If changes were made, and they are not to be saved
          or used by the control system, press "ESCAPE"
          instead of Ctrl+"ENTER".

4)  Access an Equation Table

     If the control point is to use an Equation table, place
     an "E" in the Type column and press "ENTER" if an "E"
     does not already exist.  If an "E" is already in the
     type column, then press "ENTER".  The Equation Table
     can be used by analog or digital control points. The
     point will conform to any equation within the limits of
     its operation.  

     For digital output, boolean (True or False)
     relationships are usually set up (>70, NOT point3,    
     point4 = -1).  For analog output, the control point
     value equals the equation within the point's limits.
     This table can also be used to specify cyclic operation
     in accordance with seconds and/or days.

5)  Exit the Equation Table

     -    Press Ctrl+"ENTER"

6)  Access a PID Table

     If the control point is to use a PID table, place a "P"
     in the Type column and press "ENTER", if a "P" does not
     already exist.  If a "P" is already in the type column,
     press "ENTER".  The Proportional Table performs
     P(proportional), PI(Prop - Integral)  or PID(Prop - Int
     - Derivative) control of the point.  The point must be
     an analog output.  Another point or points within an
     equation can be used for the Control Point. ADQUIRE
     checks the validity of this when "ENTER" is pressed or
     when the information is saved.

7)  Exit the Proportional Table

     -    Press  Ctrl+"ENTER" to save the information.

     -    Press "ESC" if you do not want to save the
          changes.

8)  Examine the PID table more closely

     PID control uses a proportional value, integral value
     and a derivative value.  A bias value can also be
     specified.  While Demo mode is turned ON, the output is
     fed back into the PID equation to simulate PID control. 
     Therefore, the control point is not needed in this
     example.  

     Before entering the PID table, type "AUT" in the "ST"
     field.  Enter the PID table as described above.  Turn
     controls ON by pressing Ctrl+"F3".  Note that when you
     make changes to a control table, you MUST PRESS THE
     ENTER KEY before any of the changes take effect.  If
     you use the TAB key to move from field to field, you
     can make all the changes you need, then press "ENTER"
     to cause all changes to take effect simultaneously.   

     Use a Bias of 0, a "set pt" of 1, A "Prop" of .001, a
     "Int" of 0 and a "Deriv" of 0.  Change the Set point to
     8 and notice that the "Control Pt" at the bottom of the
     table does not reach 8 when you only use proportional
     control. However, if you set an integral of .1, you
     will notice the value will drift toward the set point
     value of 8.  If you use a larger integral value    
     such as 1, it will find the set point faster.  Note
     that faster response does not necessarily mean better
     control. Change the Set Point value and watch the
     control point find its way.


I)  Turning Monitoring and Control Operations On and Off    

     Monitoring (acquiring the data and storing to disk at
     the specified interval) can be turned on or off at any
     time by pressing Ctrl+"F1" and Ctrl+"F2" respectively.
     Controls can be turned on or off at any time by
     pressing Ctrl+"F3" and Ctrl+"F4" respectively. Also,
     control can be suspended and re-activated (digital
     outputs left on and analog points put on standby) at
     any time by pressing Ctrl+"F5" and Ctrl+"F6"
     respectively. 

     In order to leave ADQUIRE press Alt+U,E.  You can use
     Ctrl+"C" for a quick exit from Adquire but it is not
     the recommended exit sequence.    This completes the
     "Walk Through" of ADQUIRE.  We trust that it has given
     you an idea of some of the many capabilities of the
     program.  There are many other capabilities of ADQUIRE  
     that have not been discussed here, but are described in
     the applicable sections of the manual.

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