Serial Analyser

The Main Window

After connecting the main window logs the serial data to a temporary file. This file can be saved once disconnected. The saved file can of course be reloaded and reviewed later. The serial data can be displayed in hexidecimal or ASCII. When connected the window will automatically scroll, tracking the incoming data. Alternative lines have a different background colour to make it easy to distinguish which line is which. Each line show both the DTE and DCE values. By default DCE is on the top. To change this use the View>DTE on top menu or press CTRL 'L'. To change it back use View>DTE on top menu or just press CTRL 'L' again. Received character errors are highlighted by default in red. Received character patterns can be easily searched.

Connecting

Before connecting first set the serial ports to the correct baud rate, parity and data bits. Then choose the Connect menu or click the  button. Then data will start logging. To stop it click the  button. The data is saved to a temporary file, if not saved the data will be lost. When saving it a file selection dialog box will allow the data file to be saved to a new permanent file.

Tracking

After connecting the window will automatically scroll, tracking the incoming data.To stop this simply press the space bar or the  button. To restart it tracking press space again or the  button.

Hexidecimal or ASCII view

To toggle the data from hex view to ASCII view choose the View>ACSCII or View>Hexidecimal menu. Alternatively click the  button.This can be done at any time. In Hexidecmal view the received characters are shown as 2 digit hexidecimal values. In ASCII view character in the range of 32 to 127 are displayed as ASCII characters. Outside this range the characters are displayed by default in a lighter colour. If the value is less than 32 it will be shown as uppercase control characters, else it will be lowercase 2 digit hexidecimal.

The following table shows the control characters that are displayed

Value

Symbol

Description

0

NU

Null

1

SH

Start of Heading

2

ST

Start of Text

3

ET

End of Text

4

EO

End of Transmission

5

EQ

Enquiry

6

AK

Acknowledge

7

BL

Bell

8

BS

Backspace

9

TB

Horizontal Tabulation

10

LF

Line Feed

11

VT

Vertical Tabulation

12

FF

Form Feed

13

CR

Carriage Return

14

SO

Shift Out

15

SI

Shift In

16

DL

Data Link Escape

17

DC

Device Control 1

18

DC

Device Control 2

19

DC

Device Control 3

20

DC

Device Control 4

21

NK

Negative Acknowledge

22

SY

Synchronous Idle

23

EB

End of Transmission Block

24

CN

Cancel

25

EM

End of Medium

26

SB

Substitute

27

ES

Escape

28

FS

File Separator

29

GS

Group Separator

30

RS

Record Separator

31

US

Unit Separator

Searching

Once a file is loaded the find dialog box can be shown by choosing the Edit>Find menu, or from the  button or by pressing CTRL and 'F' keys. The Find dialog allows the search pattern to be entered as ASCII or Hexidecimal. To search for the string "Hello" just enter the text and do not tick the hex box. For Hexidecimal the Hex box needs to be checked and the pattern entered as hexidecimal numbers with spaces between each new number. In the case of the string "Hello" enter "48 65 6c 6c 6f". The search can be done to either the DCE channel or the DTE channel or both. The search can be done backwards or forwards.

To search again for the same pattern just choose Edit>Find next or Edit>Find previous. Alternatively press F3 to find next again and shift F3 to find previous again.

Goto Cell

To jump to a cell choose the View>Goto Cell menu or press CTRL 'G'.

A index number can be entered to move the cursor to that location. If a time in seconds is entered then the cursor is moved to the received data with the nearest matching time stamp.

Un-installing the Application

If you no longer wish to use this application and want to un-install it then you can use the command line option "-uninstall". This will remove the program and all associated links and files. On MS windows the control panel Add/Remove program can un-install the application, also a link is provided within the Start Menu.

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