Renard software development

[soakes94]

I was wondering if anyone else out there would be interested in creating software to control renard boards, I downloaded the code for the ren Consol which was written in VB 6 i think but im using VB 2005 so im having some issues.

My plan is create software that looks like a DMX board and can do similar things so it will have a black out button, all on button a strobe button for selected channels and other things so maybe if you were using red green and blue lights like a RGB LED floodlight you would be able to have to like all red one, all blue on all red on and so on for other colors. I also have some code that works with twitter and reacts to certain updates only made by you so for example you could set it up so when you text "1-4 on" channels 1 to 4 are switched on this way testing channels would be easier as you wouldn't need to run back and forth to the computer.

If anyone is interested let me know and we can try and make something and release it to everyone else.

[frankv]

I'm running Ubuntu Linux, so not really interested in VB. I have some C source code I put together for controlling a Renard 24. You're welcome to that if you want it.

My own plan is to control the lights in time to music using a MIDI sequencer... I'm using RoseGarden as the sequencer, which outputs MIDI to ALSA... my C Renard 'driver' hooks into ALSA. It takes the MIDI commands (MIDI keydown = light channel on, velocity = brightness, keyup = light channel off), translates them to Renard messages, and sends them out the serial port.

[soakes94]

What program are you using for your C code?

Thanks Stephen

[mschell]

Just so you don't think you have to re-invent the wheel...

If you already have a program that you like that outputs DMX and does the other functions you like, you can load the DMX firmware on a Renard controller. Then it will behave just like any other DMX controller.

Some commercial apps are out there that will respond to twitter events or other remote functions. LightShowPro does it,and will talk via Renard or DMX protocol. For pure DMX and theater software, there's LightFactory. There's also some free software that may do what you want.

Now, if you're using this as a programming exercise, then by all means, go for it. Just suggesting an alternate approach.

[soakes94]

I would rather create it on my own as it means I can add little features in to suit me and also means I can show of to my computing teacher lol

[soakes94]

Does anyone have an VB 2005 code or does it just not exist? Or would anyone be up for helping me convert the Ren Console code which was written in VB 6 I think into VB 2005, I did manage to open it in VB 2005 but had a few errors due to terms changing.

Thanks for all your help guys :)

[dirknerkle]

Does anyone have an VB 2005 code or does it just not exist? Or would anyone be up for helping me convert the Ren Console code which was written in VB 6 I think into VB 2005, I did manage to open it in VB 2005 but had a few errors due to terms changing.

Thanks for all your help guys :)

Check the error log that was created when you opened it in VB2005. The file ends in .LOG and will be in the same folder where the project and forms were when you opened it. It will tell you what sort of error it is -- it could be a DLL or other file that the project needs but which is not on your computer. Sometimes simply editing the project file (.VBP) and taking out that reference can fix the problem and then you can add your own version of that DLL back into the project and save it. Other times, if you know what the missing file is named, you can get it off the web, put it on your computer and eliminate the problem that way.

Don't know if this will solve it for you or not...

[hartlove]

It's probably going to be easier to make your own project, and copy/convert code from the original program as needed.

I opened it up, and it's looking for the MSCOMM32 vb6 control. It might be better to just use the original code as a guideline and start over with .Net controls.

Then again, I'm mostly a web programmer, so take my comments on forms programming with a grain of salt.

[Jrd]

Does anyone have an VB 2005 code or does it just not exist? Or would anyone be up for helping me convert the Ren Console code which was written in VB 6 I think into VB 2005, I did manage to open it in VB 2005 but had a few errors due to terms changing.

Thanks for all your help guys :)

If the only problem is that some "terms" were changed, (Are these functions or something? I haven't done any VB coding yet.) can't you use find and replace to replace the outdated terms with what they should be now?

Can you provide a link to this Ren Console?

[soakes94]

Can you provide a link to this Ren Console?

I have attached the Ren console application and the code. If you have any problems let me know and I will try again.

[soakes94]

Ive had a look and I have 5 errors, 3 of them are the same and 2 are different. The first 3 are: "As Any" is not supported in "Declare" statements

The 4th is: "IpBrowseInfo" cannot expose type "BrowseInfo" in namespace "Ren_Console" through module "Module1"

The 5th is: "AddressOf" expression cannot be converted to "Integer" because "Integer" is not a delegate type

I don't know if any of these make sense to anyone but they don't make any sense to me. All the errors are inside Module1, I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Thanks for all your help :)

[djulien]

The first 3 are: "As Any" is not supported in "Declare" statements

"As any" tells VB to allow any data type to be passed for that parameter. If "as any" is not supported in your version of VB, look at which variable types are actually passed for that parameter when the function is called within the rest of the code, and then make a copy of the function declaration and customize it for each of the types needed. For example, if an int is passed to it within the code, edit or clone the declaration and change the parameter type to be an int so it matches. You have to be careful about numeric vs. string params, but if they are always numeric, you can just declare the function that way.


The 4th is: "IpBrowseInfo" cannot expose type "BrowseInfo" in namespace "Ren_Console" through module "Module1"

Type BrowseInfo is declared as private, so it is not exposed outside this module. If you need it to be exposed, declare it as public rather than private.


The 5th is: "AddressOf" expression cannot be converted to "Integer" because "Integer" is not a delegate type

This section of code may be a problem. VB added support for callback-able functions a while back (I don't remember which version), and it sounds like your version of VB pre-dates that. It looks like this code is just trying to display or open a folder. If so, then you could probably just replace that section of code with an OpenFile standard dialog, or if that is not a good match, then maybe just prompt the user to type in a folder rather than displaying a nice GUI to choose it - at least that would get the code running, and then you could go back and fix it up later.

don

[frankv]

These are picky details of VB.Net vs VB6. If you want to translate from VB6 to VB.Net, you're going to need to understand the picky details in BOTH languages. But really, I think you're out of your depth if you need to ask these kinds of questions.

As a first guess, try replacing "As Any" with "As Object".

For the 5th error, try changing the Integer definition to Pointer. Also try a Google for "Addressof VB.NET"

As someone already suggested, it would probably be easier to start from scratch with a simple VB.Net application that does a part of what you want to do (e.g. send messages out to the comm port). Then extend it to handle the Renard protocol. Then add another feature, and another. Just use the original program as a guide.