SP-ICE-3 Software - Change log

SPICE3Config not only remembers the most recently used card (singular), but all cards the user has connected to.

"Scanner Monitoring" is now performed by on-card hardware modules (previously, by on-card software).
Previously, it has been advised to have polling intervals of at least several 100ms. Now, the polling interval can be as short as 10us (one step period) without adverse effects.
In the event of an alarm, list execution is aborted within several tens of microseconds (i.e. reaction time is greatly reduced).

The marks themselves were not affected, but only the first jump (following the first mark). Consequently, it resulted in an incorrect transition between the two marks.

The time zones are no longer ordered by UTC then region, but alphabetically sorted.

Managed: Replace with "ScannerConfig.Heads[head].Axes[axisIndex]"
Native: Replace with "rlScannerConfig::Heads[head]::Axes[axisIndex]".

Managed: Replace "CorrectionFile.Open" with "CorrectionFile.OpenRead" and "CorrectionFile.OpenWrite", respectively.
Native: Replace "rlCFOpen" with "rlCFOpenRead" and "rlCFOpenWrite", respectively.

For as long as an ADC adapter is present and enabled, the configuration of its corresponding SPI module is under the firmware's exclusive control. Attempts to overwrite the configuration (via SpiAPi.SetConfig) will be ignored.

The new method only updates the bias. All other properties, especially those related to the scanner, remain unchanged.

Individual card-apps can be enabled or disabled via the new "Apps" tab.

This card-app translates a statically defined path into an endless contour for MOTF, and then continuously matches the marking speed of the contour to the measured speed of the target.

Previously, the tab does not show any enhanced information for a second scanner unless a scanner is recognized on head 0 (first scanner).

This affects the managed client library.
The native client library is not affected since it never offered the "VerifyResponseXXX" but always the "TryVerifyResponseXXX" behavior. To avoid confusion, the native methods "rlSerialPortVerifyResponseXXX" are now correctly named "rlSerialPortTryVerifyReponseXXX".

Managed: For backwards compatibility, the properties "Port" and "Config" still exist, and can be used in cases when only a single port configuration needs to be accessed.
Native: The members "Port" and "Config" are removed. Please reference the configuration via the new member "PortConfigCollection".

The XY2-100 signals for the second scanner are available on port D. The XY2-100 signals for the first scanner remained unchanged and are still available on port E.

Previously, adapter boards stored only a single port configuration, rendering the board operable only on the port matching its configuration (for example, configuration is for port D, then board can operate only on port D).
Now, adapter boards can store multiple configurations. Hence, for example, an adapter board containing configurations for ports D and E, will properly work if connected to either port D or E. Naturally, it still wouldn't properly work on port A, for example.

The second power channel now accepts calibration normally.

The default value has been reduced to a much more reasonable 0.5/second.

The new methods allow directly querying and modifying the process transformation without retrieving and setting the entire process variables, respectively.

The API already existed in the managed ClientLib, but was missing in the native ClientLib.

The source of these failures has been eliminated.

This change also fixes an intermittent "Cannot add delay" exception.
Previously, the phase between LM and "Laser Triggered" pulses could not exceed 32us. Now, a difference of up to 1ms can be measured.

Change in OpticalParameters to add properties UsedAxes, BitPerMicronZ0, BitPerMicronZ1, BitPerMicronE0, BitPerMicronE0
Add new API calls HeadCorrection.Exists(), HeadCorrection.GetHash(), remove API call HeadCorrection.Create()
Remove API support for GCD-Files.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: API Change!
SP-ICE-3 SW v3.0.0 onwards no longer supports control of Stepper-Motors.
Stepper-Motor support is available with the SP-ICE-3 Software v2 series.

In particular, this feature provides support for lasers with ring and core sources.
The power of the core and ring lasers can be individually controlled, including individual power-ramping of both channels.
Power Calibration, and <u>Position</u>-dependent Power Correction, are also available individually for both power channels.
<u>Velocity</u>-dependent Power Correction, however, is applied in common to the power channels.

This rare case is now handled correctly.

This was a regression in v2.3.1.
The setting now works as expected.

A file with a single entry is now considered legitimate, and the high CPU load no longer occurs.

The samples now run as expected.

The firmware now automatically normalizes the phase angle to the range (-pi,+pi] for internal use.

The firmware can re-start tracking while the jump to the MOTF_STOP position is still being executed, thus preventing delay due to an otherwise necessary "catch-up" movement.

For details, please refer to the API documentation for ScanHeadFormat.

The polarity of the START_MARK and ABORT_MARK inputs on the XY2-100 Adapter can be set via the RL Adapter Config tool.

In version 2.2.2 backward compatibility was broken when uploading/activating correction files. Both ClientLib and Firmware must have been v2.2.2 to work correctly. With v2.2.3 backwards compatibility is reintroduced. ClientLib v2.2.3 and ClientLib prior to v2.2.2 can be used to upload/enable correction files with firmware v2.2.3 and the other way around. v2.2.2 is not compatible with other versions.

NOTE: To support up to 4 corrections, the single head configuration must not use more than 3 axes.
For a dual head configuration, the number of up to 2 corrections per head remains unchanged.

The number of parallel active pings has been reduced to a safe level.

When FieldSize is updated, the encoder scale will now be recalculated automatically.

This eliminates a potential cause of bad marking results.

The new tool provides not only all of the functionality of the obsolete SS-3-Config, but also the ability to read the scanner's memory.

The new Spice3SampleApps "Tiling" (C#) and "TilingNative" (C++) show you how to use the MOTF Tiling feature.

Added new CommandList command: "AppendMotfTileOffset", and new ProcessVariables member: "TileOffset".

Scanner positions reported via TraceBuffer are now correctly resolved to Field Positions in all cases.

SPICE3VirtualPointer now provides zooming on the virtual field.

SPICE3LogPlayer can now display additional statistics for command lists.

See: Help menu item: "View SP-ICE-3 User's Manual".

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Change of Command Behaviour!
In versions prior to v2.0.0, the value of relPos was incorrectly interpreted as ( value - 1 ).
From v2.0.0 onwards, the parameter' s value is correctly interpreted.
Custom applications may need to be refactored to take account of this change.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Removal of Deprecated Method!
Since v1.43.0, use of the method has been deprecated, with equivalent functionality
being available in CommandList.AppendSkyWritingMode( SkyWritingMode mode) (q.v.)
Starting with v2.0.0, the original method has been completely removed from the ClientLib API.
Custom applications may need to be refactored to take account of this change.

ClientAPI.Connect(CardInfo ci) and rlConnectByCardInfo(rlCardInfo ci) now automatically try to re-discover the card by Serial Number if the IP member of the CardInfo is found to be invalid or out-of-date.
You can optionally force this behaviour by passing IPAddress.Any or IPAddress.IPv6Any (or the native equivalents) for the IP member. Connect will try to make the connection using the specified AddressFamily.

If the connection request cannot be accepted (because a connection is already active), then the request is immediately rejected and the caller receives an error.

When the client calls "Start", then the trace server will produce trace events for all enabled signals with their current value.

The redundant parameter "action" has been removed.

The scanner now executes the necessary "catch-up" jump with "Jump Speed".

The encoder's position and speed are being low-pass filtered to reduce jerky tracking, and to significantly reduce the adverse impact on power if velocity-dependent power correction is enabled.

Now, when enabling the ADC adapter it will be immediately configured. An explicit card reboot is no longer required.

The ClientLib now keeps on re-trying discovery until the ClientAPI.Timeout expires.

Native and managed Client CommandList.ToString() format is now identical .

Consequently, the positional deviation, which can be observed particularly in high-speed applications, is significantly reduced.

A new list command "AppendSkyWritingMode" has been added, and selects one of the two sky-writing modes, or "Disabled" in order to deactivate sky-writing.
The existing command "AppendEnableSkyWriting" is now obsolete, and will be removed in a future release.

The User's Manual now provides a "Favorites" tab for your convenience.

The .chm file provides the same content in convenient, locally accessible form.

In particular, the Client-Log entries for xxxConfigs generated by native and managed Clients are now identical.

The custom settings are no longer overwritten by the DHCP-Server.

Execution Statistics are now correctly set by STOP_MOTF.

Removal of BranchToLabel command is now correctly handled.

Concurrent transfers on multiple clients are now possible.

We now only display the tail (max 100 lines) of the log, and use a scrollable textarea to display it.
The switch-over from the LOGIN to the STATUS tab is now (almost) instantaneous.

Missing filename no longer causes Http Status 500:
Instead, a warning message appears on the Update page.

Ammended the script in SP-ICE-3-Host-Software to make it copy the binary to the output directory.

If an error occurs during the update process, it is now reported in a highly visible manner.

Added a Default Gateway field to the WebIF Settings page, and made it reference an EEPROM entry called "IPV4DEFAULTGW".

Field is NOT visible when both interfaces are set to DHCP.