Configure GPI for Director, Runtime and Designer

Supported GPI Boards

General Configuration

Ventuz Runtime and Designer

To use a GPI with Ventuz Designer or Runtime you will need to create a configuration file that provides Ventuz with information on which GPIO Board and which pins are used. To do so copy one of the above sample XML files to this location: [Public Documents]\Ventuz6\Configuration\GpioConfig\gpio.xml

Ventuz Director

To use a GPI with Ventuz Director you will need to create a configuration file that provides Ventuz with information on which GPIO Board and which pins are used. To do so copy one of the above sample XML files to this location: [Public Documents]\Ventuz6\Configuration\GpioConfig\gpio.director.xml

Sample Config Files

DLP Design IO8

<GPIO>
  <Devices>
    <Device>
      <LogLevel>Info</LogLevel>
      <Class>Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.DLPDesign_DLP_IO8, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared</Class>
      <Port>COM4</Port>
      <Channels>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput Inverted</ChannelType>
      </Channels>
    </Device>
  </Devices>
</GPIO>

Numato 16 Channel USB GPIO

<GPIO>
  <Devices>
    <Device>
	  <LogLevel>Info</LogLevel>
      <Class>Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.NumatoLab_USB_GPIO16, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared</Class>
      <Port>COM5</Port>
      <Channels>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
        <ChannelType>DigitalInput Inverted</ChannelType>
      </Channels>
    </Device>
  </Devices>
</GPIO>

Exclusive GPI vs Shared GPI

If you want to use a GPI board only in one application of the Ventuz Software Suite, we speak of Exclusive GPI. It means you can use the GPI device either in Ventuz Director or in Ventuz Runtime/Designer. However, there can be the case you want to have both to control logic from within a Ventuz Scene on the one hand and to trigger commands in Ventuz Director on the other hand. In this case we are talking about Shared GPI and the commucation with the hardware is not done by the Application but through the Ventuz Machine Service. In addition to the handling of simultaneous access, we also benefit from the fact that the GPI board does not have to be physically installed into the machine in which it is actually used, because the communication is done via websocket handled by the Ventuz Machine Service.

Shared GPI Configuration

To use Shared GPI we need to configure two different things: the GPI_Service hosted by the Ventuz Machine Service and the Application related configuration as descibed in the General Configuration section.

Configure GPI_Service

As mentioned above, the Ventuz Machine Service is hosting the GPI_Service. To configure it simply open a browser and navigate to the following url.

http://localhost:20404/Persistence_Service/1.0/keys/SharedGPIO.Config/action/set

You will get a small configuration window that allows you to paste a configuration json in there and apply it by pressing Set Value.

The configuration allows you to add one or more Devices with the following attributes (name/value pairs).

• Class: Namespace of the implementation, simply copy it from the sample based on the board you want to use.
• Port: COM Port assigned by windows
• Channels: Number of DigitalInput or AnalogInput Pins you want to use.

Sample GPI_Service config

{
	"Devices" : [
		{
		"Class" : "Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.DLPDesign_DLP_IO8, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared",
		"Port" : "COM1",
		"Channels" : ["DigitalInput, Inverted","DigitalInput"]
		},
		{
		"Class" : "Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.NumatoLab_USB_GPIO16, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared",
		"Port" : "COM2",
		"Channels" : ["DigitalInput","DigitalInput"]
		}
	]
}

Adjust Director and Runtime/Designer configuration

Second we need to make sure the configuration file for Ventuz Designer and Director are located in the correct folder as descibed in the General Configuration section. In those files we need to adjust the

• Class: Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.VMSSharedGPIO, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared
• Port: http://localhost:20404/GPIO_Service/1.0/statews1, the websocket adress of the GPI Service hosted by the Ventuz Machine Service.

  <GPIO>
    <Devices>
      <Device>
        <Class>Ventuz.Kernel.GPIO.VMSSharedGPIO, Ventuz.Kernel.Shared</Class>
        <Port>http://localhost:20404/GPIO_Service/1.0/statews1</Port>
        <Channels>
          <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
          <ChannelType>DigitalInput</ChannelType>
          <ChannelType>DigitalInput Inverted</ChannelType>
        </Channels>
      </Device>
    </Devices>
  </GPIO>