{"id":3348,"date":"2025-04-18T05:18:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T05:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webprojects.cloud\/wordpress\/splatco\/?post_type=spl_knowledgebase&p=3348"},"modified":"2025-06-16T08:45:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T08:45:20","slug":"tutorial-debugging-splatware-using-serial-data","status":"publish","type":"spl_knowledgebase","link":"https:\/\/webprojects.cloud\/wordpress\/splatco\/knowledgebase\/tutorials-application-notes-and-white-papers\/tutorial-debugging-splatware-using-serial-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial: Debugging SPLatWare using serial data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the advent of a user programmable serial protocol<\/a> capability, and with the inclusion of a serial terminal function<\/a>, a very powerful technique has become practicable for debugging SPLat programs. This tutorial will show you some useful techniques using these resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Since this tutorial was written we have developed SimpleHMI<\/a>, an alternative way of interacting with a running SPLat program via the serial port. For certain uses SimpleHMI<\/a> can offer a better capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The serial terminal (this tutorial) is the right choice if you are developing serial communications to fit a 3rd party device such as a motion control board or a weigh-scale, which has its own predetermined message formats (protocol).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a powerful tool for general program debugging SimpleHMI<\/a> offers a different set of features. SimpleHMI is also easier to program because it uses hash commands<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is mainly about debugging techniques. That said, it will equip you for any challenge that involves generating arbitrary serial data out of a SPLat controller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target audience<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

This tutorial is designed to inspire and inform SPLat users who have never had any experience of squirting debug data out of a spare port. If the previous sentence make perfect sense to you, you probably needn’t continue. Just study the communications instructions, read up on the terminal function in SPLat\/PC<\/a>, and you are good to go. (That said, you may find a few new ideas in here).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have never used any debug tools beyond what SPLat\/PC has offered in the past (prior to November 2011), then this could be a very good thing to study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You probably also need to be developing well-structured programs of some complexity to make this (serial port debugging) worth the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outcomes (what you will get out of this tutorial)<\/h6>\n\n\n\n