S t o p W a t c h Version 3.0 December 06, 1991 by Christian Danner M A N U A L =========== PRINCIPLES "StopWatch" is a stop watch application, which makes a programmable precision of more than the by the system time offered 1/50 second possible (with a standard Amiga 500/1000/2000 e.g. a resolution of one millisecond occupies only little processor time, with a turbo board this value can furthermore be increased). The program reacts on the status of the joystick button. It gets its timebase from the CIA B timer A and in the last resort from the 7.16 MHz system frequency by interrupt programming. After many - by reason of inaccuracy - frustrating experiments with the CIA A timer A, which ought to be the only one available for free access according to the Addison Wesley Hardware Manual and other publications, I used this pretendedly by EXEC continuously occupied timer. Till now no incompatibilities occurred. The interrupt priority level 6 prevents the timer program from being overrun by other interrupts and guarantees a high degree of precision. I tested the program on different conditions. During car races I'm using it in the background, where the input data come from a hardware interface producing a short circuit to the according joystick port wires when the time measurement beam of a light barrier is interrupted. At the same time a Superbase application is running on this machine, communicating with another Amiga via the serial device for displaying the score lists and serving a printer connected to the parallel port. In comparison with a professional stop watch running simultaneously, I couldn't find out any difference in the resulting times. Corresponding to my tests, normal Intuition interfacing, file handling etc. might not corrupt the timer. So far I only found one program, a sound generator, which caused deviations. FEATURES The program displays the single lap times and the total times in a window on the Workbench screen. You can determine the number of laps per race and the period of time, within which no incoming signal is processed after a valid event. In an uncomplicated manner you can adjust the measurement on your equipment (I have not yet tested, whether it's necessary or not, but it might be required depending on the quartz base). Optionally for the purpose of transmitting the results to other applications, the data can be saved to a disk file in ASCII-format. You can specify the filename freely, a selection between only saving total times or saving all lap-times is possible, just as you can choose whether the file only has to contain the last time or a time list shall be generated. Also an ARexx-port for remote control with parameter modification and a more comfortable result handling is implemented. With Version 3.0 an additional screen can be opened as a time display e.g. in combination with a genlock interface. Text and primitive graphics can also be written to this screen via Rexx-commands. HARDWARE As I explained earlier, the program scans the status of the joystick button, which is a simple switch connecting Pin 6 with Pin 8 of the joystick plug when it is closed. Pressing the button is a valid event for the timer. You can trigger the timer manually or by an interface, which "presses the button" for you by a switch (mechanic or optoelectronic), e.g. controlled by a light barrier. If the signal to detect is active only for a period of time shorter than the interval between two scans of the input it might be ignored by the timer. Therefore you have to delay the release of the switch (with an electronic circuit) for a reliable measurement of such signals. CALIBRATION First you have to select the resolution of the timer, which means the frequency of timer increase (e.g. 1000 for a resolution of 1/1000 second). This value should not be excessively high, because you can slow down the system rapidly by the timer interrupts. Now you have to tune the timer by changing the VIACYCL-Values ("VIA-Cycles/Timercycle" in the Workbench window), so that the resulting times are mostly valid in comparison with an already calibrated stopwatch. Doing this, the "Correction-factor" has to be 0. For a fine adjustment a correction factor can be defined, which is equivalent to the time deviation divided by the total period of time where it occurred. To be able to supervise this adjustment, the resulting correction value is displayed in terms of milliseconds with every measurement in the last of the three columns. PARAMETERS All the parameters can be transmitted to the program when starting it. I have implemented certain commands for the startup from the CLI, ToolTypes for running "StopWatch" from the WorkBench and Rexx-commands to influence the already started application. ToolType CLI PrgWindow Explanation --------------------------------------------------------------------------- General: -------- LAPS=number -l.. Number of Laps number of laps per race REFRACT=number -r.. Refract.-Time refractory time after a pass CYCLSEC=number -s.. Resolution number of timercycles per second VIACYCL=number -v.. VIA-Cycles / Ti. coarse tuning of the timer CORRECT= number -c.. Correctionfactor timer fine tuning factor [* 1E-6] DISPLAY=number -d.. not implemented number of result lines in display BEEP=ON -b not implemented display beep after timer events FILE=path/filename -f.. not implemented filename for saving the results APPEND=ON -a not implemented generate result-list PASS=ON -p not implemented save also lap-times Display Screen: --------------- SCREEN=number -o.. not implemented display screen depth WIDTH=number -w.. not implemented width HEIGHT=number -h.. not implemented height COLORS=hexnumbers -k.. not implemented colors ACTTIDIG=number -(.. not implemented actual time digits after the decimal point TOTTIDIG=number -).. not implemented total / lap time digits after the decimal point TIFGCOLOR=number -e.. not implemented time display color of characters TIBGCOLOR=number -g.. not implemented background TIMEFNAME=fontname -n.. not implemented time font name (disk font !) TIMEFSIZE=number -z.. not implemented size TEXTFNAME=fontname -m.. not implemented text font name (disk font !) TEXTFSIZE=number -q.. not implemented size TOTLEFT=number -t.. not implemented coordinate time total left TOTUP=number -u.. not implemented up LAPLEFT=number -i.. not implemented lap left LAPUP=number -j.. not implemented up ACTLEFT=number -x.. not implemented actual left ACTUP=number -y.. not implemented up Parameter Valid data range Preset --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAPS 1 .. 99999 1 REFRACT 1 .. 99999 500 CYCLSEC 1 .. 50000 1000 CORRECT -9999 .. 99999 -525 VIACYCL 50 .. 50000 708 DISPLAY 2 .. 12 5 BEEP OFF .. ON OFF APPEND OFF .. ON OFF PASS OFF .. ON OFF SCREEN 1 .. 4 no display screen WIDTH 640 .. 767 640 HEIGHT 400 .. 766 400 COLORS 66AFFF000D000D000BDD0D0B0DB ACTTIDIG 0 .. 1 1 TOTTIDIG 0 .. 3 3 TIFGCOLOR 0 .. number of colors - 1 (1/3/7/15) 1 TIBGCOLOR 0 .. number of colors - 1 (1/3/7/15) 0 ~LEFT 0 .. WIDTH - TextWidth( "00:00:00.000") 150 ~UP 0 .. HEIGHT - TextHeight ACTUP 150 LAPUP 180 TOTUP 210 Time-/Text-Font no font selected Examples: --------- ~FNAME RUBY (extension ".font" not allowed) ~FSIZE 15 COLORS 00AFFF000C00444DD00D000A... \_/ rgb color 0 = blue (hexadecimal Red/Green/Blue-values 0..F) \_/ rgb color 1 = white \_/ rgb color 2 = black \_/ rgb color 3 = red ... Command line for CLI-Startup: StopWatch -l2 -r500 -s1000 -v708 -c-525 -d5 -b -fCLIPS:TimeList -p -a -o3 -w704 -h460 -k44afff000c00 -x495 -y350 -i250 -j350 -t495 -u350 -nstopwatch -z26 -e1 -g2 To modify the parameters in the Workbench window you first have to click on the "STATE"-button or to select the pulldown menu "Project/Parameters". Then a modification of the values in the parameter field is possible. When done click on the same button again. This sets the new values and zeroes the timer. A reset also can be processed simply by selecting the according pulldown menu. The state of the system is displayed in an area above the "STATE"-Button. For preventing the timer from analyzing uninteresting signals a locking function can be activated by pressing the "LOCK"-button or sending the corresponding Rexx command. You return to the normal timer action by pressing the button again or using the Rexx command "UNLOCK". Notes: Even if the continuous time display skips some values and runs irregular (not enough system preformance for the defined timer settings) the resulting times are valid! Time measurement and time display are different, parallel running processes. A VIACYCL-value < 150 may freeze a system without accelerator card by occupancy of a great amount of calculating time for handling the timer interrupts! You could check this with a performance monitor. If you intend to use this program only as a Rexx-controlled display unit set VIACYCL to its maximum value (10000) for the least possible loss of system preformance. To protect the timer from being triggered repeatedly by an instable signal when the joystick button is pressed or released, it is possible to define a period of time, during which no check of the input signal is performed after an event. E.g. in car races with longer refractory times this feature can also be useful to prevent the timer started by the front wheels from being stopped by the rear wheels. The strategy: 1. After a valid event (button pressed = signal on = pins connected) the input is scanned for the release of the button. 2. At that moment the refractory time, which determines the period, during which a signal is ignored by the timer, is set to the user-defined REFRACT-value and counted down. 3. If there is another event within this time, the program ignores it and repeats the whole procedure beginning at 1 (scanning for the release of the button...). This loop is performed until no event occurs during the time of delay. 4. Subsequently the timer is active for the next event. The power led indicates the state of this feature. If it shines brighter, the input is inactive. For a premature activation with a running timer you have to lock / unlock the input. A reset also activates the input, but the actually measured time is lost. The format of the actual and total / lap time displayed in the separate screen is shortened depending on the defined TIMEDIGITS values: 3 "00:00:00.000" 2 "00:00:00.00" 1 "00:00:00.0" 0 "00:00:00" The time strings transmitted to the stopwatch window, the output file and Rexx are never truncated to make the further processing easier. When using proportional fonts for time display all digits and the characters " ", "." and ":" must have the same width for correct output and deletion. If necessary modify the respective font with a font-editor. The display screen depth determines the maximum number of screen colors. Depth 1/2/3/4 means 2/4/8/16 colors (colors = depth^2). The time needed for text- and graphics output increases with the screen depth, so avoid unused bitplanes! Toggle between the "StopWatch"- and the Workbench screen with the keys -N and -M. Caution: On my Amiga 2000B PAL with Agnus 8361 / Denise 8362 some baselines (below line 455) are not shown on a screen with the depth of 4 bitplanes, but they are present and can be dumped to the printer by the use of a screen grabber. Maybe this fault does no longer appear in combination with the ECS-Chipset and 1 MB chip memory, but I was not yet able to check this hardware. REXX-COMMANDS The ARexx-port of "StopWatch" can be accessed via its name "RexxStopWatch". So far the following commands are implemented: General: -------- CLOSE ends the program parameters: none LOCKEXIT forbids ending of the program (except via REXX) parameters: none returncode: warn: LOCKEXIT already active UNLOCKEXIT resets the LOCKEXIT-command parameters: none returncode: warn: LOCKEXIT not active RESET resets the timer parameters: none LOCKTIMER disconnects the timer from the joystick port parameters: none UNLOCKTIMER resets the LOCKTIMER-command parameters: none LAPS number of laps per race parameters: returncode: error: no parameter parameter out of range REFRACT refractory (delay) time after a pass parameters: returncode: see "LAPS" CYCLSEC number of timercycles per second parameters: returncode: see "LAPS" VIACYCL coarse tuning of the timer parameters: returncode: see "LAPS" CORRECT timer fine tuning factor [* 1E-6] parameters: < number> returncode: see "LAPS" BEEP display beep after timer events parameters: [ON]/[OFF] returncode: error: no / wrong parameter NEXTTOTAL returns the next total time parameters: none format of result: "00:00:00.000" (depending on "CYCLSEC" filled with "0") returncode: warn: timer overflow (> "99:59:59.999") error: rexx result handling disabled (no "OPTIONS RESULTS" command) NEXTLAP returns the next additive lap time parameters: none format of result: see "NEXTTOTAL" returncode: see "NEXTTOTAL" NEXTSINGLE returns the next single lap time parameters: none format of result: see "NEXTTOTAL" returncode: see "NEXTTOTAL" PREVTOTAL returns the previous total time parameters: none format of result: see "NEXTTOTAL" returncode: see "NEXTTOTAL" PREVLAP returns the previous additive lap time parameters: none format of result: see "NEXTTOTAL" returncode: see "NEXTTOTAL" PREVSINGLE returns the previous single lap time parameters: none format of result: see "NEXTTOTAL" returncode: see "NEXTTOTAL" Display Screen: --------------- SCREENADDRESS returns the pointer to the display screen structure for external screen manipulations (before using this feature you should call the LOCKEXIT-command to avoid a closure of the screen from the workbench, which might cause a system crash) parameters: none result:
returncode: warn: timer overflow error: rexx result handling disabled (no "OPTIONS RESULTS" command) TIMEDIGITS changes the number of digits following the decimal point when the actual and total (lap) time is displayed parameters: returncode: see "LAPS" TIMEPOS changes position of actual, total and lap time parameters: returncode: error: position(s) out of screen range -> no change warn: text too large for correct display -> position(s) shifted TIMECOLOR defines foreground- and background color of time display font parameters: returncode: error: no / wrong parameters TIMEFONT changes the time display font. It also clears the locations of the actual, lap and total time! parameters: returncode: error: no / wrong parameters diskfont not available TEXTFONT changes the text display font used by the ~TEXT~-commands parameters: returncode: see "TIMEFONT" BOXO draws an opaque filled box parameters: returncode: error: no / wrong parameters parameters out of range (object has to fit into the screen) BOXT draws a transparent filled box (by alternation of pixels in foreground- and background color) parameters: returncode: see "BOXO" DRAW draws a dot, line or polygon parameters: for dot for line for polygon .. returncode: see "BOXO" FILL fills an area with a plain color beginning at the specified position, delimited by the determined outline color parameters: returncode: see "BOXO" ELLIPSE draws an opaque filled ellipse parameters:
returncode: see "BOXO" LOGO displays copyright logo parameters: returncode: see "BOXO" CLRLOGO clears copyright logo parameters: returncode: see "BOXO" TEXTR text output from the defined position to the right parameters: returncode: see "BOXO" if necessary text is shortened without error message ! TEXTL text output from the defined position to the left parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" TEXTC text output centered horizontal relative to the position parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTR clears text written with TEXTR parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTL clears text written with TEXTL parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTC clears text written with TEXTC parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" SHADOW sets shadowtext coordinates (in pixels relative to normal text position = 0 / 0) parameters: .. preset: "-1 -1 0 -1 1 -1 -1 0 1 0 -1 1 0 1 1 1" restriction: max. 30 shadows (60 x/y-values) allowed returncode: see "BOXO" TEXTRS text output to the right with shadows parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" TEXTLS text output to the left with shadows parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" TEXTCS text output centered horizontal with shadows parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTRS clears text written with TEXTRS parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTLS clears text written with TEXTLS parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" CLRTEXTCS clears text written with TEXTCS parameters: returncode: see "TEXTR" The ARexx returncode values are 0 for OK, 5 for WARN and 10 for ERROR. The valid data range for the commands LAPS, REFRACT, CYCLSEC, VIACYCL and CORRECT is already described above. For a correct sizing of the CLRTEXT~-commands you have to activate the same text display font you used for the corresponding TEXT~-command which has to be wiped out. In the same manner for clearing a text displayed with a shadowtext command (CLRTEXT~S) the shadows must be set to their correct values. For further details I refer to the example program "StopWatch.rexx", which comes along with this package. The abortion of NEXTTOTAL, NEXTLAP or NEXTSINGLE with "Abort RexxCmd" returns an error level 10 in RC. If the "OPTIONS RESULTS" command is not active when commands expect a return value (~TOTAL, ~LAP, ~SINGLE, SCREENADDRESS), an error level 10 is returned. IMPLEMENTATION Most of the code is written in M2Amiga Modula 2 V3.1d (really antique version) by AMSoft. I have implemented the interrupt routines in assembler using the Aztec C 3.6a Assembler. Thanks to CygnusSoft for their excellent editor, which helped me to keep the source together. HISTORY V 2.0 - First released version of the program, which already supports the different Workbench fonts of AmigaDOS 2.0. V 3.0 - Continuous time display in the program window. - New timer REXX-Commands: PREVTOTAL, PREVLAP, PREVSINGLE, LOCKEXIT, UNLOCKEXIT, LOCKTIMER, UNLOCKTIMER, BEEP. - REXX-Commands GET... renamed to NEXT... !! - Optional display-beep on all screens with the timer event. Activation by the CLI-Option -b and the ToolType BEEP=ON. - Correct 3D-Display also with the color palette of AmigaDOS 2.0. - Assembly routines now coded and optimized with the Aztec Assembler, no longer with the Data Becker Profimat-Assembler. - REXX interface improved (unknown commands are sent back to the server and don't cause Guru Meditations any longer..). - Display Screen for genlock interaction. Features: - Up to 16-color screen. Number of bit-planes and colors definable by the user. - Variable screen dimensions. Overscan supported. - Free font selection. Color fonts in combination with the "ColorText" program from the Calligrapher software package possible. - Position of actual, lap- and total time not fixed. - Text- and graphics output via Rexx-commands (TIMEPOS, TIMECOLOR, TIMEFONT, TEXTFONT, BOXO, BOXT, ELLIPSE, DRAW, FILL, TEXTR, TEXTL, TEXTC, CLRTEXTR, CLRTEXTL, CLRTEXTC, SHADOW, TEXTRS, TEXTLS, TEXTCS, CLRTEXTRS, CLRTEXTLS, CLRTEXTCS, LOGO, CLRLOGO). SCREENADDRESS makes screen manipulations by external programs possible. V 3.0S - Shareware version of StopWatch V3.0. The sometimes on the display screen appearing "Danner Timing"-logo reminds you to order the full version and pay your registration fee. The package consists of: StopWatch Version 3.0S of the executable file StopWatch.doc the user manual StopWatch.rexx a demo file for ARexx-interfacing StopWatch.pic a snapshot of the StopWatch screen while running StopWatch.rexx (for those who do not yet use ARexx) COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1991 by Christian Danner. All rights reserved. The author is not responsible for any damage caused by the use of the program "StopWatch". The shareware versions 2.0 and 3.0S of this program may only be redistributed on non-commercial base without changes together with their documentation files. They must not be distributed on commercial base without my explicit written permission. If you use these versions more frequently, especially in a professional manner, I won't refuse a little fee. Version 3.0, which is neither in the public domain, nor shareware, can be obtained via my address for the amount of 50 US$ or 80 DM (only bills) including airmail postage and registration. Already registered users only have to send me 5 US$ or 10 DM for forwarding expenses to receive the latest version. Because of the external generation of the system frequency in genlock mode I can not guarantee a correct time measurement in combination with all kinds of genlock interfaces. So please check your hardware with one of the shareware versions of this program before ordering. For further improvements please let me know of all the bugs you find and all the options you miss. Every attempt will be made to solve your problems within a reasonable amount of time. My address: Christian Danner Rißkopfstraße 10 8106 Oberau Germany Phone: 08824/8122