Signals
We refer to BOOL, BUS, STATE, Serial Protocol, and custom decoded signals as 'Signals.' DigiView™ treats them all the same. They each have a custom editor for setting their parameters, a custom waveform display routine, and custom measurement routines, but they use the same plug-in framework so they have a consistent feel and consistent capabilities.Serial Protocol plug-ins are often called 'Protocol Analyzers' and BUS and STATE signals are often called 'Decoders'. Both terms are applied to Custom Plug-ins. We refer to them collectively as 'Signals.'
Abstraction
DigiView takes a different approach. It abstracts the physical channels into 'signals'. A signal can be a boolean (a single channel), a bus (composed of multiple channels), a state (a clocked bus), or any of several serial protocols. You add the signals you are monitoring to the project. For example, if you are monitoring an SPI, an I2C, and an 8 bit state signal, you would add 3 signals.
When you add a signal, a signal-specific editor opens so you can specify the decode parameters (BAUD, clock edge...) and assign channels to each of the signal's functions (clock, data, cs...)
The waveform view shows the decoded signals, rather than a list of channels as raw booleans. This allows you to ignore the individual channels and focus on the decoded values. Each signal type (except BOOL) can be expanded, so you can still see the timing of the underlying BOOLs or BUSes when desirable.
This abstraction carries through to tables, lists, waveforms, exporting, and triggering. For example, if you had an SPI signal called SPI-1, you could specify a trigger on 'falling edge of SPI-1.cs' to trigger when the the channel assigned to SPI-1 signal's 'cs' function goes low. You can reassign which channels are used in each signal at any time, without invalidating triggers or other settings. The previous trigger example would remain valid even if you reassign the 'cs' function to a different channel.
- Retains full timing information
- Can see the Protocol timing in relationship to other signals
- Can create multiple signals of each type
- Allows you to see WHERE an error occurs within a frame, helping to diagnose the cause.
- Allows you to tweak the decode settings without doing a new capture
- Allows channel sharing. For example, 4 SPI signals could share clock and data channels, using only 7 channels instead of 16.
- Allows arbitrary channel assignments
Common Configuration Items
The following configuration items are common to ALL signal editors. Each specific signal type has additional configuration items that are described in their individual signal descriptions.Common portion of Configuration Editors
Signal Name
Change the text displayed here to help you identify this signal definition. If the name has already been used, it will automatically be appended with a numerical value in brackets (i.e. [2]). The name displayed here will be used in the Waveform Views, Searches, Tabular Views, Exports, Trigger Configurations and all menu references.Disable Signal
Check this item to completely disable the Signal Definition. It is recommended to disable any signals that use channels that are not connected to a physical device. When a capture takes place ("Run"), any channels that are assigned to disabled signals will be ignored instead of using valuable capture space.Plot Output
Check this item to enable Plotting for this signal. If checked, all waveform views will display plotted data as defined by the Plot Series configurations. You must enable and configure at least one Plot Series before any plotted data is visible. Up to 4 individual plots can be configured for each signal. (see: Plotting Signal Data).Plot Series 1 - 4 tabs
If "Plot Output" is selected, up to 4 plots can be defined. If enabled and at least one Plot Series is defined, all waveform views will display the data in a plotted format. (see: Plotting Signal Data).Color Selection & Examples
An example of the signal is displayed in the current color scheme, followed by an example of the current color selections for this signal and a color reset button. Clicking on one of the color squares will open the Color Selection dialog to change the Signal line color and its background color if a color other than the theme color is desired.Reset Signal Colors
This button will reset the colors for this signal so that they will match the currently selected color theme (see: Color Themes).Channel Options
This is where you will associate a signal definition with the physical channels or connections to the outside world. Each signal definition type will have one or more channel selection groups and will allow one or more channels to be selected for each group. Each channel selection group will be identified on its left if more than one group is available for the signal type. To select a channel, click on the " - " below the proper color (and channel number) that corresponds to the physical connection of the DigiView Cable (see: Connecting the Data Lines). Channels that are selected for this signal will replace the " - " with a blue square as shown above. The gray arrow beneath each channel color is an activity indicator that displays the activity of the channel as compared to the activity of all the other channels (relational, not real time).Rowlett, TX 75030-2408
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