Resource for learning TCP/IP command and control?

[Brian]

I am trying to learn how to send/receive messages from WatchOUT but the manual is extremely lacking in anything that could be considered real documentation... are there other resources with better/more complete information? Like examples and samples and not just "hey open a connection and send this command!" cause that tells me nothing...

 

Thanks!

[RBeddig]

Hmmm,

If you know the IP number and port of the device to control and the protocol, there is not much to add to the manual.

Create a string output, set this to TCP/IP or UDP - most people don't have COM ports anymore on their computers - and drag the new entry from the output window into the timeline. Give it any name and type the correct command into the big empty space.

The problem in the communication is usually the receiver. Some devices react when you just send the string, others need a delimiter at the end like carriage return ($0D) or maybe even a start byte. Some devices want TCP/IP, others can live with UDP (no receipt for received strings).

My approach is usually to use something like PuTTY on the production computer and then try out the strings which you'll hopefully find in the device documentation of the third-party device to be controlled.

Once you've learned which commands work with your device, you can copy those strings into the cues and fire them off in your timeline.