ISwitchV2 Interface
Defines the ISwitchV2 Interface

Namespace: ASCOM.DeviceInterface
Assembly: ASCOM.DeviceInterfaces (in ASCOM.DeviceInterfaces.dll) Version: 6.0.0.0 (6.2.0.2774)
Syntax
public interface ISwitchV2

The ISwitchV2 type exposes the following members.

Properties
  NameDescription
Public propertyConnected
Set True to connect to the device hardware. Set False to disconnect from the device hardware. You can also read the property to check whether it is connected. This reports the current hardware state.
Public propertyDescription
Returns a description of the device, such as manufacturer and modelnumber. Any ASCII characters may be used.
Public propertyDriverInfo
Descriptive and version information about this ASCOM driver.
Public propertyDriverVersion
A string containing only the major and minor version of the driver.
Public propertyInterfaceVersion
The interface version number that this device supports. Should return 2 for this interface version.
Public propertyMaxSwitch
The number of switch devices managed by this driver
Public propertyName
The short name of the driver, for display purposes
Public propertySupportedActions
Returns the list of action names supported by this driver.
Top
Methods
  NameDescription
Public methodCode exampleAction
Invokes the specified device-specific action.
Public methodCanWrite
Reports if the specified switch device can be written to, default true. This is false if the device cannot be written to, for example a limit switch or a sensor.
Public methodCommandBlind
Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and does not wait for a response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission.
Public methodCommandBool
Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and waits for a boolean response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission.
Public methodCommandString
Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and waits for a string response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission.
Public methodDispose
Dispose the late-bound interface, if needed. Will release it via COM if it is a COM object, else if native .NET will just dereference it for GC.
Public methodGetSwitch
Return the state of switch device id as a boolean
Public methodGetSwitchDescription
Gets the description of the specified switch device. This is to allow a fuller description of the device to be returned, for example for a tool tip.
Public methodGetSwitchName
Return the name of switch device n.
Public methodGetSwitchValue
Returns the value for switch device id as a double
Public methodMaxSwitchValue
Returns the maximum value for this switch device, this must be greater than MinSwitchValue(Int16).
Public methodMinSwitchValue
Returns the minimum value for this switch device, this must be less than MaxSwitchValue(Int16)
Public methodSetSwitch
Sets a switch controller device to the specified state, true or false.
Public methodSetSwitchName
Set a switch device name to a specified value.
Public methodSetSwitchValue
Set the value for this device as a double.
Public methodSetupDialog
Launches a configuration dialog box for the driver. The call will not return until the user clicks OK or cancel manually.
Public methodSwitchStep
Returns the step size that this device supports (the difference between successive values of the device).
Top
Remarks

The Switch interface is used to define a number of 'switch devices'. A switch device can be used to control something, such as a power switch or may be used to sense the state of something, such as a limit switch.

This SwitchV2 interface is an extension of the original Switch interface. The changes allow devices to have more than two states and to distinguish between devices that are writable and those that are read only.

Compatibility between Switch and SwitchV2 interfaces:

  • Switch devices that implemented the original Switch interface and client applications that use the original interface will still work together.
  • Client applications that implement the original Switch interface should still work with drivers that implement the new interface.
  • Client applications that use the new features in this interface will not work with drivers that do not implement the new interface.

Each device has a CanWrite method, this is true if it can be written to or false if the device can only be read.

The new MinSwitchValue, MaxSwitchValue and SwitchStep methods are used to define the range and values that a device can handle. This also defines the number of different values - states - that a device can have, from two for a traditional on-off switch, through those with a small number of states to those which have many states.

The SetSwitchValue and GetSwitchValue methods are used to set and get the value of a device as a double.

There is no fundamental difference between devices with different numbers of states.

Naming Conventions

Each device handled by a Switch is known as a device or switch device for general cases, a controller device if it can alter the state of the device and a sensor device if it can only be read.

For convenience devices are referred to as boolean if the device can only have two states, and multi-state if it can have more than two values. These are treated the same in the interface definition.

See Also