NET Connect Download
Software
NETConnect_v0.6.zip - added Counter widget, Mac only, PC version coming mid-June, 2007
NETLabConnect_v1_1.zip - Mac & PC compatible, fixed saving widget settings bug, changed to zero based ports
Change Summary
- Add full Windows compatibility - the widgets can be used in Flash on Windows, and there is a new version NETLab Connect Hub for Windows.
- Fixed a widget settings bug where if you ran an SWF outside of Flash, the settings would be lost. This was due to a bug in Flash. We've worked around this, and now as long as you keep the .xml settings file in the same directory and with the same name as your .swf, the widget settings will be preserved. If you change the name of your .swf, be sure the make a copy of the .xml file and give it the same name as the .swf to keep your old settings. Note also that if you change the instance name or port of a widget, it gets a fresh set of settings.
- The input widgets (Analog, Digital) now have a sampleRate parameter. This allows you to control how many times per second the microcontroller is polled for values. The default is set to 30 times/second, but in some situations you may want to have a lower sampleRate to keep communication traffic or processor load lower. This will become especially important when we add the wireless re.moto capability.
Several widgets implement the netFeed() function (e.g. AnalogInput, ClipControl, Counter) to gain ActionScript access to values. In the previous version, this was named iosFeed() in most cases -- netFeed is now used consistently in all widgets.
- In the new 1.0 version, Widgets use 0 (zero) for the first port on a microcontroller. Previous versions used 1 (one). This change reflects the standards used in microcontroller documentation and implementations. Initially we thought it would easier for designers to have it start at 1, but we decided it would be better to follow the documentation and not create any confusion due to the differences.
In version 0.6, the Counter widget was introduced. This widget provides the capability to monitor a sensor for certain values and increment a counter each time that threshold is reached. This is especially useful for physical buttons and other sensors that need to be used to trigger actions such as toggling a sound on/off, or advancing through a series of frames in a Flash MovieClip. Other widgets that perform this kind of post processing are planned (e.g. a Timer widget that will initiate the output of a stream of values based on some input threshold). Please let me know if you have suggestions for these post processing widgets.
- For the Make Controller, we strongly suggest using the new 1.2 version of Heavy, which seems to be much more stable. For example, when reading an analog input and driving a PWM or Servo output, the Make Controller used to crash frequently. So far, in our testing this no longer occurs.
If you are using Flash CS3, you must create an ActionScript 2.0 document to use this version of the widgets.
Installation Notes
- Download the software and unzip
Put the Flash components in the Flash application folder>Configuration>Components
Configure your microcontroller and computer to communicate - Make Controller, BrainstemConfig
- Start up the NET Connect Hub application
- Try out the NET Connect Example.fla file which is set up to listen to the #7 analog input port and move a graphic. OR
Drag the desired NET Connect Interface component onto the Flash stage and configure it in the Properties>Parameters window
- Test the movie
Use the NetConnectDocumentation for more details
Note for Flash CS3 users
To use the Flash components in Flash CS3 (i.e. version 9), you must set the document to use ActionScript v2 not v3
By fall of 2007, we'll release a CS3, ActionScript 3 version of the NET Connect Interface components