Overview

This section will give you an overview over the graphical user interface. You can get detailed information by clicking on the appropriate regions on the following screenshot or you can simply go on reading all of the regions here.

 

Menu Bar

The menu offers you the following items:

New

Creates a blank Project. Clears recorded data, device list, scripts and notes.

Open

Open an existing Project ( .irc file )
Only projects saved with V2.x.x can be opened.
To open projects from V1.x.x they must be converted with the IRC file converter.

Save As

Save the current Project as an .irc file

Print

Print the current Project

Export

Export the collected data as bmp or csv file for use in other programs

Settings

Change the behavior of IRC

Start IRC File Converter

Opens the IRC File Converter

Exit

Exits the program

IRC Help

Shows this help

About IRC

Displays information about IRC ( e.g. version )

 

Diagram

The main part of the screen is filled with the diagram. It shows the graph of the values recorded by the devices. Which values are drawn in the diagram can be selected at the checkboxes in the device list.

All values are shown in one diagram, therefore different y-axis scales are shown on the left. The y-axis scales are dynamically created.
The first scale  Lvl (Level 1-5) refers to values with nondimensional units:

Tempcontrol 37-2 digital
* Heating On =1 / Off=0

CTI-Controller 3700 digital
* CO2 Regulator On =1 / Off=0
* Ventilation level 1-5
* Heating level 1-3
* Overheat Yes=1 / No=0

CO2-Controller
* CO2 Regulator On =1 / Off=0
* Pump level 0-5

The two other y-axis scales  CO2 (CO2 values from 0% - 10%) and Tmp (temperature in steps of 1° Celsius) are self explaining. 
The x-axis on the bottom represents the timeline which can be moved / stretched by moving the slider on the bottom or by changing the time scale (see next section).

 

Recording and Diagram Control

This part of the screen gives you control over the recording and the display of the recorded data. You can Start / Stop the data recording with the "Record" button on the left. Please note that data can only be recorded continuously. Before the recording is really stopped a message box appears. Also before a new recording is started a message box reminds you that this action will clear the previously recorded data of all devices. For more information see also Recording Data .
All data that has been recorded in the current project can be erased by using the "Clear " button. In contrast to the "File/New" command this function only erases the recorded data, while "New" also removes scripts, project notes and all devices from the device list.
The time displayed next to these two buttons (Format =  hh:mm:ss) shows the time that has elapsed since the start of recording (relative time).

During recording the time axis in the diagram is normally fixed. If you record longer than the time that is displayed on the x-axis the newer values are not directly displayed. Use the "Auto-Scroll " checkbox to change this behavior. Now newest data is always displayed on the right side of the diagram, while the time axis automatically scrolls to the left.

"Absolute Time " changes the way the recording time is displayed at the x-axis. If it is checked the date and time (system time/date) of data recording is displayed. In the other case the relative time that has elapsed since start of recording is shown.

The "Zoom - Out" and "Zoom - In" buttons change the timescale resolution of the x-axis. It is possible to change the scale from five seconds up to one day per scale unit. The current scale is displayed between the two buttons. The number of time points shown on the diagram is dependent on the size of the program window. This is important when formatting the diagram for export . Rescale the window to size the diagram and crop unwanted information for best export results.

 

Device List

This part of the screen gives you information about connected / disconnected devices. Every device has it's own device box and must be addressed clearly by the COM port it is connected to and it's internal address (ID).

A red background in the headline of the device box shows that this device is currently offline (device does not answer to IRC requests). Either the remote control mode of the device is not active (see manual) or another problem is disturbing the communication (e.g. cable disconnected). "n/a" means that a value is currently not available.

You can set up the diagram color for every recorded parameter by clicking in the small colored boxes on the left. The checkbox right next to it allows you to show/hide the graph of the respective parameter on the diagram.

On the right side the current values of the device are shown. You can change the setpoint values by a simple click into the text boxes next to "Nominal" parameters and enter the new value with a final "Return" on the keyboard.

To change the time between the inquiry of new device data (polling interval) open the device settings window by clicking on the  button. The default value is 10 sec. Each device can be set up with it's own polling interval.

The description of the heating channels of Tempcontrol 37-2 digital can be changed by clicking on the device settings button . In the following settings window you can enter channel names in the textboxes. You also get information about the device driver (plug-in), the device status (connected / not connected), the COM-port and the address (ID) used for this device and the accepted RS232 interface versions of the device (for internal device identification).

 

Device List Buttons

In this section you can add new devices to your project manually ( "Add device" ) or scan for all connected devices with the other button ( "Scan for Devices " ). The last button allows an easy an quick setup of the device list after starting the program or a new project. You can get detailed information in the chapter Managing Devices.

 

Script

Here you can create, delete and edit the scripts which are applied to your project. All existing events are listed in the listbox. Status messages are shown below in the status bar. You can get detailed information in the chapter Script Programming.

 

Notes

This window shows the project notes. It's also used to edit the notes (simply click into the window and change the text).