On Jan 3, 2019, at 5:37 AM, whmvd <vandoornw@...> wrote:

Hello again, Bob,

Thanks for bearing with me on this.

It didn't go quite as planned when I went looking for the global variables 'turnouts', 'masts' and 'sensors'. Weirdly, turnouts and sensors are there, but masts is not. That is now the only little niggle left. Considering where I was only yesterday, that's a nnumber of huge leaps forward. The error reported is "global name 'masts' is not defined". I can bypass the problem easily by including the following line in my code:

masts = jmri.InstanceManager.getDefault(jmri.SignalMastManager)

but that's really cheating, shouldn't be necessary and keeps the back of my mind worried at what else could go wrong when I continue. Any advice on this?masts = jmri.InstanceManager.getDefault(jmri.SignalMastManager)

Wouter

On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 at 20:31, Wouter van Doorn <vandoornw@...> wrote:
Hi Bob,

Re 1) Not only did I think that was the way to do it, I was also (and am still) just building my 'library of tricks' to use in the proper, big script later on. This is one of the stages of learning! I have now removed the join, and made the spawned threads daemons, and that now works a *lot* better! Not only do I now get error messages when I need them (hurray!), the user interface no longer locks up, as you predicted (double hurray!).

Re 2) The line you mention is there. I'll see next what happens when I do not create that 'sensors' variable myself. IF it still goes wrong, at least I have an error message now to tell me where and how I goofed.

It's a lot better already, so thank you very much for the help so far. I'll let you know the result of the test once I get to it, which won't be today, but I hope to find time tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Wouter

On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 at 20:03, Bob Jacobsen <rgj1927@...> wrote:
1) Why make the main thread wait with a join? What does that do for you?

2) I’m not a Bash expert, but that looks like it should work. Somehow, Jython isn’t initializing properly for you. Are you getting a line like this in the log?

2019-01-02 11:58:29,512 script.JmriScriptEngineManager INFO - python 2.7 is provided by jython 2.7.0 [AWT-EventQueue-0]

When I force an error, I get output that starts like:

2019-01-02 11:58:41,099 jython.InputWindow ERROR - Error executing script [AWT-EventQueue-0]
javax.script.ScriptException: NameError: name 'xo' is not defined in <script> at line number 1
at org.python.jsr223.PyScriptEngine.scriptException(PyScriptEngine.java:202)
at org.python.jsr223.PyScriptEngine.eval(PyScriptEngine.java:42)
at org.python.jsr223.PyScriptEngine.eval(PyScriptEngine.java:31)
at javax.script.AbstractScriptEngine.eval(AbstractScriptEngine.java:264)

Bob

On Jan 2, 2019, at 8:24 AM, whmvd <vandoornw@...> wrote:

Hi Bob ,

Thanks for the quick reaction.
Re 1: I actually do that in a separate thread - but then the first thread waits while 'join'ing the subthread, so that remains the same problem, really. Do I need to make the subthread a daemon one and let the main thread just go? That would seem to make sense?

Re 2: I use 'Run script...' from the Tables menu. If it helps, this is the script I use to start jmri (which should be good enough):
=============================
#!/bin/bash

cd $HOME/JMRI
nohup ./PanelPro >>$HOME/Desktop/.PanelPro.log 2>&1 &
=============================
Everything I log neatly shows up in the file on the desktop. The install is squeaky-clean; everything I do is in the user files area, nothing in the installation directory. VERY interesting that 'sensors' and 'turnouts' should have been predefined...

Wouter



On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 at 15:52, Bob Jacobsen <rgj1927@...> wrote:
1) There are ways to do this. They start off looking complicated, but you have to remember that asking the program to sleep _actually_ _works_: If you do that in the main program, the main program sleeps so that you can’t click, etc. Instead, you have to hive your turnout activity into a little separate item (called a “thread”) which can run and sleep independently.



2) How are you running your scripts? When I run something (i.e. while debugging) from a Script Entry window, the syntax error and runtime error messages show up nicely on JMRI System console window. Perhaps you’re running them a different way or there’s something else wrong?

Another clue that something is wrong is not seeing “turnouts” and “sensors” predefined. They _definitely_ should be.

Bob

On Jan 2, 2019, at 7:42 AM, whmvd <vandoornw@...> wrote:

Hello scripting-gurus,

For quite a while now, I've been fighting python/jython rather than using it, and frustration is building up. I want to like it, I want to work with it - but it's not making it easy. For now, I'd like to focus on two things that make life very hard:

1) A small test script that looks up a turnout (successfully) checks its status (thrown or closed), logs it and sleeps for 0.2 seconds before checking again until it is what I want it to be does not allow me to operate any of my four panels (3x Panel Editor, 1x Layout Editor). The only things that can be operated are the resize buttons on the window and the positioning. So I can't throw the turnout to let the test program complete (the log line appears every 0.2 seconds, so it sort of seems to work). I would have thought that the time.sleep(200/1000.0) would allow me to do things instead of the whole interface being locked up? (BTW: specifically not looking for different ways to do this; I know I should add a listener and make that react, and I will end up doing that anyway - I am trying to understand why the simple thing I'd like to do cannot work)

2) When I make one of my frequent coding errors, the result is the same as described above - interface locked up except for the sizing/positioning of windows). I get no error logged. Nothing on standard output or standard error, and nothing in the console. Zilch. This leaves me having to guess where I could have gone wrong, instead of being able to look at a stack dump. For instance: I thought in my optimism that the variables 'turnouts' and 'sensors' where predefined when importing jmri, so I was happily using them. That caused the lock-up with no message at all. Finding the cause of that took me several frustrating days. I hope to turn this back into a hobby!

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Wouter

PS: using JMRI 4.14 on Linux Mint 18.3.

--
Bob Jacobsen
rgj1927@...

--
Bob Jacobsen
rgj1927@...

I keep dipping in and out of SoundPro, I feel there is something?interesting here but it doesn't quite play. Are you able to map the engine start and stop to a function button? I've got whistles etc mapped as I can see that in the config file, but I can't figure out how to do the start/stop.
Thanks,
Scott

Dave Heap,

I have not received anything from you today, no image as you suggest, above.? However, thanks for the help you have given me!

Mark Deschane

I've been following your progress with interest. The part I've kind of figured out is this.
I'm going to have a play with configuring the VSD files, including looking at which function buttons (is that the same as "notches" ?) each sound is allocated to. Is there any JMRI or other standard specs for what particular function applies to a particular button ?
In the VSD files you can see the function mapping.
<trigger name="HORN_START" type="BOOLEAN">
<event-name>F2</event-name>
<target-name>WHISTLE</target-name>
<match>true</match>
<action>LOOP</action>
? ? ? </trigger>
F2 is a whistle.
What I can't figure out is the sound stop and start! If I'm controlling from Engine Driver on my Android the engine keeps playing until I open VSD and stop it.

Hi Klaus
Thanks for your response in the previous post, Here's some feedback:

Q1. JMRI simulator mode

You can use JMRI without a connection to the layout. This is the simulator
mode. I use the LocoNet Simulator (
) and VSD works fine with it.

Please create a new profile in Edit >> Preferences >> Config Profiles >>
New, if you want to give it a try. After a JMRI restart select "Digitrax"
as the system manufacturer and "LocoNet Simulator" as the
system connection.

Awesome !!? I got that going pretty quickly in my study on my Windows laptop, changed a few settings and tidied up my roster, copied the changed files up to my Google Drive and replaced them from the GD onto the memory stick in the RasPi which runs the layout. Love the simulator mode as it allows me to do heaps "offline".? My wife thought I'd moved the layout into the study, with all the Bells and Whistles going off !

Q2. Throttles

When I add a VSDecoder in VSDecoder Manager, I add a JMRI throttle as
well. One JMRI throttle for each VSDecoder. When I have a connection to my
layout, I prefer physical throttes. The DCC address in VSDecoder and
throttle must match, of course. Using WiThrottle and Engine Driver is a
common way to control locos (up to four, I think). An open VSDecoder
Manager with minimum one VSDecoder is required to control a loco.

Copy that !! What a good idea. I did that in the simulator and also on the layout with monitor/keyboard attached to the RasPi. Then I SSH'd and VNC'd into the RasPi from my Linux laptop and iPad in the garage and removed the monitor/keyboard?(which gets in the way of running the trains.? So now I've got a match-box size computer running everything with remote UI access to change anything !

Q3. "VSD faceless" is not yet part of JMRI. The setup could be something
like:
1) Create and configure a roster for each VSDecoder
2) Put them into a roster group named "VSD"
3) Configure a throttle key for each VSDecoder to start/stop the engine
4) Set JMRI startup: Start Virtual Sound Decoder Manager and Web Server
5) Run JMRI with option apps.JmriFaceless

On your last SD> comment:
It should be possible to auto-start RasPi and JMRI and VSD without any
interaction, and to shutdown as well. On my local test environment I can
drive a loco with VSD sound (simulator mode) via JMRI Web server
(). Open point: how to
shutdown.

I'm going to leave the faceless stuff for now, but I'm already able to start the RasPi from cold or reboot with the following Startup "init-jmri" code in the Pi:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -o errexit
if [ `mount | grep google-drive-ocamlfuse | wc -l` -eq 0 ]
then
? echo "mounting google drive"
? google-drive-ocamlfuse ~/google-drive
fi
echo "starting DecoderPro"
$HOME/JMRI/DecoderPro
This code mounts and syncs Google Drive each time i start/reboot the RasPi then starts up VNC server with the required settings, then launches JMRI which has a bunch of internal startup commands which start WiThrottle, Webserver, VSDecoder, roster, turnout-table, turnout panel, etc. so that when I VNC into the Pi a can see and interact with all these windows on the laptop.
As for shutting down, i just ssh a Linux "reboot" command to make a fresh start of JMRI, or else ssh "poweroff" to shut down the RasPi completely.
I'm going to have a play with configuring the VSD files, including looking at which function buttons (is that the same as "notches" ?) each sound is allocated to. Is there any JMRI or other standard specs for what particular function applies to a particular button ?
BTW. Is there any provision for including photos in the jmriusers posts ?? I wanted to include a shot of the RasPi JMRI UI as seen by my iPad.
Cheers
Graham - @SettleDown

On 3 Jan 2019, at 9:58 PM, Dave Heap via Groups.Io <dgheap@...> wrote:

Just because a loco on the programming track returns an exact match to either:

If somebody wanted to read the ProductID from the decoder, that could be done only when needed by putting another check on the number left selected at the end fo the code in RosterFrame, and perhaps in the other places.