catching error when aborting ASCOM connect; improved reception of LCD contents; persistent storing of UART settings; better telescope initialization when connecting with UART

Author: scriptorron

src/ASCOM.py

@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@ def open(self):
         else:
             Chooser.DeviceType = 'Telescope'
             self.Name = Chooser.Choose(None)
-            self.Telescope = win32com.client.Dispatch(self.Name)
-            self.Telescope.Connected = True
-            if not self.Telescope.Connected:
-                QtWidgets.QMessageBox.critical(None, "Can not connect to telescope!",
-                                               f"Please check connection to\n{self.Name}.\nMaybe it is already in use.")
-                self.Telescope = None
+            if self.Name != "":
+                self.Telescope = win32com.client.Dispatch(self.Name)
+                self.Telescope.Connected = True
+                if not self.Telescope.Connected:
+                    QtWidgets.QMessageBox.critical(None, "Can not connect to telescope!",
+                                                   f"Please check connection to\n{self.Name}.\nMaybe it is already in use.")
+                    self.Telescope = None
 
     def get_Parameter(self):
         # has no parameter
@@ -56,13 +57,37 @@ def sendCommandBlind(self, cmd):
                 return ret
         return None
 
-    def sendCommandString(self, cmd):
+    # The :ED# command sends the LCD contents, coded with the char table of the SED1233 LCD controller.
+    # For any reason the COM interface or the win32com transforms this into unicode. Unfortunately the
+    # special characters of the SED1233 controller get mapped to the wrong unicode. Here we fix this
+    # with a translation table:
+    CharacterTranslationTable = {
+        0x0d: ord('\n'),
+        # 0x2020: ord(' '),
+        0xDF: ord('°'),
+        0x7E: 0x2192,  # ord('>'),
+        0x7F: 0x2190,  # ord('<'),
+        0x18: 0x2191,  # ord('^'),
+        0x19: 0x2193,  # ord('v'),
+        # bar graph symbols
+        0x5F: 0x2582,
+        0x81: 0x2583,
+        0x201A: 0x2584,  # raw: 0x82
+        0x0192: 0x2585,  # raw: 0x83
+        0x201E: 0x2586,  # raw: 0x84
+        0x2026: 0x2587,  # raw: 0x85
+        0x2020: 0x2588,  # raw: 0x86
+    }
+
+    def get_LCD(self):
         if self.is_open():
             try:
-                return self.Telescope.CommandString(cmd, False)
+                Response = self.Telescope.CommandString("ED", False)
             except win32com.client.pywintypes.com_error as e:
                 # Sometimes the handbox needs long time for calculations and does not
                 # send the LCD contents before the ASCOM driver trows a timeout exception.
                 # Here we catch these timeout exceptions.
-                print(f'updateLCD: {e}')
+                print(f'ERROR in get_LCD: {e}')
+            #print(f'sendCommandString response: {Response}')
+            return Response[1:].translate(self.CharacterTranslationTable)
         return None

src/AutoSTAR_remote.py

@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@
   + ? :EK63#
 """
 
+"""
+21:06:26.686 UTCDate                   Set - 11.22.22 20:06:26
+21:06:26.686 SendString                Transmitting #:GG#
+21:06:26.704 SendString                Received -01
+21:06:26.708 SendChars                 Transmitting #:SL21:06:26#   <-- 21:06
+21:06:26.744 SendChars                 Received 1
+21:06:26.744 SendChars                 Transmitting #:SC11.22.22#   <-- 22. Nov 2022
+21:06:26.962 SendChars                 Received 1
+"""
+
 
 class MainWin(QtWidgets.QMainWindow):
     """
@@ -156,6 +166,10 @@ def on_actionconnect_UART_triggered(self):
         self.Interface.open()
         if self.Interface.is_open():
             print("DBG: UART is open")
+            Parameter = self.Interface.get_Parameter()
+            for k, v in Parameter.items():
+                self.Settings.setValue(k, v)
+            self.Settings.sync()
             self.update_GuiOpenInterface()
         else:
             self.Interface.close()
@@ -199,41 +213,19 @@ def buttonAction(self, cmd, long_cmd=None):
         self.PollingTimer.setInterval(LCD_earlyUpdate_time)
         self.PollingTimer.start()
 
-    # The :ED# command sends the LCD contents, coded with the char table of the SED1233 LCD controller.
-    # For any reason the COM interface or the win32com transforms this into unicode. Unfortunately the
-    # special characters of the SED1233 controller get mapped to the wrong unicode. Here we fix this
-    # with a translation table:
-    CharacterTranslationTable = {
-        0x0d: ord('\n'),
-        # 0x2020: ord(' '),
-        0xDF: ord('°'),
-        0x7E: 0x2192,  # ord('>'),
-        0x7F: 0x2190,  # ord('<'),
-        0x18: 0x2191,  # ord('^'),
-        0x19: 0x2193,  # ord('v'),
-        # bar graph symbols
-        0x5F: 0x2582,
-        0x81: 0x2583,
-        0x201A: 0x2584,  # raw: 0x82
-        0x0192: 0x2585,  # raw: 0x83
-        0x201E: 0x2586,  # raw: 0x84
-        0x2026: 0x2587,  # raw: 0x85
-        0x2020: 0x2588,  # raw: 0x86
-    }
-
     def updateLCD(self):
         LcdText = None
         if self.Interface is not None:
-            LcdText = self.Interface.sendCommandString("ED")
+            LcdText = self.Interface.get_LCD()
         if LcdText is not None:
-            LcdText = LcdText.translate(self.CharacterTranslationTable)
-            Unknown = ord(LcdText[0])
-            Line1 = LcdText[1:17]
-            Line2 = LcdText[17:]
+            Line1 = LcdText[0:16]
+            Line2 = LcdText[16:]
             self.ui.plainTextEdit_LCD.setPlainText(f'{Line1}\n{Line2}')
             # print(f'{Unknown}: >{Line1}< >{Line2}<')
             # print(", ".join([f'{ord(c):02X}' for c in LcdText]))
             # print(bytes(LcdText, 'utf-8'))
+        else:
+            print('DBG: no response from get_LCD.')
         if self.ui.actionpoll.isChecked():
             if not self.PollingTimer.isActive():
                 self.PollingTimer.setInterval(LCD_polling_time)

src/UART.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
 import sys
 import os
+import datetime
 import serial
 import serial.tools.list_ports
 
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ def find_Ports(self, include_links=False):
 
     def open(self, timeout=2.0, write_timeout=None, inter_byte_timeout=None, exclusive=False):
         ret = self.exec_()
-        if ret == self.Accepted:
+        if (ret == self.Accepted) and (len(self.KnownPorts) > 0):
             self.Name = self.ui.comboBox_ComPort.currentText()
             port = self.KnownPorts[self.ui.comboBox_ComPort.currentIndex()]["port"]
             baudrate = int(self.ui.comboBox_Speed.currentText())
@@ -107,6 +108,29 @@ def open(self, timeout=2.0, write_timeout=None, inter_byte_timeout=None, exclusi
             except serial.SerialException as e:
                 QtWidgets.QMessageBox.critical(None, "Can not open UART port!", f"{e}")
                 self.PortHandle = None
+            self.initializeCommunication()
+
+    def initializeCommunication(self):
+        if self.is_open():
+            # clear the buffer
+            self.PortHandle.write('#'.encode("ascii"))
+            # Attempting manual bypass of prompts
+            for i in range(10):
+                self.sendCommandBlind("EK9")
+                self.sendCommandString("ED")
+            # set date and time
+            if self.ui.checkBox_SetTimeDate.isChecked():
+                # TODO: make this aware of the daylight saving setting of the controller!
+                now = datetime.datetime.now()
+                time = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
+                self.PortHandle.write(f'#:SL{time}#'.encode("ascii"))
+                Response = self.PortHandle.read(size=1)
+                print(f'DBG: #:SL{time}# --> {Response}')
+                # MM/DD/YY
+                date = now.strftime("%m/%d/%y")
+                self.PortHandle.write(f'#:SC{date}#'.encode("ascii"))
+                Response = self.PortHandle.read(size=1)
+                print(f'DBG: #:SC{date}# --> {Response}')
 
     def is_open(self):
         if self.PortHandle is not None:
@@ -125,19 +149,42 @@ def sendCommandBlind(self, cmd):
             MeadeCmd = f'#:{cmd}#'.encode("ascii")
             self.PortHandle.write(MeadeCmd)
 
-    def sendCommandString(self, cmd):
+    # The :ED# command sends the LCD contents, coded with the char table of the SED1233 LCD controller.
+    # For any reason the COM interface or the win32com transforms this into unicode. Unfortunately the
+    # special characters of the SED1233 controller get mapped to the wrong unicode. Here we fix this
+    # with a translation table:
+    CharacterTranslationTable = {
+        0x0d: ord('\n'),
+        # 0x2020: ord(' '),
+        0xDF: ord('°'),
+        0x7E: 0x2192,  # ord('>'),
+        0x7F: 0x2190,  # ord('<'),
+        0x18: 0x2191,  # ord('^'),
+        0x19: 0x2193,  # ord('v'),
+        # bar graph symbols
+        0x5F: 0x2582,
+        0x81: 0x2583,
+        0x82: 0x2584,  # raw: 0x82
+        0x83: 0x2585,  # raw: 0x83
+        0x84: 0x2586,  # raw: 0x84
+        0x85: 0x2587,  # raw: 0x85
+        0x86: 0x2588,  # raw: 0x86
+    }
+
+    def get_LCD(self):
         if self.is_open():
-            MeadeCmd = f'#:{cmd}#'.encode("ascii")
-            print(f'sendCommandString command: {MeadeCmd}')
+            MeadeCmd = b'#:ED#'
+            #print(f'sendCommandString command: {MeadeCmd}')
             self.PortHandle.write(MeadeCmd)
-            Response = self.PortHandle.read_until("#".encode("ascii"))
-            print(f'sendCommandString response: {Response}')
-            Response = Response.rstrip("#".encode("ascii"))
-            Response = Response.decode("utf-16")
-            return Response
+            Response = self.PortHandle.read_until(b"#")
+            print(f'DBG: get_LCD response: {Response}')
+            Response = Response[1:].rstrip(b"#")
+            Response = Response.decode("latin-1")
+            return Response.translate(self.CharacterTranslationTable)
         return None
 
 
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     # for debugging only
     theme_selection = "Dark"  # "Dark", "Light"