The 6bit/Sixbit SmartRelay Controller panel is shareware written in Realbasic. You may download and use it without charge and redistribute it as long as the "read me" files remain with it unchanged. It is used to control a board with six relays on it available from the
6bit/Sixbit web site.
This is a very versatile and inexpensive relay board.
The control panel allows you to create and save the IP address you want to connect to, your own names for the switches as well as a connect time. You will need to keep the program in a separate folder. Your choices are stored with the program. If you copy the entire folder to another computer your choices will be copied also. The connect time represents a value in seconds. This value is the how often the panel will attempt to communicate with the relay board. If you set it for 10 seconds then every 10 seconds the panel will attempt to connect and check the status of the relays. The success or failure is reflected in the window at the bottom of the panel.
The download version allows you to turn the relays on and off. It also contains a reminder that you may pay and receive additional features. For $10.00 you will add the ability to monitor the A/B inputs to the board as well as to "trigger" the relays. Trigger allows you turn the relay on and then off again with one click. You will be able to set the "on" time in tenths of a second. You will also be able to create an unlimited number of sets of four boards with their own preferences.
For $40.00 you may purchase the Realbasic code for this program.
I created the control software for someone who had the relay board. I no longer have access to the board for testing. The software that came with the board was written in Visual Basic which I do not work in. Plus it is not a functional program, merely a template. The advantage to using this Realbasic code is that you may compile the control panel for both Mac and Windows.
If you decide to purchase the code for my program, you will receive the open code in Realbasic which you may modify to suit your needs. The code was created with Realbasic version 5.5.3. Anyone who has worked with Realbasic will realize that it is unlikely that the code will work properly in any other version. It should be fairly easy to modify it to work with other versions but I do not guarantee that. If you purchase this code it will probably save you between 10 and 20 hours of trial and error programing (depending on your expertise) to get the buffer to read the status of the relays properly. That was the main problem I had.
The code might also represent a good starting point to communicate with any device that responds to string commands but again I do not guarantee that. If you decide to purchase the code I will provide some limited support but I am assuming that anyone who buys it has Realbasic version 5.5.3 and a moderate level of programming skill. In other words I will not do your programming for you. .
Once again the price to upgrade to the additional features is $10.00
The price for the code is $40.00.
6bit/Sixbit SmartRelay Controller for OS X!
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