Protocoltool is a binary protocol development tool, used for communications. It sends strings formatted as bytes or a mixture of different features. Ex:
01 02 04 08 10 20 40 80 00 FF //
bit test
55aa d'255
deadbeef
It's useful for developing applications or firmware
communicating over an interface (either the serial port, the parallel port, a
socket, a pipe or other). Since developing some
communication application involves 2 units, often developed simultaneously,
protocoltool allows the development of the 2 units independently.
When a text protocol is used between two machines, only a terminal program is
needed. But when the protocol involves binary values, such as non alphanumeric
characters, a terminal program is not much useful. Some are capable of sending
Hex values, but use only the serial port.
Platforms
Protocoltool supports more interfaces on Linux than on other platforms. The needed libraries supporting those interfaces are not ported or are not available on other platforms yet. Autodetection of available serial ports or parallel ports is not available on all platforms.
Supported interfaces (linux)
Features (examples)
Configurable fonts (entries and terminal) and colors (terminal only)
Hex/ASCII window, Timestamp capability (GMT only)
Calculation facilities for checksum or CRC and data length
Supports many hex format example: AB 0xab h'03 0x03 82 07
How does it work?
The user loads a text file containing the strings to send. This
file can be edited with any text editor or can be edited within the Protocol
tool software. The software loads the first 30 lines of the text file. Strings
are sent by clicking on the send buttons at the right of the main panel.
Screen captures
Since "An image is worth a thousand words", here are some screen captures.
Main window opened with some strings loaded
ASCII / Hex terminal window with time stamp
Settings dialog: one of the selected interfaces: serial.
Control Panel: one of the selected interfaces: serial.
