Dynamic Data Exchange

Abstract: A power management and control system having a dynamic data exchange (DDE) server simulator for simulating supervisory management and control of electrical distribution systems is presented. The DDE server simulator is an alternative DDE server which simulates device values rather than acquiring data from real devices. The DDE server simulator generates and calculates device data from user generated electrical property profiles and updates DDE compliant clients. The DDE server simulator accepts the actual topics and item names and power profiles are user configurable with an option to apply white noise to the data, which provides true-to-life values to the user. These simulated measured values are used to calculate derived parameters and pre-set arrays provide wave form data in the proper format. Device events and trips can be interjected by the user and properly interpreted by the simulator. The data is passed to the clients via DDE.

Abstract: A dynamic data exchange (DDE) server which allows external programs to access power management data is presented. The DDE server provides a mnemonic cross reference between register items and standardized, alphanumeric parameter names. This mnemonic interface allows the user to retrieve data from a device without knowledge of the actual device register item number. Also, the DDE server automatically performs time synchronizing for all supported devices and provides a consistent waveform and event interface. The DDE server is optimized for either the Modbus RTU or Ethernet protocol. The DDE server includes toolkit functions which are used to maintain DDE communication and protocol timers and to maintain active topic and item lists. The DDE server acts as a link between a client requesting device data and a field device which can provide the data. The DDE server communicates to the field device through communication ports and to the client via DDE message link. A client sends its requests to server to read/write some device registers. The server maps each request to suitable device read/write request packets and carries out the necessary transaction with device. Then it relays the result back to the client after processing and casting the collected device data to proper format.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling the execution of an application program to effect the performing of a specialized task is provided. In preferred embodiments, an interface computer program gathers status information from the application computer program, collects user input relating to the specialized task, generates commands to send to the application program, and sends the commands to the application program to effect the execution of the specialized task. The interface computer program communicates with the application computer program preferably through the dynamic data exchange of Windows.

Abstract: It is desirable for software developers to be able to conveniently obtain feedback from users of applications. It is known for developers and others to use code instrumentation for gathering various types of data relating to applications and their uses. The use of compile time instrumentation may be practical for some situations but it has significant drawbacks when used to provide indications of user interaction with applications. The present invention relates to the use of run time instrumentation for providing feedback from users of object oriented applications where the applications have unique object identifiers and support dynamic data exchange. The invention utilizes a setup software tool to create a monitor input file which indicates which objects of the application should be monitored when a user interacts with them.