Serial control in scripting

Hello,

I am trying to control the FBL2360S from a host computer using a script.
There is no information about serial receive function(s), only print to serial.
Does this mean that serial Rx is not supported in scripting?

If so, a workaround would be to use it without a script in serial mode.
How can the controller be configured to work with a terminal program?

Another unrelated question: is there non-volatile memory space for variables or is it configuration only?
Is there a way to remember last position after power up?

Thanks.

There is no utility in microbasic to read or parse data directly from the serial port on our controllers. The serial port is dedicated to receiving commands. The best way to custom data to our controllers is through the use of user variables (the !VAR command)

You can use the !EE command to store user data in flash. Please note, that this is limited to 10,000 cycles, so you do not want to continuously use it to update your position in flash memory. This limit is the number of cycles it takes for the flash memory to wear out.

All of our user commands are documented in section 19 of our User Manual

Can you tell me how to configure the controller to accept serial commands?
If I connect it to the terminal, it spits out data, but will not respond to a command.
Is there a way to preset to go to serial mode at power-up?

Thanks

It should be able to accept serial commands by default. You also probably have the correct baud rate if you are seeing data.

Check to make sure that you are terminating your commands over serial. This can either be done with a carriage retrun (0x0D, '\r') or an underscore (0x5F, '_').

According to the manual, storing a variable in the flash memory is done by

Syntax Scripting:
setconfig(_EE, aa, dd)

What is the command to retrieve it?

For example, I would like the controller to remember the last position after a power-down / power-up cycle.

Thanks

You can use the function getconfig(_EE, aa) where aa is the adress you are trying to read. You will also need to use setcommand(_EES, 1) to save the variables to flash.

According to the manual, setcommand(_EES, 1) is used to save a configuration, but
setconfig(_EE, aa, dd) is used to save a variable.
It seems that it's a two-step process

Example:
^EE 1 555 : Store value 555 in RAM location 1
%EESAV or !EES : Copy data from temporary RAM to Flash

So, if use

setconfig(_EE, 1, Counter) to store the value of Counter at location 1
setcommand(_EES, 1)

---

how can I retrieve the stored value of Counter?

getconfig(_EE, 1)?
will the stored value be loaded into Counter?

Thanks

Yes, you are correct to use the getconfig() function. Variables saved into flash using _EES will be automatically loaded into RAM memory at system startup.