HALCON 9.0: Image Acquisition Interface for Silicon Software boards via VisualApplets

This page provides the documentation of the HALCON mEnableVisualApplets interface for accessing the microEnable boards from Silicon Software GmbH via VisualApplets. Registered customers can download the latest revision of this interface from the MVTec WWW server.

Revision: 4.2

System Requirements

• Intel compatible PC with Windows 2000/XP.
• Successfully installed Silicon Software driver (version 4.2.25 or higher). Make sure the environment variable %SISODIR4% is set correctly to the SiliconSoftware base directory.
• Suitable hardware applet generated by Silicon Software VisualApplets (version 1.2.124 or higher).
• HALCON image acquisition interface hAcqmEnableVisualApplets.dll or hAcqmEnableVisualAppletsxl.dll, respectively. If you have properly installed the interface, both DLLs should reside in bin\%HALCONARCH% within the HALCON base directory %HALCONROOT% you have chosen during the installation of HALCON.

Features

• Grabbing of user-defined preprocessed images.
• Support of a variety of CameraLink cameras based on the Silicon Software hardware applets.
• Multiple frame grabber boards.
• Synchronous and asynchronous grabbing.
• External and software trigger.
• Cropping of image parts.
• Software control of the digital input and output lines.

Limitations

• Currently, only applets are supported which transfer single images into the host memory via DMA.
• grab_data and grab_data_async not yet supported.

Description

Parameters for open_framegrabber():

	Name	'mEnableVisualApplets'	The name of the HALCON image acquisition interface.
	HorizontalResolution	1	Ignored (the desired image resolution is set via the camera configuration file specified in the CameraType parameter!). Default: 1.
	VerticalResolution	1	Ignored (the desired image resolution is set via the camera configuration file specified in the CameraType parameter!). Default: 1.
	ImageWidth	0, width	The width of the desired image part ('0' stands for the maximum image height). This value has to be equal or smaller than the maximum image height. If the value does not fit in the step width, it is rounded to next valid value. Default: 0.
	ImageHeight	0, height	The height of the desired image part ('0' stands for the maximum image height). This value has to be equal or smaller than the maximum image height. If the value does not fit in the step width, it is rounded to next valid value. Default: 0.
	StartRow	row	The row coordinate of the upper left pixel of the desired image part. If the value does not fit in the step width, it is rounded to next valid value. Default: 0.
	StartColumn	column	The column coordinate of the upper left pixel of the desired image part. If the value does not fit in the step width, it is rounded to next valid value. Default: 0.
	Field	---	Ignored.
	BitsPerChannel	---	Ignored (the desired pixel depth will be set accordingly to the parameter settings in the camera configuration file).
	ColorSpace	---	Ignored (the desired color space will be set accordingly to the parameter settings in the camera configuration file).
	Generic	---	Ignored.
	ExternalTrigger	'true', 'false'	If set to 'true', the trigger mode will be set to 'async_trigger', otherwise 'free_run' mode will be active. Default: 'false'.
	CameraType	'mcf file'	Specify the name (including the full path name) of the desired camera configuration file (mcf file). To configure a specific camera setup please use the microDisplay program which is part of microEnable software.
	Device	'0', '1', ...	The number of the frame grabber board (passed as a string!). Default: '0'.
	Port	0, 1	Specify the port the camera is connected to. Default: 0.
	LineIn	---	Ignored.

Parameters for set_framegrabber_param():

Note that most parameters of this interface are generic, i.e., all actually available parameters for a specific applet can be queried directly by calling info_framegrabber(...,'parameters',...).

	'continuous_grabbing'		'enable', 'disable'		Activate or deactivate the continuous grabbing mode. If the continuous mode is enabled, the frame grabber board will grab all the time. Note that in this mode you can acquire images from line scan cameras without loosing any image data. This mode is not allowed in combination with external triggering. Default: 'disable'.
	'digital_output'		0, 1, 2, 3		Specify the combination of the two digital output signals.
	'exposure'		0 ... 1000000		Exposure time in µs. Default: 4000.
	'exposure_signal'		'high_active', 'low_active'		Polarity of the exposure signal. Default: 'low_active'.
	'flash_signal'		'high_active', 'low_active'		Polarity of the flash signal. Default: 'low_active'.
	'frame_rate'		0.5 ... 20000.0		Number of images per second.
	'grab_timeout'		msec		Specify the desired timeout (milliseconds passed as an integer) for aborting a pending grab. Default: 5000.
	'image_height'		height		The height of the desired image part. Note that due to image buffer re-allocation this setting may take some time.
	'image_width'		width		The width of the desired image part. Note that due to image buffer re-allocation this setting may take some time.
	'port'		0, 1		Switch to the camera with the specified number (0 for Port A, 1 for Port B).
	'start_async_after_grab_async'		'enable', 'disable'		By default, at the end of grab_image_async a new asynchronous grab command is automatically given to the frame grabber board. If the parameter 'start_async_after_grab_async' is set to 'disable' this new grab command is omitted. This might be useful especially for switching between several connected cameras. Default: 'enable'.
	'start_column'		column		The column coordinate of the upper left pixel of the desired image part.
	'start_row'		row		The row coordinate of the upper left pixel of the desired image part.
	'volatile'		'enable', 'disable'		Grayscale only. In the volatile mode the image acquisition interface buffers are used directly to store HALCON images. This is the fastest mode avoiding to copy raw images in memory. However, be aware that older images are overwritten again and again as a side-effect. Thus, you can only process one image while you grab another image. Older images are invalid! Default: 'disable'.
	'do_abort_grab'		---		Cancel current grab.
	'do_exsync'		'enable', 'disable'		Switch on/off the exsync signal to the camera.
	'do_flash'		'enable', 'disable'		Switch on/off the flash signal to the camera.
	'do_force_trigger'		---		Send a software trigger from the application to the camera. This action parameter is only applicable when the trigger mode is set to 'async_software_trigger'.

Parameters for get_framegrabber_param():

Additional parameters supported by get_framegrabber_param only. Note that all parameters supported by set_framegrabber_param except the ones with prefix 'do_' can also be accessed by get_framegrabber_param. Furthermore, corresponding to the parameters supported by set_framegrabber_param, there may exist additional read-only parameters with the following postfixes:

• '_description': These parameters provide the tooltip of the corresponding parameter as a string.
• '_range': These parameters provide the minimum, maximum, stepwidth, and default values for the corresponding integer or float parameter as a tuple with 4 elements, e.g., get_framegrabber_param(..,'exposure_range',..) will return the output tuple [min,max,step,default]. Optionally, this tuple can also contain additional valid string values like 'auto' or 'manual'.
• '_values': These parameters provide the valid value list for the corresponding parameter as a tuple, e.g., get_framegrabber_param(..,'volatile_values',..) will return the output tuple ['enable','disable'].

	'board_type'		type		Returns the actual board type.
	'camera_status'		status (long)		Return camera status on the used port: If the return value is 1 an active camera on the specified port is found, otherwise the return value is 0.
	'digital_input'		digin (long)		Read the current status of the digital input lines.
	'internal_device_pointer'		pointer		Returns the pointer to the device which enables direct device access.Use on your own risk!
	'revision'		revision  (string)		The revision number of the HALCON mEnableVisualApplets interface.
	'timestamp'		time		Gets the timestamp (32bit) from the image in micro seconds. If 'continuous_grabbing' is enabled, the parameter returns always the most recent timestamp.

Release Notes

• Revision 4.2 (Mar 2, 2010):
  • Added read-only parameters 'internal_device_pointer' and 'timestamp'.
• Revision 4.1 (Jul 31, 2009):
  • Adapted to SDK version 4.2.25 for supporting also the microEnable IV FULL x4 boards.
  • Fixed bug in open_framegrabber, grab_image, grab_image_async, and grab_image_start regarding the use of multiple cameras connected to the same physical board.
• Revision 4.0 (Dec 1, 2008):
  • HALCON 9.0 version of the interface (included in HALCON 9.0 DVD).
  • Bugfix in continuous grabbing mode.
  • Bugfix in querying Visual Applet's generic parameters.
  • Added read-only parameter 'serial_number'.
• Revision 3.0 (Apr 23, 2008):
  • First official release.