C# Freestyler Client

[mastermattie]

Hi All,
Recently I needed to interact between my own software and Freestyler.
So I decided to dive into the TCP / ASCII protocol and wrote a C# client which can be used to control Freestyler.
It is a little bit quick and dirty but for what's worth, I've put the code on Github:
https://github.com/matthijsderidder/FreeStyler .
I've released it under the MIT license, so it means you can basically do anything with it you would like.
I provide it "as is" but feel free to extend.
Best Regards!

[djSupport]

Cheers for sharing!

[mastermattie]

You're welcome!

Currently I'm updating / extending the Client.
I'm also working on a WinForms Test App and a WinForms Control Library with some default controls.

I was wondering how to deal with the responses from FreeStyler. After sending a command or request there is a continuously 0xFF byte, I assume this is something like a heartbeat which tells that FS is still "alive".
Even after disconnecting the client (right click at icon in FS and select "Disconnect All"), the TCP Connection remains open.

While sending a request command, I'm not sure how to recognize a response e.g. when requesting button captions and states sometimes It results in the buttons obtaining the state (0 or 1) as caption, I think because my parser misses the button captions and recognizes the button states as captions.

So, how is the send / receive process intended?
Only receive data after sending a request or use a continuous loop which runs as long as the connection is open, but if this is the case, how do I know what response I receive (is it a list of captions or a list of button states).

And last question: The button states, do I have to poll for the states, so if something in FS changes, I receive the change or is there a call / package from FS to my software which tells me that something has changed and needs to be updated?

Best Regards!

[djSupport]

The best person to answer this is the developer you may be best to pop it onto the bug tracker to get his attention

[mastermattie]

Thanks!

I assume that's @lj_raph right?
I'll post this question onto the bug tracker.

Best regards!