CameraDescriptionBase Class Reference

A base class to describe a camera(Device specific interface layout only) connected to a frame grabber. More...

Inheritance diagram for CameraDescriptionBase:

Public Member Functions
TDMR_ERROR	copyDescription (String newName)
	Creates a new camera description list as a copy of the current one.
TDMR_ERROR	exportDescription ()
	Stores the current camera description on disk.
IEnumerable< T >	getEnumerable< T > ()
	Returns an enumerator of a certain type that iterates through the collection.
IEnumerator< int >	GetEnumerator ()
	Returns an enumerator that iterates through the collection.
TDMR_ERROR	importDescription ()
	Updates a camera description with the data stored in a previous session or with the original default data.
void	restoreDefault ()
	Restores the default for every component of this collection.

Public Attributes
readonly PropertyI	aoiHeight = new PropertyI()
	An integer property defining the number of active lines to capture from the camera.
readonly PropertyI	aoiStartX = new PropertyI()
	An integer property defining the X-offset in pixels to the first active pixel to capture.
readonly PropertyI	aoiStartY = new PropertyI()
	An integer property defining the Y-offset in lines to the first active line to capture.
readonly PropertyI	aoiWidth = new PropertyI()
	An integer property defining the number of active pixels to capture per line.
readonly EnumPropertyI< TCameraInterlacedType >	interlacedType = new EnumPropertyI<TCameraInterlacedType>()
	An enumerated integer property defining how the camera transmits image data.
readonly PropertyS	name = new PropertyS()
	A string property (read-only) containing the name of this camera description list.
readonly EnumPropertyI< TCameraOutput >	videoOutput = new EnumPropertyI<TCameraOutput>()
	An enumerated integer property defining the type of video outputs this camera offers.

Properties
String	className [get]
	Returns the class this description is belonging to.
IEnumerable< Component >	componentEnumerable [get]
	Returns an enumerator that iterates through the collection.
IEnumerable< ComponentList >	componentListEnumerable [get]
	Returns an enumerator that iterates through all the mv.impact.acquire.ComponentList elements in the collection.
int	hObj [get]
	Returns a unique identifier for the component collection referenced by this object.

Detailed Description

A base class to describe a camera(Device specific interface layout only) connected to a frame grabber.

A camera description object provides an abstract way to prepare the capture device (e.g. a frame grabber) for the connected imaging device (e.g. a camera).

By selecting one of the available camera descriptions the underlying hardware will use the information provided in the camera description to prepare the image capture. Therefore it is crucial to select a camera description that matches the connected video signal as close as possible. If no description for the camera connected to a frame grabber is available a new description should be generated from one of the existing ones. This can be achieved by calling the function mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.copyDescription. A new camera description with the name that is passed to the function will be created.

Note

The name must be unique. There can't be two descriptions with the same name belonging to the same generic class (i.e. 'Standard' or 'CameraLink'®). However it's perfectly legal to have a camera description for standard analogue video signals and one for e.g. CameraLink® signals with the same name.

This new description will be an exact copy of the one the copy function has been executed for. After creation this description can be selected e.g. by setting the property mv.impact.acquire.CameraSettingsFrameGrabber.type to the name of the new description.

Note

Please note that the name passed to the property mv.impact.acquire.CameraSettingsFrameGrabber.type does NOT exactly correspond to the name assigned to the new camera description. It is a combination of the class the camera is belonging to (e.g. 'Standard') and the actual name. So to select a camera description the name must be build from the return value of a call to mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.className, an underscore ('_') and the actual name of the description: <class name>_<desc. name>

Example: For a standard description with the name 'MyCam' the full name would be 'Standard_MyCam'.

Example

using mv.impact.acquire;
 
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
static void Main(string[] args)
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
{
 LibraryPath.init(); // this will add the folders containing unmanaged libraries to the PATH variable.
 Device pDev = DeviceManager.getDevice(0);
  if(pDev == null)
  {
    Console.WriteLine("Unable to continue! Press any key to end the program.");
    Console.Read();
    Environment.Exit(1);
  }
 
  try
  {
    // the next line will raise an exception if this device does not
    // support camera descriptions (e.g. if it is a USB camera rather than a frame grabber)
    CameraDescriptionManager cdm = new CameraDescriptionManager(pDev);
    CameraDescriptionStandard pCam = cdm.cameraDescriptionStandard( "Generic" );
     pCam.copyDescription( "MyCam" );
    // Get access to the newly created description
    CameraDescriptionStandard pMyCam = cdm.cameraDescriptionStandard( "MyCam" );
    // Modify something
    pMyCam.videoStandard.write( TVideoStandard.vsRS170 );
    pMyCam.scanStandard.write( TScanStandard.ssITU601 );
    // now save the description to make it available in all future sessions
    pMyCam.exportDescription();
    // select the newly created description
    CameraSettingsFrameGrabber cs = new CameraSettingsFrameGrabber(pDev);
    // the name for this property is always a combination of the class the camera
    // description is belonging to and the actual name:
    cs.type.writeS( pMyCam.className + "_" + pMyCam.name.read() );
  }
  catch(ImpactAcquireException e)
  {
    Console.WriteLine("An error occurred while opening the device " + device.serial + "(error code: " + e.Message + "). Press any key to end the application...");
    Environment.Exit(1);
  }
}

Note

This class will only be available if mv.impact.acquire.Device.interfaceLayout is set to mv.impact.acquire.TDeviceInterfaceLayout.dilDeviceSpecific before the device is opened.

Member Function Documentation

copyDescription()

TDMR_ERROR copyDescription ( String newName )

inline

Creates a new camera description list as a copy of the current one.

This function can be used to create a new camera description list. It will create a deep copy of the properties referenced by this camera description and will append the new description to the list of camera descriptions.

Note

This will NOT store the new description permanently. After the driver has been closed, this data will be lost. To store the new list in a way, that it will be available the next time the driver/device is opened again mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.exportDescription must be called with the handle of the newly created description after this function.

See also

mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.exportDescription,
mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.importDescription

Returns

• mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR.DMR_NO_ERROR if successful.
• mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR.DEV_INPUT_PARAM_INVALID if new name matches a description that is already existing.
• A negative error code of type mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR or mv.impact.acquire.TPROPHANDLING_ERROR otherwise.

Parameters

[in]

newName

The name for the newly created camera description. This name MUST NOT match a description already existing.

exportDescription()

TDMR_ERROR exportDescription ( )

inline

Stores the current camera description on disk.

This function can be used to store the current settings of a camera description permanently so that the next time the driver is initialised these settings are restored.

When exporting a camera description a file in XML format will be written to disk.

• On Windows® camera descriptions will be stored under PUBLIC%/Documents/Balluff/ImpactAcquire/CameraFiles (or MVIMPACT_ACQUIRE_DATA_DIR%/CameraFiles, which will point to the same folder)
• On Unix based systems this directory will be /opt/ImpactAcquire/data/camerafiles
• On other platforms these files will end up in the current working directory.

This behaviour can be modified by writing the the property mv.impact.acquire.Device.customDataDirectory before initialising the device.

See also

mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.copyDescription,
mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.importDescription

Returns

• mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR.DMR_NO_ERROR if successful.
• A negative error code of type mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR or mv.impact.acquire.TPROPHANDLING_ERROR otherwise.

getEnumerable< T >()

IEnumerable< T > getEnumerable< T > ( )

inlineinherited

Returns an enumerator of a certain type that iterates through the collection.

This interface will allow to e.g. write code like this:

Info info = new Info(pDev);
foreach (Property c in info.getEnumerable<Property>())
{
  validateProperty(c);
}

See the frameworks documentation about the System.Collections.IEnumerable interface for more information.

Returns

An enumerator that iterates through the collection

GetEnumerator()

IEnumerator< int > GetEnumerator ( )

inlineinherited

Returns an enumerator that iterates through the collection.

See the frameworks documentation about the System.Collections.IEnumerable interface for more information.

Returns

An enumerator that iterates through the collection

importDescription()

TDMR_ERROR importDescription ( )

inline

Updates a camera description with the data stored in a previous session or with the original default data.

When importing a camera description the device driver will try to retrieve the parameters needed from a XML file.

• On Windows® camera descriptions MUST be stored under PUBLIC%/Documents/Balluff/ImpactAcquire/CameraFiles (or MVIMPACT_ACQUIRE_DATA_DIR%/CameraFiles, which will point to the same folder)
• n Unix based systems this directory will be /opt/ImpactAcquire/data/camerafiles
• On other platforms these files MUST be located in the current working directory.

This behaviour can be modified by writing the the property mv.impact.acquire.Device.customDataDirectory before initialising the device. To get access to a XML description file within the application, these file must be copied to this directory BEFORE the device is initialised. During the init process the device driver will process every file located under this location and will add them to the internal list of descriptions. Every camera located during this process and also descriptions created later on during the program operation can be selected via the property mv.impact.acquire.CameraSettingsFrameGrabber.type.

Note

In order not to bloat the device driver with redundant data it's wise only to store the descriptions needed for the application to run under this location.

Only camera descriptions supported by the capture device will be added to the device drivers internal list and will therefore be accessible via the mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionManager.

To restore the default values valid during the driver was initialised the function mv.impact.acquire.ComponentCollection.restoreDefault can be used as well.

See also

mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.exportDescription,
mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionBase.copyDescription

Returns

• mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR.DMR_NO_ERROR if successful.
• A negative error code of type mv.impact.acquire.TDMR_ERROR or mv.impact.acquire.TPROPHANDLING_ERROR otherwise.

restoreDefault()

void restoreDefault ( )

inlineinherited

Restores the default for every component of this collection.

Calling this function will restore the default value for every component belonging to this collection.

Note

The caller must have the right to modify the component. Otherwise an exception will be thrown.

Member Data Documentation

aoiHeight

readonly PropertyI aoiHeight = new PropertyI()

An integer property defining the number of active lines to capture from the camera.

aoiStartX

readonly PropertyI aoiStartX = new PropertyI()

An integer property defining the X-offset in pixels to the first active pixel to capture.

aoiStartY

readonly PropertyI aoiStartY = new PropertyI()

An integer property defining the Y-offset in lines to the first active line to capture.

aoiWidth

readonly PropertyI aoiWidth = new PropertyI()

An integer property defining the number of active pixels to capture per line.

interlacedType

readonly EnumPropertyI<TCameraInterlacedType> interlacedType = new EnumPropertyI<TCameraInterlacedType>()

An enumerated integer property defining how the camera transmits image data.

Valid values for this property are defined by the enumeration mv.impact.acquire.TCameraInterlacedType.

name

readonly PropertyS name = new PropertyS()

A string property (read-only) containing the name of this camera description list.

videoOutput

readonly EnumPropertyI<TCameraOutput> videoOutput = new EnumPropertyI<TCameraOutput>()

An enumerated integer property defining the type of video outputs this camera offers.

Valid values for this property are defined by the enumeration mv.impact.acquire.TCameraOutput.

Note

This property will be read-only for camera descriptions of type mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionCameraLink and mv.impact.acquire.CameraDescriptionSDI as for these camera types the video output depends on certain other parameters according to the corresponding standard.

Property Documentation

className

String className

get

Returns the class this description is belonging to.

Returns

The class this description is belonging to.

componentEnumerable

IEnumerable<Component> componentEnumerable

getinherited

Returns an enumerator that iterates through the collection.

This interface will allow to e.g. write code like this:

Info info = new Info(pDev);
foreach (Component c in info.componentEnumerable)
{
  Console.WriteLine("{0}", c.name);
}

See the frameworks documentation about the System.Collections.IEnumerable interface for more information.

Returns

An enumerator that iterates through the collection

componentListEnumerable

IEnumerable<ComponentList> componentListEnumerable

getinherited

Returns an enumerator that iterates through all the mv.impact.acquire.ComponentList elements in the collection.

This interface will allow to e.g. write code like this:

Info info = new Info(pDev);
foreach (ComponentList cl in info.componentListEnumerable)
{
  Console.WriteLine("{0}", cl.name);
}

See the frameworks documentation about the System.Collections.IEnumerable interface for more information.

Returns

An enumerator that iterates through the collection

hObj

int hObj

getinherited

Returns a unique identifier for the component collection referenced by this object.

This handle will always reference an object of type mv.impact.acquire.ComponentList.

Returns

A unique identifier for the component referenced by this object.