Frequently Asked Questions about Motion Commander

 

I am a satisfied 16-bit MC2 user. Should I try 32-bit Motion Commander III?

There are several compelling reasons to try Motion Commander III. Using the "PComm32" device communication option, Motion Commander III can be in communication with PMAC at the same time as the Delta Tau Executive program. Motion Commander III is the only version that is Windows NT compatible. Motion Commander III has 32 instrument panels versus 16 in Motion Commander II. Stations designed using Motion Commander II will load and run without modification in Motion Commander III.

How do I capture screen-shots for documentation purposes?

Many powerful screen-capture utilities exist such as Corel Capture, but here is a quick way to get the job done using just the accessories included with MS-Windows. Set up your Motion Commander window the way you want it and press the "Print Screen" key. This puts an image of the entire screen on the clip board. Now open the MS-Windows Paint accessory program and select "Edit|Paste". Select the region of the image that you want in your document and use "Edit|Copy To…" to write this region to a BMP file. This BMP picture can then be imported into your document.

 How do I copy and paste an instrument group?

Many users have called asking how they can do a "Copy" and "Paste" in Motion Commander. Because you're not simply copying a graphic or text, but actually copying all of the information about the instrument or panel, you can't use the standard Windows "Copy" and "Paste" commands. However, you can perform the equivalent of a copy and paste using the following steps.
To Copy:
    1. Display the panel that contains the group that you want to copy (buttons, sliders, etc.) and go into Design Mode.
    2. Pull down the "File" menu, select "Save As", then in the "Save File as Type" box select "Group Files (*.MCG) for a button/slider/etc. (instrument) group, or "Panel Files (*.MCP)" if you wish to copy then entire panel/screen.
    3. Enter the name of this temporary file into the "File Name" box, for example, call it "TEMP.MCG" for an instrument group copy, and click on "OK".
    4. You will now be back on your Motion Commander panel and at the bottom of the screen in the Status Bar in bright yellow it will say, "Use Mouse to Select a Group" for an instrument group copy or "Use Mouse to Select a Panel" for an entire panel copy. Just put the pointer on the instrument group you wish to copy and click the left mouse button. If you wish to copy the entire panel, just click the left mouse button anywhere on the panel.
    5. You will then see the message, "Group p#:g# has been saved to TEMP.MCG" and your instrument group will now be saved in this temporary file. If you're copying a panel, you'll see a similar message about the panel. This is essentially the COPY function.
To Paste:
    1. Display the panel that contains the group that you want to paste the instrument group (buttons, sliders, etc.) or the panel over which you wish to paste your saved panel onto and go into Design Mode.
    2. Pull down the "File" menu, select "Open", then in the "List Files of Type" box select "Group Files (*.MCG) for an instrument, or "Panel Files (*.MCP)" if you wish to paste an entire panel/screen.
    3. Enter the name of the "copied" instrument/panel file in the "File Name" box (in our case, TEMP.MCG) or click on it from the choices in the box below the "File Name" field, then click on "OK".
    4. You will now be back on your Motion Commander panel and at the bottom of the screen in the Status Bar in bright yellow it will say, "Specify New Group Location with Mouse" for an instrument group paste or "Use Mouse to Select a Panel" for an entire panel paste. Just put the pointer in the location where you wish the TOP LEFT of the instrument group to be located (or anywhere on the panel if pasting a panel), and click the left mouse button.
    5. The "copied" group will now be "pasted" onto your panel, or if you were copying an entire panel, the entire panel would now be REPLACED by the one you had saved a copy of. This is essentially the PASTE function.
    6. NOTE: The location of the mouse cursor when you click it to "paste" is where the TOP LEFT corner of the "copied" instrument will be. If you specify a location to "paste" the copied group which does not allow enough room for the instrument to fit on the panel (down and to the right of the mouse) at it’s originally saved size, the copied instrument will automatically be pasted into the TOP LEFT corner of the panel and will be minimized in size. You can then either relocate and resize it, or double-right-mouse click on it, delete, it, and re-paste it into a location with enough room. REMEMBER the location of the mouse cursor is where the TOP LEFT corner of the instrument will be pasted.
An IMPORTANT thing to remember is that if you paste an entire panel that contains Devices (motion controllers, serial port devices, data tables, data recorders, etc.) the NEW panel will also contain copies of these devices but they will automatically be re-numbered to the next available device numbers. Any instruments making calls to the OLD device numbers will NOT be changed automatically and must be done manually.

 

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