How do I programmatically determine if fieldpoint is powered up?

[willyevans]

I am using two cFP-1808s and programming in VS 2005 C#. Is there any way to determine in code wether the cFP-1808s are powered on? I am using datasockets to read data and have discovered that if you connect to a datasourse that does not exist, the server crates the data source with a default value of 0. This causes a problem when I try to disconnect, the programs just hangs after the datasocket.disconnect() command.

Willy

[Bakk_Diagram]

Really there is no way to know other than getting a timeout error when you try to communicate with it.

[willyevans]

Then why is it allowed to connect to a datasource that does not exsist?

Willy

[DirkW]

Even datasocket should give you an error message, if an address is not correct, because the module is not there or its a different module, or network is down or the 180x is not powered up correctly.

So checking the status comming back  from your datasocket function should fix this issue.

DirkW

[willyevans]

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The DataSocket.Connect returns void and only throws the System.ObjectDisposedException. Furthermore, the Measurement Studio help file states ". . . if you connect to a data sourse that does not exist, the server creates the data source with a default value of 0."

[Bakk_Diagram]

You are correct Willy, an offline controller doesn't give an error.  You can try pinging the device, either by using a generic TCP write function or using RT Ping Controllers.VI, which will find all NI controllers on your subnet and return info about them in a cluster of string arrays.  If it is not found by this VI, it is not powered on.

[volker_sbk]

I found the RT System Replication VIs very useful in detecting whether a RT target is online. Check the article below. 

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3937

Volker