Example: EZ-Script Executor
EZ-Script is the programming language used in EZ-Builder. The scripting language is similar to Basic and has many robot specific commands. The power of EZ-Script also allows controls to interact with each other using the ControlCommand(), which you may have already read about in this tutorial.
This part of the tutorial will demonstrate how to execute EZ-Script code within your plugin. An example of how this is useful is if your plugin provides configuration for the user to configure custom code for a specific action. If you look at DJ's Tic Tac Toe example, you will notice that the configuration dialog allows the user to create custom EZ-Script for Winning, Losing and Tie.
The namespace for all scripting methods is EZ_Builder.Scripting.
Simple Example This code example demonstrates how to run an EZ-Script piece of code that will speak a phrase out of the speaker when the button is pressed. You will need to add a Button to your form and assign the Click event for it to work.
public partial class MainForm : EZ_Builder.UCForms.FormPluginMaster {
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor _executor;
public MainForm()
: base() {
InitializeComponent();
_executor = new EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
_executor.StartScriptASync("Say(\"Hello, I am ez-script\")");
}
}
Example with Events There are many events that can be associated with the Executor, such as OnDone, OnError, etc.. This allows your program to accommodate behaviors. In this example, the Executor will display a message box when the script has completed executing.
public partial class MainForm : EZ_Builder.UCForms.FormPluginMaster {
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor _executor;
public MainForm()
: base() {
InitializeComponent();
_executor = new EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor();
_executor.OnDone += _executor_OnDone;
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
_executor.StartScriptASync("Say(\"Hello, I am ez-script\")");
}
void _executor_OnDone(string compilerName, TimeSpan timeTook) {
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Script has completed and took {0} milliseconds", timeTook.TotalMilliseconds));
}
}
Starting A New Script When Another Is Running If the executor is currently running an ASync script in the background while you launch another, the first script will be cancelled and the most recent script will begin executing. Each instance of an Executor can run only one script. To run multiple scripts at the same time, use an Executor per script.
Inside the Executor The executor has many methods and events.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.ExecuteScriptSingleLine(string line); Executes only one line of EZ-Script and blocks until it has completed. This method returns the result of the single line of code. For example, if the code was a function to return the value of a servo (example GetServo(d0)), the value of the servo d0 will be returned.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.Resume(); There is an EZ-Script command to "Pause" the current running script. If the command is ever executed in the script, this will resume the execution.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.StartScriptASync(Command[] compiled); This executes the compiled Command Opcode array in the background. If you precompile the script into an array of Command Opcodes, this method can be used. The advantage to pre-compiling the source into Command Opcodes is that the script will execute faster because it will not need to be compiled each time. There is a compiler cache in the Executor, however. This means that if you run the same script twice that is not compiled, the last Opcode cache will be used.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.StartScriptASync(string script); This method compiles the plain text EZ-Script and executes it in the background. There is a compiler cache in the Executor, however. This means that if you run the same script consecutive times, the last Opcode cache will be used.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.StartScriptBlocking(Command[] compiled); Executes the compiled Command OpCode array on the current thread.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.StartScriptBlocking(string script); This method compiles the plain text EZ-Script and executes it on the current thread. There is a compiler cache in the Executor, however. This means that if you run the same script consecutive times, the last Opcode cache will be used.
EZ_Builder.Scripting.Executor.StopScript(); Stops the current ASync running EZ-Script on this Executor.
Events These events can be assigned to an Executor and will be raised at their appropriate function. The "CompilerName" parameter will include the optional compiler name that can be provided when the Executor class is initiated. In the above examples, the Executor class is created without any parameters. If a parameter was supplied, it would be the name of this compiler. If your program has many Executors that share these events, the CompilerName parameter will come in handy to identify what executor it originated from.
event OnCmdExecHandler(string compilerName, int lineNumber, string execTxt) Event is raised for each line that is executed in the script. This will dramatically slow the execution of the script, but is great for debugging.
event OnDoneHandler(string compilerName, TimeSpan timeTook) Event is raised when the script has completed.
event OnPausedHandler(string compilerName) Event is raised when the EZ-Script calls the Pause method. The Executor.Resume() function is necessary to continue, or StopScript().
event OnResumeHandler(string compilerName) Event is raised when the script is instructed to resume after a Pause.
event OnStartHandler(string compilerName) Event is raised when the script begins to execute.
Is this out of date? There doesn't seem to be a GetConfiguration function within EZ_Builder.Config.Sub.PluginV1
Look at the tutorial step titled [color=#ce3991][size=3][font=OpenSans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"]Code: Saving/Loading Configuration
[color=#ce3991][size=3][font=OpenSans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"]The get and set configuration methods are overrides of the form. There’s a great video on the first step of this tutorial that demonstrates the step by step of building a plugin. I recommend watching that because it helps fill in any steps that were missed. [/font][/size][/color]
[color=#ce3991][size=3][font=OpenSans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji]When you’ve done it once, it makes sense and voila, you can rinse and repeat
[/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color]
Excellent, thanks - I will do. I really must learn not to just jump ahead in the process
Hey no problem - I do it all the time, and end up frustrated because I dont know what it was that I missed. Excitement gets the best of me
Trying to follow the tutorials but can't find where the plugin page has gone. How do I add a new plugin to the ez-robot / Synthiam site to get the XML?
Never mind. Just found the "Create skill control" link
I am trying to follow the instructions for adding my own plugin but I cannot seem to find the place to register the plugin based on the instructions.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
The new button to create a plugin skill control is less than an inch below the button you pressed to create this question.
Thanks for the quick response.
This what happens when you are working on robotics when its way past your bed time.
You miss the obvious
No problem - i get it
Sorry but can I ask you something why I didn't see the ARC library when I added visual studio even though I set up the C ++. DLL library and there's another way to execute it and send / receive console in out but I don't know how to do it with EZ_builder?Please follow the tutorial. It’s impossible to know why you’re plug-in isn’t showing up without asking you if you followed each step of the tutorial
. Reviewing your screenshots, it doesn’t appear as if any of the tutorial steps have been followed.
Hi i fixed it. thanks
Hello, I am trying the tutorial to get the robot to speak. I am using Visual studio. Currently, the sound is output from the pc instead of the robot. Is there a code I can attach so that the sound comes from the robot speakers instead of the pc?
Look in this tutorial for the step labeled "output audio from ezb". It’s lower down in the list. There’s instruction examples for either playing audio (ie mp3) or text to speech.
Error: the referenced component" EZ_builder,EZ_B" could not be found, DJ Sure i hope you can help me !
Joinny, you have to add the referencing by following the instructions in this tutorial. They are outlined with step by step to easily follow. Click add references, and browse to the appropriate files as directed in the tutorial. I can’t write anything clearer in response. The step to add references is incredibly clear but you’re skipping it.The error cannot read the COM file, I downloaded it and when I follow the instructions, I get an error, while other files read normally. .
sorry for me but i tried many different ways but still show the error,I couldn't find EZ_B.dll file even though I downloaded it
None of the required references are in your list. Please follow the tutorial. It explains exactly how to click the browse button and navigate to the folder and select the files.
Sorry, but the reason I can't reference is because there is no file in the EZ_B folder and there is an error : this folder is empty , I am trying to solve it. I would like to thank DJ sure for answering my superfluous questions and I'm sorry for bothering you
I need to playback 5 Serial Bus servos in sequence.
What protocol is it? A "serial bus" is a generic term for anything using a UART that's chained together sharing the same RX line. Also, why did you add a photo with the question text added in your response?
Are you planning on making a skill control to do this? You wrote the question in the skill control thread in a comment - I'd like to make sure your question is in the right place to help you out.
To begin, I would recommend starting with servo Script control so you can make the serial bus protocol work - then consider making a skill control only if you're planning on distributing the effort to others: https://synthiam.com/Products/Controls/Scripting/Servo-Script-19068
He seems rather demanding as well. I guess he needs the benefit of the doubt as English may not be his native language....
I have installed all the software dependencies and still ARC does not detect that I have Visual Studio installed. OS is Windows 10, .NET 4.8 or newer, Visual Studio Community 2019.
When the popup says it doesn’t detect visual studio, you can still skip and continue. I wonder why it’s not detecting it? We had a hard time trying to find a proper way of detecting - even Microsoft’s suggestion didn’t actually work eye roll
ill look into it a bit further and see if we can find a better way of detecting
@DJ: It's easy to find the Visual Studio 2017 and up: Microsoft: https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Find-MSBuild
Some quick c# code to use with .NET: https://github.com/ppedro74/Utils/blob/master/FindVisualStudio/Program.cs
We went this route and it didn’t work on my computer - because I had a preview of visual studio installed which isn’t in that directory path. Microsoft had numerous suggestions of detecting visual studio. The one which worked for our various installations was a registry check.
apparently with the above individual, the registry didn’t work either. I’ll have to combine a few methods.
everything looks simple from the outside - until you have a hundred thousand+ installations of your software. That’s when you run into things like this lol
@DJ: I agree sometimes the things go out of script easily.
I avoid going through the registry keys, unless is recommended by the vendor. A lot of people blame the changes (keys, entries are renamed etc), but, that is normal if I own my product is my business and is part of the software evolution. Some products you can break the support contract agreement if you query directly the database, or if you look elsewhere outside of the public API.
Is true story some years ago a "rogue" developer on my team released a Sharepoint integration using a mix of APIs and database queries, everything worked well with multiple clients, until one day the Microsoft Black suits visit one of the customers to follow up on an unrelated support ticket, and they basically used "unsupported" card and left the client hanging, and we had problems too, unfortunately the Rogue developer went to another galaxy ... and the team suffered the consequences.
That does not mean I'm not tempted to do it...
I used the vswhere before and I would say is almost 99% bulletproof, is used with Xamarin, NVIDIA, Intel setups. If you add vswhere.exe to your project (nuget package) you cover scenarios where the tool is not present or have been deleted (broken uninstalls).
The other fallback could be ask the user the visual studio version.
The other reason to avoid registry is due to Visual Studio uses a private exclusive registry keys to store more stuff: http://www.visualstudioextensibility.com/2017/07/15/about-the-new-privateregistry-bin-file-of-visual-studio-2017/
So the things are getting more complex.
The above post is only part of the "Full solution" for example I have one setup with visual studio 2017 c# installed and Visual studio 2019 with Python and C++, vswhere will return 2019 version, but my c# is done with VS2017.
If you are generating customized vs version project files, maybe a fallback (ask the VS version) will cover more bases.
Yes - Microsoft has a few pages on how to identify visual studio and we tried them all during testing - the one we went with was with registry. I'm going to combine the two as using only one method apparently doesn't work for all cases.