Connections

One virtual receiver runs any number of connections at the same time. Each connection is a saved object: which receiver it simulates, which Concentrator line it talks to, its links, its heartbeat, and the campaign it runs. Connections are listed down the left of the receiver's console; the main area shows the selected one. Everything is saved as it is changed and comes back after a restart.

[Image: the console with three connections in the left rail and one selected]

The connection list

The Connections rail lists every connection with its label, endpoint, a status pill and what its campaign is doing. The heading counts the campaigns that are running, for example Campaigns: 2 of 3 running. The + button adds a new one. Each row carries five controls:

• Show in the log — the eye. On, this connection's lines appear in the Log pane; off, they are held back. Every connection starts shown, and the choice is remembered in this browser.
• Properties — the gear. Selects the row so the panels below act on it, the same as clicking the row.
• Start / Stop — brings the connection's links up and begins sending, or drops the links. The connection and its settings stay.
• Delete — removes the connection after the confirmation Are you sure? This cannot be undone.
• Help — opens this page.

Under the endpoint each row reports its campaign: Campaign running · 2266 sent · 0 fails, Campaign paused · waiting for link, or No campaign.

A connection does not have to be started to be set up: define it, configure its campaign, and start it later.

[Image: a connection row with its eye, properties, start, delete and help controls]

Setting up a connection

Select a connection. The banner Editing <label>. Controls below act on THIS connection. confirms which one the panels apply to.

1. Receiver — pick the receiver type to simulate. The Sort radio orders the list by name (SML2 (52,63)) or by the Concentrator line's TYPE= number (52,63 (SML2)). Changing the receiver stops the live session and reloads the signal table.
2. Links — set the Role: TCP Client dials the Concentrator's TCP-server receiver line; TCP Server listens for a Concentrator TCP-client line to dial in. Enter Link A's address and port — the Concentrator line this connection feeds. Enable Link B brings up a second path and fans every send to both links; Make primary chooses which link carries a send. Link A always comes up with the connection.
3. Heartbeat — on by default; sends the receiver's heartbeat signal every N seconds so a Concentrator line does not time out.
4. Press Start on the row. The status pill goes live and the Log shows the link coming up.

[Image: the Receiver and Links panels]

Sending signals

The Signals table lists the receiver's catalog signals. Sending a row transmits it in the receiver's wire form — the start and terminator bytes that receiver type uses — which is what a Concentrator line accepts. Sim New Alarm takes a typed signal (<NNN> for a control byte, three digits) and sends it, adding it to the receiver's overlay for next time.

[Image: the Signals table with a row being sent]

Campaigns

The Campaign panel sits inside the connection. Pick a saved campaign from the dropdown and Use for this connection, or set a budget below and Save as new under a label so other connections can pick it. Start and Stop in the panel run it on this connection; the Campaign sent counter tracks it. Details on Campaigns.

A running campaign follows its link. When the Concentrator line stops, the campaign pauses itself and the log records CAMPAIGN PAUSED - no link connected; when the line comes back the receiver redials, the campaign resumes and the log records CAMPAIGN RESUMED - link connected with how long it held. The time spent paused is added to the window, so a campaign does not fire a burst to catch up. A budget is N signals per hh:mm window, drawn at random from the selected signals, run once, for a duration, or indefinitely. A fixed signals-per-second rate is available from the command line.

A summary — sent, target, elapsed, delivered per link — is written to the log whenever a campaign stops.

[Image: the Campaign panel with a saved campaign selected]

Log and counters

The Log pane streams TX, RX and state lines from every connection whose eye is on, as they happen. Each line carries the time, then the connection's label as a coloured tag, then the traffic — so several connections read side by side without losing track of which is which. A label keeps its colour everywhere it appears.

The pane's controls are the ones every Innovative dashboard uses:

• Find — shows only the lines containing what is typed. It starts empty on every visit.
• Info, Warn, Err — the level filters, all on at first.
• Autoscroll — on at first; the pane follows the newest line. Turn it off to hold position while traffic keeps arriving.
• Clear view — empties the pane. The log file on disk is untouched.
• Pause — holds new lines out of the pane; what is already there stays. Press it again to resume.

Counters show delivered and failed per link and campaign sent.

[Image: the Log pane with two connections streaming under coloured tags]

A typical setup

Three connections in one receiver, each to a different Concentrator line on the same machine, each running the same saved campaign:

Each address is the port of the matching receiver line on the Concentrator; the receiver type must match the line's TYPE=. Some line types accept a single client at a time — a second connection dialling the same line takes it over.