Temperature Controller Interface

[MichalKononenko]

Write an interface to a power supply capable of

• getting the current power level
• setting a power level

[MichalKononenko]

So, I had to make some decisions about libraries. For serial communication, I'm going to use Rxtx. It implements the Java Communications API 3.0. For mocking, I plan to use jMock.

[MichalKononenko]

As of now, I've got some interface ready to go, in terms of configuring what the connection should be. Now, I need to worry about how to acquire a serial port to communicate with. I need ideas. The visitor pattern might be useful

[MichalKononenko]

First draft of the algorithm

1. Device asks Kernel for a port, specified by a portName
2. Kernel asks CommPortManager for the port.
3. CommPortManager tries to open the required port. If not, just throw an exception.

[MichalKononenko]

My first draft of specifying the portName inside the device is a hack. I need to refactor this to allow for a particular connection.

[MichalKononenko]

I'm not sure whether the Device should know anything about a serial port. That's the Kernel's job. The Kernel should be giving the InputStream and OutputStream to the Device, and handle failover.

[MichalKononenko]

So what I need to do is specify these connection parameters in some other class, and use that to negotiate with the Kernel.

[MichalKononenko]

You know what? Forget the negotiations. For the first prototype, acquiring the Serial port should be enough,

[MichalKononenko]

What do I need to know to connect to a port

1. Name
2. Baud
3. Format
4. Parity
5. Address
6. Whether it's serial or parallel

[MichalKononenko]

Come up with a ConnectionParameters object that can be used to specify this stuff. Then, each device that is capable of taking such a connection would need to implement a method to check these ConnectionParameters against what's allowed on that device.