Command line tools for qbmoves and hands

IMPORTANT: Versioning:

Each of the repositories in the following table has a version number composed of 3 numbers in the form: v x.y.z

Tools [T]	Libraries [L]	Firmware [F]
qbmove simulink	qbAPI	qbmove firmware
qbadmin		qbmove advanced firmware
		hand firmware micro

E.g. xT is the x number of the Tools whereas yF is the y number of the Firmware version.

• Every change in the number z means a change in the respective repo which not implies changes in other repos.
• Every change in the number y in a repo is backward compatible reading the table from right to left. This means that if you have some new feature in a Firmware, you can still use old Libraries and Tools for management, but of course you will not be able to use the new features. In this case the rule is yF >= yL >= yT.
• Every change in the number x means a change which is not backward compatible, hence you will need to update everything to use it. In this case the rule is xF = xL = xT.

Summarising

• z independent
• yF >= yL >= yT
• xF = xL = xT

E.g.

Tools	Libraries	Firmware	Compatible
qbadmin v4.2.3	qbAPI v4.5.0	qbmove firmware v4.6.7	YES
qbadmin v3.2.3	qbAPI v4.5.0	qbmove firmware v4.6.7	NO
qbadmin v4.2.3	qbAPI v4.5.7	qbmove firmware v4.5.0	YES

Installation requirements

The simplest way to compile these libraries is by using the command line utility make. To do so, you will need also the gcc/g++ compiler installed on your system.

NOTE: if it is the first time you use qbrobotics devices on your computer, it is possible that you need to download the drivers to let your computer see the port correctly. To do that visit FTDI driver webpage -> VCP drivers and download the proper driver depending on your OS

Unix

You should have both gcc/g++ and make installed.

MacOSX

Download XCode from Mac App Store, this will install gcc/g++ and make utility.

Windows

Download MinGW and install it. Open MinGW Installation Manager, from the left panel select basic setup, then from the right panel select mingw32-base and mingw32-gcc-g++, then click on Installation -> Apply Changes. This will install the gcc/g++ compiler. To use it from the command line you need to provide to windows the binary path to the executable. Go to System Properties and click on Environment Variables. In the System Variable windows, look for path, select it and click edit. Go to the end of the Variable Value field, add a ; separator and add the path to the binary folder for gcc (usually it is in C:\MinGW\bin).

Download the make utility from here. Follow the installation instruction. In the end you will need to add the binary path to the Environment Variables. To do that follow the previous steps. (Usually the binary folder for the make utility is in C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin).

NOTE: if you have the CMD already opened when performing the installation, you probably will need to reopen a new one to be able to use the utilities.

Compile the software

Fisrt of all you need to download the qbAPI repository and be sure to have a file tree organised like this (remove the -master suffix):

• your_workingcopy
  • qbAPI
  • qbadmin

Then you will need to compile the libraries. To do that, go to qbAPI/src and type make. Then, to compile the tools, go to qbadmin/src folder and type make.

If everything is ok, depending on your OS, you should see a folder tree like this:

• qbadmin
  • bin_win
  • conf_files
  • objs_win
  • src

or this:

• qbadmin
  • bin_unix
  • conf_files
  • objs_unix
  • src

Using the tools

Usign a terminal, go to the binary folder and execute what you need e.g.:

windows name_of_the_bin.exe

UNIX ./name_of_the_bin

By executing the tools you will receive the usage instruction