TP editor with breakpoints

This article shows how to set breakpoints in TP and Karel programs of a Fanuc controller from a PC, and how to build a small TP editor with breakpoints, using the Telnet and FTP features of the Fanuc SDK.

Fanuc controllers support breakpoints, but the TP editor of ROBOGUIDE and the teach pendant do not show them. With breakpoints, a program stops at a given line, without flags or other synchronization in the program.

Breakpoints

What a breakpoint does

A breakpoint pauses a program at a given line, so that you can look at the state of the robot and of the variables. A program can have several breakpoints, in TP and in Karel programs.

Add and remove breakpoints

Telnet KCL manages the breakpoints:

• FanucRobot.Telnet.AddBreakpoint: adds a breakpoint at a line.
• FanucRobot.Telnet.GetBreakpoints: lists the breakpoints of a program.
• FanucRobot.Telnet.RemoveAllBreakpoints: removes all the breakpoints of a program.

The controller removes the breakpoints of a task when the task is aborted.

Example

using UnderAutomation.Fanuc;
using UnderAutomation.Fanuc.Telnet;

public class TpEditorWithBreakpoints
{
  static void Main()
  {
    // Create a new Fanuc robot instance
    FanucRobot robot = new FanucRobot();

    // Set connection parameters
    ConnectionParameters parameters = new ConnectionParameters("192.168.0.1");
    parameters.Telnet.Enable = true;
    parameters.Telnet.TelnetKclPassword = "TELNET_PASS";

    // Connect to the robot
    robot.Connect(parameters);

    
    // Add a breakpoint at line 10 of TP or Karel program MyProgram
    robot.Telnet.AddBreakpoint("MyProgram", 10);

    // List all breakpoints of TP program MyProgram
    BreakpointsResult result = robot.Telnet.GetBreakpoints("MyProgram");
    foreach (Breakpoint breakpoint in result.Breakpoints)
    {
      Console.WriteLine($"Breakpoint at line {breakpoint.Line}");
    }

    // Remove all breakpoints of TP program MyProgram
    robot.Telnet.RemoveAllBreakpoints("MyProgram");
    
  }

}

A TP editor with breakpoints

Components

The demo application has a TP editor with breakpoints, written with Windows Forms:

• a TreeView that lists the *.ls files of the controller;
• a RichTextBox with the syntax highlighting of TP code;
• a margin that sets the breakpoints, shows the line being executed, and numbers the lines from the /MN section;
• buttons to save and run the program.

SDK features used

It uses the FTP features of the SDK to:

• list the files;
• read the *.ls files;
• upload the modified programs;
• monitor the tasks in the background: task names, call stacks and current line.

And the Telnet features to start and stop the program, and to run it line by line.

Source and video

The source is the C# class TPEditorControl of the demo application.

Limits of the demo

• Karel programs are not edited.
• The call stack is simplified: the demo assumes that the task and the program are the same.

Reference