Peter Norberg Consulting, Inc.

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We are pleased to announce that the new .NET 2.0 version of our StepperBoard class library has now reached the early beta release stage.  Written in Microsoft C# (using strictly the free 2005 express version of their system), the code is compatible with .NET version 2.0.  Our intended schedule is for this code to become final some time in the first quarter of 2008.

This library is designed to be almost identical to our existing Visual Basic 6.0 library, in terms of most function calls and class actions being as similar as is possible.  However, it adds several new board/firmware classes (so it should be much more obvious as to which class is to be used to operate a given board/firmware combination), and greatly simplifies the process of linking board-level classes (such as the "GenStepper" object) to the low level I/O subsystem (the "StepperBoardIO" object.

The project is being released now with the understanding that this is an early beta, and that there may be significant changes in the detailed class hierarchy before the system reaches its final release level code.  It is expected that the highest level classes (such as GenStepper and UCNCStepper) are operationally nearly complete; the most probable set of changes would be the way those classes are built up from their low-level components.

Additionally, this library has only undergone initial simple testing and review.  The included sample code (one sample per main board-level class library) all worked at the time that they were written; however, not all of the functions which are available have been tested, and even the ones which have been touched have not been extensively tested for all edge conditions.

We would very strongly appreciate any feedback at all on the system at this stage.  The intent is to simplify your .NET coding, and to provide a robust environment for your application. 

We do not yet have a specific manual for this system: you will find that the xml-based function-level documentation is fairly complete, but is not yet "pretty" on the tool-tips generated by the Visual Studio editors (any advice on how to improve this would be greatly appreciated!).  The existing "StepperBoard" class library is still a good reference to this system: over 90% of the functions work as is shown in that manual.  The most critical difference is that the "ClassBuilder" system has been replaced with the "StepperBoardIOClassBuilder" system, which combines the base "StepperBoardIO" low-level I/O subsystem with the capability of generating and cross-linking any of the final board-level classes for you.

This new library is available as part of the "SetUpStepperBoardExamples.exe" download.  It may only be installed on your computer by your selecting a "custom install", and then manually checking the "Beta StepperBoardVS2005 .NET Code" checkbox as part of your installation process.

As with all of our sample code, there is no warranty of any form associated with this library -- use it at your own risk!

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