TCP-Com Advanced Options

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TCP-Com Advanced Options

If you select “Options” in the TCP-Com “File” menu, the following dialog box will appear:

The “Max bytes per TCP/IP packet” option allows you to select the maximum number of bytes that TCP-Com will send out the TCP/IP port in each TCP/IP data packet. For example, suppose that you are receiving large amounts of data in the COM port in a continual data stream. This option allows you to choose the maximum size of any individual TCP/IP data packet that is sent out the TCP/IP port. If you were to receive 5000 bytes of data in the COM port and you had the “Max bytes per TCP/IP packet” option set to 2000, then TCP-Com would break the 5000 bytes of data into three TCP/IP packets (2 packets of 2000 bytes and one packet of 1000 bytes) before sending the data out the TCP/IP port. This option can improve the speed and efficiency of all TCP/IP data sent out by TCP-Com.

The "Load TCP-Com with Windows at startup" option causes TCP-Com to automatically run whenever you start Windows. When TCP-Com launches, it will use the exact same settings that were in effect the last time that it was run and it will even automatically activate itself if it was active when it was last shut down. In addition, TCP-Com will also automatically minimize itself if it was minimized when it was last shut down. Basically this option saves you the trouble of having to put a shortcut to TCP-Com in your Startup folder.

Notes:

1. If you select this option, TCP-Com will only run automatically when the same workstation user logs onto the PC. If you want TCP-Com to run automatically at startup for all users of the workstation, you would need to log onto the PC once for each user and then run TCP-Com and select this option.

2. If you configure TCP-Com to run as a Windows Service, do not select the "Load TCP-Com with Windows at startup" option.

For more information on how to configure TCP-Com to load as a Windows Service see: Configuring TCP-Com to run as a Windows Service

The “Log all errors to file ErrorLog.txt” option causes TCP-Com to create an error log file located in the same folder with the TCP-Com program files and record any errors that occur to that file. The purpose of this option is to provide a means for tracking down any communications error that may occur including network connection errors. All errors are recorded with a date and a time stamp as well as a verbose description of the errors.

You can also configure TCP-Com to run an external program whenever an error occurs. For example, you could run a program that sends a notification to someone (perhaps containing a copy of the ErrorLog.txt file) if the network connection is disrupted. To configure TCP-Com to run an external program in the event of an error, enter the command line for the program that you want to run in the textbox labeled “Command Line”. If you leave the “Command Line” textbox empty, TCP-Com will not attempt to run any external program if it detects an error.

The “Ping remote IP Addresses to detect failed connections” options allow you to configure TCP-Com to continually ping the IP address of any remote devices or computers that are connected to TCP-Com so that it can detect failed network connections. This option applies both for remotely connected TCP/IP clients when TCP-Com is configured as a server and for TCP/IP servers that TCP-Com is connected to as a client.

If you check the checkbox labeled “Enable remote pings”, TCP-Com will continually ping all connected IP Addresses at the interval specified in the “Ping Frequency” dropdown list. The Ping Frequency option determines how often TCP-Com will issue the pings. If the device or computer at the remotely connected IP Address does not respond to each ping within the amount of time specified in the “Ping Timeout” option, then TCP-Com will consider the connection broken and it will close the connection and automatically attempt to re-establish a new connection.

For example, suppose that you are establishing a TCP/IP connection across an unreliable network (like the Internet) and you want to insure that your connection remains open no matter what happens to the network. In many cases, if a network connection gets lost (perhaps as the result of a network switch or a router going down or a cable getting disconnected), the client or the server that has the connection open may not be notified that the connection has been broken and therefore has no way to detect that there is a problem. This option basically provides a reliable means for detecting and automatically repairing failed network connections. If a network connection is lost, TCP-Com will continually attempt to re-establish the connection until it is successful.