M42 Logger Front-End Development Shots

[bmwman91]

I have been using some spare time to work on the interface end of the logger some have seen me mention.  Don't hold you breath for the final working product...but just to tease you.....

Click the attachment for the full size one.  And no, the background is not part of it...just my desktop background.

The window is fully sizable to whatever size you want, and the gauges scale with it.  Yay for nerdiness.

[bmwman91]

Further along in the development.  Things are all set up to take input data and use it to set the needle angles and everything.  It is not just drawn on there to look cool...it is written in such a way that live input values will actually move things.

Once I get the gauge interface finished up, I will move on to the Settings tab (you can customize color schemes, units (English/SI), type of EGO sensor, etc).  Then I will do the Graphs tab where data will be plotted in real-time.

There will also be an external form that you can load saved logs into and view them/export the data/whatever.  Hell, even if I never am able to sell a logger at least I will have a cool toy.

I will also be eliminating the "Braking" gauge and replacing it with an oil temperature gauge.  For now, I have no definite plans for oil pressure inputs...selecting a pressure sensor that can handle the temperatures and other conditions would be pricey, and chances are that anyone who actually NEEDS to know their oil pressure can afford a high-end logger.  This one should be good for at least 75% of tuners.  Are there any obvious inputs that I am forgetting?  This is not intended to be a track-computer either...the vehicle speed is about all that there will be as far as movement data...this is mainly for engine tuning.  The speed & braking were more intended as "extras" since software is relatively "free" to build (at least when you are doing it as a side-job).

[nuvolarossa]

wow, I never thought you can write such programs...
now something is starting!
Great, it will have the playback capability, right?
Now shows us the "graphs" view!
 
damn, I need to learn how write similar "easy" softwares... I'm a noobie in those things
Very nice job!
 
 
 
but would be better if in every gauge there will be a little window with digital value? like logworks3, in picture below:

[bmwman91]

wow, I never thought you can write such programs...
now something is starting!
Great, it will have the playback capability, right?
Now shows us the "graphs" view!
 
damn, I need to learn how write similar "easy" softwares... I'm a noobie in those things
Very nice job!
 
 
 
but would be better if in every gauge there will be a little window with digital value? like logworks3, in picture below:

It is pretty easy. If you know some high school level trigonometry and can organize a process loop (series of things you want to do) logically, you are good to go. With a couple years of microcontroller programming under the belt, writing logic loops and conserving system resources is nothing new. Hell, I am almost TOO stingy in writing Windows apps...RAM on the microcontrollers is counted in bytes, on modern PC's it is almost unlimited comparatively.

The text saying "OFF" will display the current value when it is actually running...don't worry!  I have used enough loggers that I know what should be included.  Once I am all done, I might look into adding some fancy textures.  I will have controls in the settings tab to allow users to customize all the colors too.

I have not begun on the graphs portion yet. I am still building the framework for receiving the data, and streamlining the graphics drawing algorithm. A lot of people have older, slower laptops that might not be able to keep up with the drawing rate, so I am making sure that things called stack overflows do not happen. Making a program work is one thing...making it user friendly is quite another (and probably eats 50% or more of the development time).

I also consolidated the EGO gauges into one...you specify the type in the Settings tab. This left room for an OIL TEMPERATURE gauge which I have added since you asked. Oil pressure.....I think I might leave that feature off. At least on the M42, there is no good place to tap in for it for the average enthusiast. A turbo typically requires its own remote pump too, right?

If you want to begin learning Visual Basic, look up a book published by Sams Publishing called Learn Visual basic 2003 in 24 Hours or something. It is where I got my start from.

[nuvolarossa]

It is pretty easy. If you know some high school level trigonometry and can organize a process loop (series of things you want to do) logically, you are good to go. With a couple years of microcontroller programming under the belt, writing logic loops and conserving system resources is nothing new. Hell, I am almost TOO stingy in writing Windows apps...RAM on the microcontrollers is counted in bytes, on modern PC's it is almost unlimited comparatively.
 
The text saying "OFF" will display the current value when it is actually running...don't worry! I have used enough loggers that I know what should be included. Once I am all done, I might look into adding some fancy textures. I will have controls in the settings tab to allow users to customize all the colors too.
 
I have not begun on the graphs portion yet. I am still building the framework for receiving the data, and streamlining the graphics drawing algorithm. A lot of people have older, slower laptops that might not be able to keep up with the drawing rate, so I am making sure that things called stack overflows do not happen. Making a program work is one thing...making it user friendly is quite another (and probably eats 50% or more of the development time).
 
I also consolidated the EGO gauges into one...you specify the type in the Settings tab. This left room for an OIL TEMPERATURE gauge which I have added since you asked. Oil pressure.....I think I might leave that feature off. At least on the M42, there is no good place to tap in for it for the average enthusiast. A turbo typically requires its own remote pump too, right?
 
If you want to begin learning Visual Basic, look up a book published by Sams Publishing called Learn Visual basic 2003 in 24 Hours or something. It is where I got my start from.

Great. I think that I'll read that book or others in my language:D
Oil pressure can easily done with a simple "tee" near the oilfilter, where is bolted the original oil pressure sensor. Just put a T and put there your sensor. That is exactly the same location where people that goes turbo pick their feed line. For all people that go custom turbo a pressure gauge will be a very great thing that help to not blow turbo and engine:D.
 
I like that you want to make great, affidables and hi quality projects;)
I like too that there is a gauge for manifold pressure, like I said:rolleyes:
Good luck with the development!
keep this thread updated.
 
bye

[bmwman91]

Update:

I have mostly started the project over from scratch.  My goal is to have this run acceptably on a PII 300MHz / 192MB RAM laptop.  I know a lot of people have older / eBay laptops they like to use for tuning.  The original program was great on new systems, but could pose challenges on older ones.  Being that I am still a coding n00b with no formal training, this has been a learning process.

So, I thought long & hard about how to optimize things, mainly the drawing routine, and have been able to benchmark improvements in speed of 500%.  I guess knowing where to start is most of the battle.

So, I am going back through,  making custom controls and using modules (rather than coding it all in one bit...talk about cluttered) to store various parts of the program's code.  It should look about the same, but will offer new benefits like being able to put the gauges in whatever order you want, removing gauges that are not in use (allowing for existing ones to be drawn larger), and all-around less CPU usage.

Don't hold your breath for this, but it will happen.

[Damoj]

How is this project going?  And how are you interfacing with the ECU?

[bmwman91]

The project is at a little bit of a stand-still since I am back on the MAF.

As for the ECU-interfacing, it does not.  This thing pulls signals straight from the sensors themselves and the logger processes those.