Mbox interface buggy

I just installed a new Mbox and its ASCOM driver. In SGP Equipment Profile I find the Mbox and can select and configure it fine, and then save the profile. But when I open a sequence and do File / Apply Profile to Sequence it doesn’t show up in the sequence. The sequence shows No Environment Device and doesn’t even list the Mbox in its Environment Device options.

If I pick one of the ASCOM options, I can then pick the Mbox for each of its functions and that works. But this has to be done to all sequences – Apply Profile doesn’t work.

Also, when I set the ASCOM environment device average period, it is shown in minutes but SGP is interpreting that as hours. Leaving the averaging period at 0.0 disables averaging and it works fine like that, but it would be nice to be able to average like the ASCOM interface supports.

Gerrit

I’m not sure from your description if this is an ASCOM or SGP issue. It sounds like the former. Have you tried a conformance check or independent use of the ASCOM driver from another app?

Nothing to do with ASCOM.

This must be a SGP issue. The device knows nothing about profiles.

Also SGP. the device knows nothing about SGP profiles.

Looking at the Mbox code the average period is always zero and setting any other value throws an exception. Not sure where you are setting the value, but the ASCOM specification is that the period is hours. An application can use what units or the display they like as long as they convert to hours but the olny valid value for the driver is zero.

The Eq’mt Profile shows an Mbox option for Environment but the sequence doesn’t. But, I just found that if I select ASCOM Observing Conditions Hub (OCH) in the Eq’mt Profile and select the Mbox within that setup, I can then do Apply Profile and the sequence sees it and updates properly. So not a big deal but an inconsistency.

@Chris – here is a potion of the dialog box for the ASCOM OCH setup:
image
The Average Period is shown as “minutes” but the Environment Data module in SGP interprets this as “hours” (e.g. I enter “2” as the average period in OCH setup and SGP shows the average period as “2 hrs”). So maybe this is an error in the OCH setup box.

(The ASCOM OCH setup definitely has a bug in the window title: “Configurtation” instead of “Configuration”. :grin:)

Gerrit

so - connecting through the hub works but direct does not. As far as SGP is concerned, I’m guessing it still issues the same ASCOM commands - so it is must be some subtlety somewhere -