KineticaRT Studio sequences are written in either the C# or Visual Basic languages and are stored in text files with the extensions ".cs" or ".vb". KineticaRT Studio does not provide any editors for these files; you can use Windows Notepad, your favorite text/code editor or the Visual Studio editors which provide color coding and syntax checking. Opening a file for editing from the KineticaRT Studio Sequences menu will open it in the editor configured as the Windows default editor for files with that extension (Visual Studio if you have it installed).
KineticaRT Studio uses the standard Microsoft compilers for C# and Visual Basic so your source code must be compatible with the Microsoft standards. You can make use of Microsoft's online help for the language specification, examples, design guides etc. (See links below) or the Visual Studio help if you have it.
Note that no extra licenses are required to use the compilers, even on the target (users) computers.
In addition to being compatible with the Microsoft language specifications; in order for KineticaRT Studio to load and run the sequences they must contain a class with the correct name and which is based on the KineticaRT Sequence class. The minimum code for a working sequence is automatically generated when you create a new sequence. You should extend this code rather than modify it.
The KineticaRT.Sequence base class provides a number of methods to assist in creating sequences such as methods to access the KineticaRT Studio channels and a method to wait until a KineticaRT channel reaches a specified value. These are detailed in the KineticaRT Studio Programming Manual and some examples of their use will be given below.
KineticaRT Studio allows the use of the .net System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(string) and System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string) methods for diagnostic purposes within the sequences.
Both these methods will output the given strings to the message listbox in the Configurer window if the Configurer window is enabled.
For each sequence file, it is possible to configure whether debug, trace, both or neither is shown. If neither are configured then the statements will be removed by the compiler and they will have no effect on performance.
At present these settings must be configured by editing the project file and setting the "Define" attribute on the appropriate "Sequence" item. These options will be added to the sequence menu in a future version. Changes to the settings will have no effect until the sequence is re-compiled.
If you are using Visual Studio for debugging purposes then these methods will also output to the Visual Studio "Output" window if you attach Visual Studio to the KineticaRT Studio process. You must have "Debug" enabled if you wish to place breakpoints in the your Sequence code.
This page does not appear to be finished. It will be extended for the next version. Ask KineticaRT technical support if you need further information.