CydandClaude Fable 5
a1b7dae3da
The cockpit's second serial device joins vRIO: the 128x32 dot-matrix plasma on COM2 (9600 8N1) that the game draws mission text and status graphics on. VPlasma.App opens the device end of a COM port, decodes the display's command stream, and renders the matrix in plasma orange. The command set is recovered from two Tesla 4.10 artifacts: the game's driver (L4PLASMA.CPP — ESC P packed-bitmap row writes, ESC G 0 cursor hide at boot) and the factory test tool PLASMA.EXE, whose data segment pairs each command literal with its printf description (BS/HT/LF/VT/CR motion, ESC @ clear, ESC L home, ESC G cursor, ESC K fonts, ESC H attributes: intensity/underline/reverse/flash). Text renders through the classic public-domain 5x7 set standing in for the lost ROM glyphs; fonts 0-3 give 21x4 cells, fonts 4-7 the doubled 10x2. A Self test cycles banner/charset/graphics pages through the same parser the wire feeds, and the wire log shows every decoded command. Verified end-to-end over the second com0com pair (host writing COM2, vPLASMA listening on COM12). The verify skill gains the cross-process combo-box lesson: string-carrying CB_* messages hang across processes, so select ports by locally computed index via CB_SETCURSEL. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
67 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
67 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: verify
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description: Build, launch, and drive the vRIO WinForms app to verify changes at the GUI surface — screenshots via PrintWindow, input via PostMessage, no focus stealing.
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---
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# Verifying vRIO changes
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Build + tests (tests are CI's job; run the app for verification):
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```powershell
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dotnet build vrio.sln -v q -nologo # Debug
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# exe: src\VRio.App\bin\Debug\net48\VRio.App.exe
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# exe: src\VPlasma.App\bin\Debug\net48\VPlasma.App.exe (companion display)
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```
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Everything below applies to vPLASMA too. Its serial path can be tested
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end-to-end on this machine: vPLASMA opens **COM12**, the script plays the
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game writing **COM2** (second com0com pair; vRIO/RIOJoy use COM1⇄COM11).
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Killing a writer mid-stream can leave stale bytes queued in the com0com
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buffer — the next session's byte counter will run high; re-run clean
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before trusting counts.
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## Driving the GUI without touching the user's desktop
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This is the user's live desktop — **never** use SetForegroundWindow +
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SendKeys/mouse_event: focus-stealing prevention leaves the app behind
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VS Code and your clicks land in the user's windows. Instead:
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- **Screenshots**: `PrintWindow(hwnd, dc, 2)` (PW_RENDERFULLCONTENT) —
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captures the window even when occluded. CopyFromScreen captures
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whatever is on top; don't use it.
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- **Canvas input** (stick drags, cell clicks): PostMessage
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`WM_LBUTTONDOWN/WM_MOUSEMOVE/WM_LBUTTONUP` straight to the canvas
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child HWND. Find it by descending `RealChildWindowFromPoint` from the
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form. Canvas geometry is compile-time constant (PanelCanvas.cs):
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CellW=66, BoxXY = x 416..496, y 6..74 (X/Y stick box).
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The **first** posted drag after launch can half-land (only the
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button-down registers); do a throwaway drag first, then the measured
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one, screenshot **while held** (spring-back recenters on up).
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- **Checkboxes/buttons**: WinForms controls expose no UIA TogglePattern
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(they surface as bare Panes) and don't answer BM_GETCHECK — but
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`SendMessage(hwnd, BM_CLICK, 0, 0)` works. Get the HWND from the UIA
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element's NativeWindowHandle (find by Name).
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- **Combo boxes** (COM port pickers): string-carrying messages
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(`CB_FINDSTRINGEXACT`, `CB_GETLBTEXT`) do **not** marshal across
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processes — the SendMessage hangs. Compute the item index locally
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(both apps fill from `SerialPort.GetPortNames()` sorted
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OrdinalIgnoreCase) and send index-only `CB_SETCURSEL`; the apps read
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`SelectedItem` lazily so no CBN_SELCHANGE notification is needed.
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Find the combo child HWND via EnumChildWindows + GetClassName
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containing `COMBOBOX` (UIA ClassName "ComboBox" doesn't match).
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- Pattern that works: Add-Type user32 P/Invokes, Start-Process the exe,
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drive via messages, PrintWindow screenshot to the scratchpad, kill
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the process in `finally`.
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## Environment gotchas
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- Bindings load from `%APPDATA%\vRIO\bindings.txt` (the user's file),
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not the built-in defaults — arrow keys are bound to Hat *buttons*,
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not the joystick axis. Drive axes via the X/Y box.
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- A real XInput gamepad is connected on this machine ("Controller #1
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connected"); the router only writes an axis when its composed value
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changes, so a centered pad won't fight a canvas drag.
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- The wire readout (top center, green) shows `GetWireAxis` values —
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joystick Y is natively negated on the wire (stick up = −80) unless
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"Invert Y" is checked.
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