Contents

Typically, you develop both Windows and RT source code as shown in this illustration. The remainder of this topic details each step. This topic also describes INtime software's sample applications.

Create project

To develop RT applications using INtime software, you must have INtime installed on your system, and a supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio running. Supported versions include:

• Visual Studio 2022
• Visual Studio 2019
• Visual Studio 2017
• Visual Studio 2015

Note that INtime cannot be integrated with the Community/Express editions of Visual Studio versions. However, the Community edition of Visual Studio 2013 and later is compatible with INtime add-ins.

Before creating the project, decide how to set it up. Typical structures for INtime applications include:

• Set up the project as a single solution with the Windows portion as a project and the RT portion as a project. Use this approach when you want to start your INtime application in Windows and invoke the RT functions.
• Set up each portion as a solution.

An INtime application typically results in a minimum of one Windows executable (a .DLL or .EXE file) and one RT executable (an .RTA file).

Develop Windows source code

To develop the Windows portion of an INtime application, use Microsoft Visual Studio as you normally would:

1. With Microsoft Visual Studio running, select a standard application wizard. Use the wizard to build the Windows portion of your INtime application.
2. You need to add the include path $(INtime)\nt\lib\ to the linker and add the ntx.lib. Most probably also ntxext.lib and ntxbrow.lib. The compiler needs to find the headers in $(INtime)\nt\include
3. Use the Microsoft Visual Studio's editor to edit the generated code and link the application.
4. When editing your Windows source code, use the NTX calls provided with INtime software to access RT functionality.
5. Debug with the debugger included as part of Microsoft Visual Studio.

Adding the INtime RT Client Browser to your INtime application

The INtime RT Client Browser (INBROW.OCX) is an ActiveX control that you can add to your INtime applications. Add the browser using the Microsoft Visual Studio menu. The Node Browser then displays as an available control on the Controls Toolbar. Add the control to the dialog you desire. For information about including ActiveX controls in projects, see the Microsoft Visual Studio documentation.

Once in your project, the control offers these functions:

Develop RT source code

To develop the RT portion of an INtime application, use the INtime wizards available in Microsoft Visual Studio. The INtime wizards guide you through the decisions required to develop the RT portion of an INtime application and generate the corresponding code framework which you fine-tune in Microsoft Visual Studio's editor.

You can choose to develop your application using the native INtime API, which is a fully-featured RTOS API, or else you can choose to develop against the IWIN32 API, a WIN32-compatible API with some extensions for real-time programming, which may make application development quicker when porting code from Windows. You can find a porting guide from migrating WIndows code to INtime IWIN32 here.

You can select one of these INtime wizards:

• Application wizard: Develops the RT portion of RT applications.
• Shared Library wizard: Generates code for a Real-time Shared Library.
• INtime Application Static Library wizard: Generates code for a Real-time Static Library.

  Note:    The RT portion of INtime applications support only source code written in C or C++. They do not support applications written using MFC and/or ATL.

Run the INtime Application wizard

To create the RT portion of an INtime application:

1. Select what you want to generate:
   • An empty project (the wizard simply sets up the correct compiler and linker settings for you). If you select this option, go to step 4.
   • A simple "Hello World" application (the wizard creates a simple source file and adds it to the project). If you select this option, go to step 4.
   • A minimal iwin32 application (the wizard creates a project with one source file, set up to use iwin32 API calls). If you select this option, go to step 4.
   • A full-featured INtime application. If you select this option, continue to the next step.
2. Add elements to your process:
   1. Select one or more elements from the main screen to add to your RT application:
      • Mailbox or semaphore server thread
      • Thread that operates at a regular interval
      • Interrupt handling
      • Shared memory allocation
      • Client thread
        
        Note: For detailed information about the fields on these screens, see the RT process wizard Help.
   2. Click the Add element button. That element's detail screen displays.
   3. Specify element parameter values.
   4. When satisfied with an element's settings, click the OK button. The wizard's main screen displays again.
3. (Optional) Change the global process settings:
   1. Select the -global option from the main screen.
      Note: You must click in the Name column to access this detail screen.
   2. Specify global process values.
   3. When satisfied with the global settings, click the OK button. The wizard's main screen displays again.
      Note: If you don't access this screen now, the wizard prompts you to verify global settings before generating the process.
4. Generate the process: The wizard creates a project from the settings you specified.
   1. Click the Generate Process button. If you did not access the Global settings screen, the wizard prompts you to edit or accept the global process settings. The wizard then displays the New Project Information screen and prompts you to verify the process information.
   2. Click the OK button. The wizard creates a process from the settings you specified. A process may include these files:
      • Main file (which has the project name) with a .C or .CPP extension; for example: TEST.C.
      • INtime project file TEST.intp, c project file TEST.vcproj, and solution file TEST.sln.
      • Project header file with a .H extension.
      • Utility function file, UTIL.C.
      • A C source file with a .C extension for each thread.
      • A text file called README.TXT that describes each generated file.

Running the INtime Application Add-in wizard

The INtime Application Add-in wizard can be used only for a project generated by the INtime Application wizard with the C++ and Full-Featured options selected. To start it, select Tools>TenAsys INtime C++ wizard.

To modify an existing process:

1. Add elements to your process:
   1. Select one or more elements from the main screen to add to your RT application:
      • Mailbox or semaphore server thread
      • Thread that operates at a regular interval
      • Interrupt handling
      • Shared memory allocation
      • Client thread
        Note: For detailed information about the fields on these screens, see the INtime Application wizard Help.
   2. Click the Add element button. That element's detail screen displays.
   3. Specify element parameter values.
   4. When satisfied with an element's settings, click the OK button. The wizard's main screen displays again and a message indicates what the wizard added to the process.
2. When you are satisfied with your additions, click the Close button to exit the wizard.

Running the INtime Shared Library wizard

The INtime Shared Library wizard generates the framework for a Real-time shared library. The code generated illustrates how to export both function and variable names, and also initializes the project settings to correctly generate an RSL.

The generated files include:

• The Main file (which has the project name) with either a .C or a .CPP extension; depending on which option was chosen, for example: TEST.C.
• Project files, for example, TEST.intp and TEST.vcproj.
• Project header file with a .H extension, for example, TEST.h.
• Utility function file, UTIL.C.

The main file contains an RslMain function which you can modify, if required. A default RslMain function is linked if this function is deleted from the source file.

Running the INtime Static Library wizard

The INtime Static Library wizard generates a project that builds a static library fit for linking into INtime projects. After running the wizard, the library is empty. Add files as necessary. Successfully building a static library project results in a LIB file that can be linked into other projects.

The difference between a static and a shared library is that code and data from a static library is added to an executable file at link time, whereas code and data from a shared library is added only when the executable file loads. With a shared library, the shared code can be updated without rebuilding the executable file, but use of a shared library involves some minor overhead.

Use of 3rd-Part Libraries

In certain cases, 3rd-party static libraries developed for WIndows may also be linked to INtime applications. These libraries must have no external dependencies on Windows system calls and other libraries, and must not reference DLLs.

An example of such a library would be the Intel Performance Primitives libraries (see this link for details).

C++ versions, include paths and libraries

The C++ implementation has changed as the capabilities of the Visual Studio compilers has been upgraded. The map of different library versions to Visual Studio/Platform Toolset versions is as follows:

• cpplib.lib - legacy, do not use for new development
• cpplib07.lib - Visual Studio 2008 through 2013 (toolset versions v90 through v120)
• cpplib11.lib - Visual Studio 2015 (toolset version v140)
• cpplib17.lib - Visual Studio  2017 and later (toolset version v141 and v142)

For detailed settings, see the sections below for each Visual Studio / Platform Toolchain.

Compile

Use Microsoft Visual Studio to compile and link the application. The RT portion of INtime applications requires certain project settings. If you use INtime wizards to develop the RT portion of your application, the wizards will set up your project properly. Settings vary, depending on whether you configured Microsoft Visual Studio to build a debug or a release version.

To view and verify settings required by INtime software, select Microsoft Visual Studio's Build>Settings menu option.

Note:   Only required RT portion settings are listed. You can enter the values you want in fields for which no setting is listed.

Visual Studio settings vary, depending on the version you use. Go to the appropriate section to see the settings for your version.

Note:   The settings for each version apply specifically to the Platform Toolchain version in use, rather than the Visual Studio version. For example you can create a project in Visual Studio 2017 but specify the Platform Toolchain version from Visual Studio 2015 (v140). The settings must be made for toolset v140 in this case.

• Visual Studio 2022 / Platform Toolset v143
• Visual Studio 2019 / Platform Toolset v142
• Visual Studio 2017 / Platform Toolset v141
• Visual Studio 2015 / Platform Toolset v140
• Visual Studio 2013 / Platform Toolset v120
• Visual Studio 2012 / Platform Toolset v110

Visual Studio 2022 / Platform Toolset v143 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtpp17d.lib for the debug version and rtpp17.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib17.lib.

Visual Studio 2019 / Platform Toolset v142 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtpp17d.lib for the debug version and rtpp17.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib17.lib.

Visual Studio 2017 / Platform Toolset v141 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtpp17d.lib for the debug version and rtpp17.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib17.lib.

Visual Studio 2015 / Platform Toolset v140 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtpp11d.lib for the debug version and rtpp11.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib11.lib.

Visual Studio 2013 / Platform Toolset v120 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtppd.lib for the debug version and rtpp.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib.lib.

Visual Studio 2012 / Platform Toolset v110 settings

In the list of object/library modules, the following choices depend on other settings:

1. For C++ projects that use the INtime RT classes, add rtppd.lib for the debug version and rtpp.lib for the release version.
2. For C++ projects, add cpplib.lib.