Delimited Definitions
In contrast to fixed messages, delimited messages may have variable record length. The order of the data fields is constant, but the number of characters in each field can change. To separate one data field from another delimiters are specified, the raw data is split based upon the one or more delimiters you specify.
As there is no sentence label to distinguish messages like in a NMEA Message Definition an interface cannot have more than one delimited message.
The Basic tab consists of the following fields:
- Description
- Provide an optional description of this item.
- System Name
- System generated name, read only format standard across all SCS systems.
- Useful for post-processing data on shore from multiple different sources/vessels.
- Useful for rotating personnel as each ship will always comply with this format.
- If you wish to have a more user friendly name you can edit the Display Name attribute below
- Display Name
- User supplied name
- Can be anything you wish though must be unique.
- Type
- The Type of Message Definition being defined.
- This is set upon creation and cannot be changed after the fact.
- Log Messages
- A flag lettings ACQ know if this stream should be logged to disk (files / database) or not.
- If unchecked this data will still be available to all clients and calculated devices, but will not be stored on disk.
- Enabled
- A flag letting SCS know if this interface is actively providing data or if it should be ignored by client applications such as ACQ.
- Termination Characters
- The last character (often a control character) which signifies the end of the data string.
The Advanced tab consists of the following fields:
- Comment
- A general comment pertaining to this item
- Keywords
- Optional tags used to assist with text searches and metadata
- Log Sub Folder Name
- If Log Messages is enabled this specified an optional sub-folder for the RAW file containing the message's data
- Delimiters
- The character(s) to use to split the message into its Data Fields
- Relay via UDP Broadcast
- A flag which tells ACQ to immediately send the data out via UDP Broadcast the instant it is read from the interface.