4 Using Beagle Data Center Software

4.1 Starting Data Center Software

Linux

1. Go to the installation directory where the software package was unzipped.

2. Execute beagle-gui

Windows

1. Go to the folder (Figure 9) where the software package was extracted.

2. Double-click on Beagle-GUI.exe

Windows File Associations

When the Beagle Data Center software is executed on a Windows machine, it will check to see if the correct file associations have been set for the Beagle Data Center data files (*.bgl files). This file association will allow users to double click on BGL files and have them automatically open in the Beagle Data Center software. It will also provide an icon for the BGL files to make them easier to distinguish.

To set the associate, simply click Yes, otherwise click No.

Please note, only users that have write permission to the Windows registry will be able to set the file association for BGL files.

4.2 Exiting Data Center Software

To exit the Data Center software, simply go to File | Quit or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Q.

Upon quitting, the Data Center software will verify that the current capture session has been saved. If it has not been saved, you will be asked if they would like to save the file before exiting (Figure 10).

4.3 Getting Around the Beagle Data Center Software

The Data Center software is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, graphical interface to the Beagle analyzers. The general interface of this application is shown in Figure 11.

Toolbar (1)
The toolbar provides single click access to the majority of the Beagle analyzer’s functionality.

Transaction Window (2)
The All transaction window displays all the raw data from the bus capture without any parsing. Additional tabs provide protocol specific views of the captured data.

Filters Palette (3)
The filter palette allows the user to filter the captured data based on selected parameters. The contents of the filter palette change depending on which transaction window tab is active. This filter palette can be hidden by clicking on Hide Filters in the toolbar.

Details Window (4)
When a transaction is selected in the transaction window, detailed information is provided in the Details window. This window has multiple tabs along the bottom to provide the user with multiple ways of viewing the data. Each protocol type may have a different set of detailed views that are specific to that protocol.

Status Bar (5)
The Status bar provides the user with information about the current status of the software and the Beagle analyzer. It displays information from the search, delta-time, data payload, and instantaneous bandwidth functions. It also displays the hardware version, firmware version, and device address of the connected Beagle analyzer.

Toolbar

The Toolbar (Figure 12) is the primary means of operating the Beagle protocol analyzer. It is comprised of the following functions:

Connection
The button launches the Connection window which is the primary means of connecting and disconnecting Beagle protocol analyzers to the Data Center software.

The connection window can also be accessed through Beagle | Connect… or through the keyboard shortcut <Ctrl>+B.

Connection Status
This box displays the connection status of the Data Center software. When a Beagle analyzer is connected, the serial number of the device will be displayed. Otherwise, “disconnected” will appear in the box.

Protocol Type
When connected to a Beagle analyzer, this pull down menu will display all the protocols that are available to the Data Center software for capture. It is only possible to capture from a single bus type at any one time, but multiple captures can be contained in a single file.

Capture Settings Button
Different capture options are available to for each serial bus that is supported by the Data Center software. Clicking on the Settings button will open up the Settings dialog window where this options can be configured.

The settings dialog can also be accessed through Beagle | Settings… or with the Keyboard shortcut <Ctrl>+T.

Timing Resolution
Depending on the selected sampling rate, the timing resolution will change. This indicates the finest resolution available for the selected sampling rate.

Capture Button
To start a capture, simply press this button. When a capture has been started, the majority of the toolbar will be disabled. To re-enable the toolbar, simply stop the capture by pressing the button again.

The capture can also be started and stopped by using the menu item Beagle | Capture or by using the keyboard shortcut <Ctrl>+A.

Capture Indicator
Indicates if a capture has been started or stopped. A red indicator means that the capture is currently stopped. A green indicator means that the capture is currently active.

Capture Size
Indicates the amount of data that has been captured in kilobytes.

Synchronized Scroll
When checked, the Transaction window will automatically scroll to the most recently captured transaction. Otherwise, the transaction window will remain at the position the user indicates.

Show/Hide Filter Palette
This toggle button shows and hides the filter palette.

Transaction Window

The transaction windows displays the transactions that were captured on a serial bus in real time. When an transaction is selected in the transaction window, detailed information about that transaction is displayed in the Detailed window.

There are also additional protocol specific transaction windows which provide high level information about the data captured by parse the data. Specific information about these windows can be found in their respective sections in this manual.

Filters

The filters palette provides a useful and powerful set of tools to filter the transactions in the transaction window. Filters can be applied at any time, even in real-time during a capture. The use of filters can help developers quickly identify and locate data of interest in a large data set.

Detailed View

The Detailed view provides detailed information about a specific transaction. There are two viewing modes that are common to all protocols: Data and Timing. The way the data is displayed in these modes will depend on the protocol type of the data.

Additional protocol specific viewing modes may be available and are documented in their respective sections.

4.4 Connecting to a Beagle Analyzer

In order to capture data, the Data Center software needs to be connected to a Beagle analyzer. To start the connection process, click on the Connection button in the toolbar or go to Beagle | Connect… or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B. This will open the Connection Window.

Connection Window

The Connection Window (Figure 13) displays all the available Beagle analyzers that are connected to the computer and are available for use. If the user connects a device after this window has been opened, simply click Cancel and open the Connection Window again.

The list of available devices provides the following information:

Port
The port number of the Beagle analyzer.

Available (Avail)
Indicates if the Beagle analyzer is currently in use by another application.

Serial Number
The serial number of the Beagle analyzer. This is a convenience to allow developers to easily identify the physical unit that is being connected to the Data Center software.

HW Ver
The hardware version of the Beagle analyzer.

FW Ver
The firmware version of the Beagle analyzer.

Protocols
The protocols that can be captured by the Beagle analyzer.

Connecting to a Beagle Analyzer

To connect to a Beagle analyzer:

1. Click on Connection in the toolbar to open the Connection window.

2. Select a Beagle analyzer from the list of available devices.

3. Click on the Connect button at the bottom of the Connection window.

The list of Beagle analyzers in the connection window can be updated by clicking on the Refresh button.

If the Beagle analyzer is being used by another process, you will receive an error message (Figure 14) indicating that the device is unavailable.

Disconnecting a Beagle Analyzer

To disconnect a Beagle analyzer:

1. Click on Connection in the toolbar to open the Connection window.

2. Click on the Disconnect button at the bottom of the Connection window.

Errors can occur If the Beagle analyzer is physically disconnected before it is disconnected via software. In these cases, the Data Center software will automatically close the analyzer and display the an error message (Figure 15).

4.5 Starting a Capture

In order to start a capture, the Data Center software must be connected to a Beagle analyzer. If a Beagle analyzer is not connected, the Capture button and the rest of the toolbar will be disabled.

To start a capture:

1. Connect to a Beagle analyzer

2. Click on the Capture button in the toolbar or go to Beagle | Capture or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A.

Once the capture has been started, the capture indicator will turn green and an informational row will be inserted in the transaction window which indicates when the capture was started.

While the Data Center software is capturing data, it is not possible to change the parameters of the capture or to connect to a different Beagle analyzer. In order to do so, you must first stop the capture.

The data captured will be appended to any data that has already been captured. The Data Center software can only capture to a single file at a time. To capture to a new file, go to File | New or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N. If the current data is unsaved, the Data Center software will provide a warning (Figure 16). The user has the option to save the data before continuing.

To clear the capture data while keeping the current file open, go to File | Clear or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L. The Data Center software with provide a warning (Figure 17). Any subsequent data captured will be saved to the same file.

Real-Time Display

The Data Center software will display captured data in the transaction window in real-time. Each captured transaction will appear as a row in the transaction window.

If there is a significant amount of data to capture, it is possible to overwhelm the Data Center software’s ability to capture and parse the data in real-time. In these cases, a saturation warning window (Figure 18) will pop up on screen.

At this point, the Data Center software is still capturing data, but it is not able to update the information on screen. In the warning window, the application load is indicated by the bar graph and the amount of memory used by the capture is displayed.

In the saturation warning window, the user has the option to stop the capture or dismiss the warning window. Please note that the Dismiss button may not always be enabled. Stopping the capture will stop the data capture immediately and close the warning window.

If there is a lull in the incoming data and the application load drops, it is possible for the Data Center software to catch up. At this time, the Dismiss button will be enabled. Dismissing the warning will close the warning window and allow the user to operate the Data Center software normally.

Maximum Capture Size

The data that is captured by the Data Center software is stored in memory. The total amount of memory used by the capture is displayed in the toolbar.

The Data Center software will automatically stop the capture after it has captured a finite amount of data. The initial stop point is set at 128 MB. When the limit is reached, a Capture Limit Dialog window (Figure 19) will appear to notify the user that the capture limit has been reached.

It is possible to change the maximum size of a capture. Please refer to the Changing Settings section for more information.

4.6 Stopping a Capture

To stop a data capture: click the Stop button or go to Beagle | Capture or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A.

The capture indicator will turn red and an informational row will be inserted into the transaction window which indicates when the capture was stopped.

4.7 Filtering a Capture

A capture can be filtered at any point during or after a capture.

Applying Filters

To apply the filter, simply click on the Apply Filter button. The results will be displayed immediately in the transaction window.

All filters are applied at the same time. A transaction must meet all the filter requirements in order to appear in the transaction window.

Specific protocols have additional filtering options available. Specific information about these other options can be found in their respective sections.

Reset Filters

To reset the filter and the transaction window to the default settings, simply click the Reset Filters button. All the transactions will become immediately visible and the state of the filters will be revert to their default settings.

4.8 Searching a Capture

A capture can be searched for arbitrary data patterns. These patterns can be specified in either hexadecimal or ASCII values.

Finding a pattern

To search for a pattern in the capture, simply enter the desired pattern into the Find field (Figure 20) which is located under the filter section. Select the Hex field to search for a hexadecimal data pattern. Select the ASCII field to search for an ASCII text pattern in the data. Choose the Meta option to do a text search of the information, event, and collapsed transactions. Then click Prev button or Next button to find the previous or next instance of the search pattern.

Matching patterns will be highlighted in the hexadecimal portion of the Data window. The position of the matching pattern will also be indicated in the status bar at the bottom of the window. These may be multiple matching patterns in a single transaction.

Specifying a pattern

When entering a pattern in hexadecimal, individual bytes should be separated with a space. For example, to find the sequence [d4, ff, 3f], enter “d4 ff 3f” into the Find field.

When entering a pattern in ASCII, no separating spaces are required. For example, to find the sequence [“a”, “b”, “c”], enter “abc” into the Find field.

When entering the text pattern to search for in an information, event, or collapsed transaction, simply enter the text that you wish to search for.

Special Search Cases

In the USB tab, there is an additional search option, PID. When selected, this option allows for searching for transactions by the name of the PID, such as “IN”, “DATA1”, or “PING”. Special keywords for the PID search are “DATA” which will match any DATA0, DATA1, DATA2, and MDATA transaction and “SSPLIT” and “CSPLIT” which will only match SSPLIT and CSPLIT transactions, respectively. Also, both “PRE” and “ERR” are equivalent for matching PRE/ERR packets.

When searching in the SPI tab, both the MISO and MOSI sides of the transaction are searched. In order to see the highlighted search results, it may be necessary to switch between the MOSI and MISO data panes in the detail area. It is also possible that the search pattern was found in both the MISO and the MOSI sides of the transaction.

When searching SPI transactions in the All tab, only the MISO data is matched.

4.9 Saving a Capture

A data capture can be saved to a binary file for later analysis. All the data that was captured will be saved to file, regardless of how the data is being filtered. This is to ensure that no information is lost.

To save a capture, go to File | Save (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S) or File | Save As…. The user will be prompted with a file save dialog window. The data will be saved into a Beagle Data file (*.bgl).

4.10 Exporting a Capture

It is possible to export an entire capture or a subset of a capture for future analysis. A capture can be exported as a text file (*.txt), comma delimited file (*.csv), an XML batch file (*.xml), or a Beagle data file (*.bgl).

Note: The protocol tab the Data Center software is in when performing an export affects what data is exported. If you are in a protocol specific view, only transactions of that protocol will be exported.

To export a capture, simply go to File | Export… or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+E. This will open the Export dialog window (Figure 21) which provides the following options.

By default, the filename of the exported capture will use the same base filename as the saved capture file. However, to prevent accidental overwriting of data files, “-export” is appended to the base filename.

Export Formats

Exporting to a Beagle data file (*.bgl) allows the user to export in the same format as for normal save files, but with the option of not saving the timing information or saving only selected transactions. The resulting exported BGL files can be opened in the Beagle Data Center software. This is useful as it allows for unneeded information to be stripped out of the file, resulting in a smaller data file which can be more easily shared. See note about saving filtered views below.

Exporting to a comma-separated values (*.csv) file replicates the formatting in the transaction window with commas inserted between column values and each transaction is a separate line. The format of the file will vary to match the format of the current transaction window displayed. Timing information is never saved in a CSV export.

The text (*.txt) export option creates a text file with the capture data. The format of the text file will vary depending on the which protocol tab is currently selected.

Exporting to an XML file (*.xml), creates an XML file that can be loaded into the Aardvark Control Center software’s batch mode to recreate the I2C and SPI traffic using an Aardvark I2C/SPI/MDIO Host Adapter.

Save Timing Information

If selected, all the bit level timing information will be exported. Otherwise, this data will be ignored. The exported file can be significantly reduced in size by excluding the timing information.

This option only applies to the Beagle data file and text export options. The bit timing information is never exported for the comma-separated values and XML batch file export options.

Save Only Filtered View

If selected, only the filtered transactions from the currently selected tab will be exported. Please note that significant amounts of information may be lost, such as USB device descriptors.

Because it is likely that there will be transactions that aren’t exported if this option is selected, the exported file will be considered incomplete. If the exported Beagle data file (*.bgl) is opened in the Data Center software, the ability to append additional captures to the file will not be allowed. When they are opened, they will be marked as read-only in the title bar and capturing will be disabled until a new capture is created or a different file is opened.

4.11 Opening a Saved Capture

To open a previous capture, simply go to File | Open…. This will open an open file dialog window which the user can use to navigate the filesystem and select Beagle data files. These files have the extension *.bgl.

When opening a file, the current capture data will be overwritten. If the current capture data has not been saved, the user will be prompted (Figure 16) to save their data. Click Yes to save the capture data, otherwise, click No.

It is possible to append additional capture data to an existing file. Information rows in the data set will indicate when the separate captures were performed.

There is one exception, additional data cannot be captured to a filtered export. In these cases, the Capture button will be disabled.

4.12 Inserting a Comment

To insert a comment during capture, simply go to Beagle | Insert Comment or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C. Enter the comment text into the dialog box (Figure 22) that pops up on the screen and press the OK button. Comments may only be inserted while a capture is in progress.

Viewing a Comment

Comments are displayed in the transaction window as red colored text (Figure 23). All comments shown in the transaction window start with a # symbol.

If the comment is truncated in the transaction view, double-click on the transaction and a window with the full comment will open (Figure 24).

4.13 Changing Settings

The Settings windows allow the user to change the parameters of a capture. At the very minimum, the maximum capture size and the s4.13.1 size options are available in all supported protocols (Figure 25).

Each protocols will have additional settings which will be discussed in the protocol specific sections of this manual.

To change your settings, Click on Settings in the toolbar or go to Beagle | Settings…. This will open the Settings window where you can change the operating behavior of the Data Center software.

Capture Data Limit

The capture data limit is the amount of memory that captured data can occupy before a capture is automatically stopped by the Data Center software.

Total Phase recommends that the maximum size allowed for a capture should be set to no more than half the available memory on a system. On an extremely busy computer, the capture limit should be set even lower to prevent problems. If the application starts swapping memory, incoming capture data may be lost.

Incoming Data Buffer Size

This option will specify the size of the operating system level USB buffer. A large buffer size will increase performance of the Data Center software and reduce the likelihood of data loss. When using the Beagle I2C /SPI/MDIO Analyzer, the requested buffer size may not always be met due to the selected sampling rate. If this is the case, a warning dialog will pop up on the screen, when capture is started (Figure 26). The data buffer size will then be automatically adjusted to meet the closest value possible to the requested size.

4.14 Getting Help

Help files are available to assist the user. To open the manual, simply go to Help | Manual or use the keyboard shortcut F1. To open the datasheet, go to Help | Datasheet or use the keyboard shortcut F2.