The typical user of SerialSniffer is a software engineer. Most commonly an external device is connected to a PC, which is running a special application using a serial port. The external device may be: a sensor, a slide projector, a printer, a barcode scanner, … The serial connection has to be “ripped” and SerialSniffer is mounted in between the serial link. SerialSniffer will provide all data from one side of the connection to the other and vice versa, log all the data and, if applicable, manipulate them.
Test of a complex system: a test specification exists; SerialSniffer logs all the data to a file, which is attached to the test protocol. But how to test, the system deals with errors on the serial link? If the worst comes to the worst, the system will crash. To test this, SerialSniffer gets a set of rules, which data is to be manipulated. I.e. some datasets may be shortened, some may contain additional data or the checksums are changed. In most cases, it is not allowed to integrate the changes to the device under test, because you will not test the original system anymore. Using SerialSniffer, you are no longer forced to do so.
Once, we had the mission to develop a trip recorder for a ferryboat. The main computer of the ship dumps all the data on a serial port without a return line (one way street for the data). During the development, we were not able to travel with the ship all day long. So we recorded the data with the SerialRecorder of SerialSniffer (similar to a traditional tape) and did a playback as often as needed.
The developer gets an existing system consisting of an external device and a PC-Application. Documentation? Negative! Something has to be fixed or the PC-Application has to be replaced by a new one. But how to get out, how everything works? Solution: Use all functions of the old version and log all the data with SerialSniffer. The rest is a job for a private investigator.
A complex system has sometimes a malfunction. SerialSniffer logs all the data and after the error occurs one more time, the log will reveal, what went wrong. Example: A printer for industrial purpose shall print labels on the packaging. Sometimes, one package gets no label. After analyzing the report, we encountered, that the barcode scanner, which provides the printer with its data, does not work properly and therefore did not sent a dataset to the printer. So not the printer but the scanner was the one who had a malfunction.
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