#Crestron simpl plus software
#Crestron simpl plus code
#Crestron simpl plus plus

Normally, the tests would fail to run as we canвЂ™t run code that uses CrestronвЂ™s assemblies (the term used for C# libraries) on a standard Windows machine. We have chosen to take a different approach where our focus is on testing our own code, rather than the Crestron libraries, and this allows us to run the suite of tests completely within the CI environment using the wealth of standard, and freely available, tools available. Running unit tests on actual hardware is doable (as demonstrated by Neil ColvinвЂ™s port of the NUnit framework) and this certainly provides the most reliable indication of correct behaviour, but integrating that into an automated build process presents other challenges. ChallengesД«efore we outline the solution we have built, itвЂ™s important to understand there are some challenges to testing for the Crestron environment, and this is where the concept of вЂњmockingвЂќ comes in.Д¬restron provide a rich set of classes for interacting with the control system hardware. Expand that to working in a team with multiple developers committing changes to the same code base, and thereвЂ™s really no argument. Once you invest the time in setting up an automated build process, the benefits of having your code automatically tested each time you commit a change become apparent very quickly.

#Crestron simpl plus plus

ThereвЂ™s obviously an overhead to this вЂ“ writing tests is just like writing any other code, and itвЂ™s important to write the right tests too, plus to make it worthwhile, itвЂ™s useful to automate the whole process so that running the tests doesnвЂ™t become a burden.

#Crestron simpl plus software

Unit testing sits in a broader landscape of modern software development practices such as Test Driven Development (TDD) and Continuous Integration (CI), and it was through our exploration into CI (in this case, not to be confused with our normal understanding of the CI acronym) that we developed a solution to run automated unit tests regularly. This gives confidence that your code, when employed in a larger system, will yield the expected behaviour. This article covers one aspect of that transition by describing one approach to вЂњunit testingвЂќ вЂ“ the practice of repeatedly testing small elements of a larger system to ensure they satisfy their design parameters вЂ“ using вЂњmockвЂќ objects. Far from it: Crestron is the only platform that has successfully made the transition from proprietary development environments and niche, specialised programming, to mainstream software development practices. The power and flexibility of VTPro combined with the simplicity of SIMPL and the familiar platform of SIMPL+, make for one powerful control system design and programming tool.Far from what you might think from the title, this article is not about poking fun at the worldвЂ™s leading automation system.

So, if you've ever been afraid to program a Crestron system because you couldn't afford the time to learn a whole new language, or if you're a long-time Crestron programmer and have often said 'I wish I had a symbol that could do.,' get ready to have some fun with SIMPL+. And because of its familiar syntax, SIMPL+ makes transferring programs written for another platform to a Crestron system easier than you ever thought possible. Instead, you combine the two, using SIMPL+ for the parts of the program you think benefit from it.

The most exciting part is that you don't have to choose between SIMPL and SIMPL+ when writing a program.

If you are familiar with popular procedural languages like C or BASIC, you will have no problem learning to program in SIMPL+. SIMPL+ is a procedural language extension to SIMPL. Users can now combine the ease-of-use and simplicity of the graphical SIMPL language with the power and flexibility of SIMPL+. Completely integrated into SIMPL Windows, SIMPL+ is a powerful language extension to Crestron's popular SIMPL programming language. SIMPL+ takes Crestron programming a step beyond SIMPL.