EIKS issues when running Stage.exe/Probewin.exe simultaneously

[Gseward]

John,

On my SX100 I find it very useful to have two instances of Picturesnap! running side by side.
On the JEOL 8530,  if I understand correctly, each application using EIKS to communicate with the 8x30 instruments, needs to be in a different path. Is this correct? If so, can I put stage.exe in a folder with the EIKS files and run two versions of picturesnap! (one from probewin.exe and one from stage.exe)?

If this is feasible, what other files does Stage.exe need (e.g. positions.mdb? motors.dat? scalars.dat?)? If I do this will I run into issues with keeping the files up to date? or is there a way to use an alias for the files in the PFE folder?

Gareth

[John Donovan]

If this is feasible, what other files does Stage.exe need (e.g. positions.mdb? motors.dat? scalars.dat?)? If I do this will I run into issues with keeping the files up to date? or is there a way to use an alias for the files in the PFE folder?

Hi Gareth,
The short answer is- not sure.

You could try just installing PFE (and CalcZAF.msi) to a different folder (but not under Program Files) and copy the EIKS files as you indicated. It probably will work, but you'll have to remember to update both places.

But there's an easier answer I think.  Did you know that CalcImage *also* has PictureSnap- but without making a connection to the instrument (or EIKS), so you should be able to have two PictureSnap windows open at the same time.  Also CalcImage support multiple copies running at the same time.

http://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=16.msg38#msg38

Let us know what works best for you...
john

Edit Gareth Seward: the problem with this solution is only one PictureSnap is active. I want BOTH active!!

[Malcolm Roberts]

That's a handy tip John. It will make map processing a bit faster. I have been loath to try this in case of crashing both....
Cheers,
malc.

[John Donovan]

Remember, it's no problem to have the JEOL software, Probe for EPMA and Probe Image all running at the same time since the JEOL software is on another computer and Probe for EPMA and Probe Image are in separate folders.

So as long as you have the EIKS DLLs and INI file copied to both the Probe for EPMA and Probe Image folders, the JEOL EIKS interface won't mind at all.
john

[Probeman]

Here is a list of the JEOL EIKS files that need to be copied to each application folder (for example from the Probe for EPMA app folder to the Probe Image app folder):

eiksJSample.exe
jeoleiks.dll
JeolEIKS.ini
mfc100.dll
msvcr100.dll

Remember, they need to be copied from the existing application folder (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA) to the other application folder (that is *not* the ProgramData folders!).

I should mention that this will not help the specific situation in which one is trying to run Stage and Probe for EPMA at the same time (on a JEOL 8230/8530), simply because JEOL did not make the EIKS driver multi-threaded, so that means that only one app *in each app folder* can run at a time.

In other words, you can't run Stage and Probe for EPMA at the same time (on a JEOL 8230/8530) because these apps exist in the same application folder, but you *can* run Probe for EPMA and Probe Image at the same time because these apps exist in different application folders. 

I should add that the application folder for the Remote application is the Windows system folder!  That is, for Windows XP and Win 7 32 bit that would be C:\Windows\System32 and for Win7 (64 bit), that would be C:\Windows\SysWOW64.

Of course if you have two computers connected to the instrument, you can install Probe for EPMA on both computers, and then run Probe for EPMA (Probewin.exe) on one computer, and then run Stage.exe on the other computer, all at the same time!