How to enable post-run shutdown in OpenLAB CDS 2.2?

If your doing batch injections then chauhan suggestion of adding it to the sequence is the simplest way to achieve a shutdown method. 

In our lab (20+ GCs) we do single injections and rarely do sequences.  I could have added a post run macro to the method to change it to a standby/shutdown method but then I would have to add that to every method runtime list.  Instead I added a macro to run when the instrument is loaded and will change the GC to a standby method after a certain amount of time.  I'm not sure if this is a good solution but it seams to work well in our lab. Below is the attached macro.

Hope this helps someone.

NAME STANDBYCHECK
COUNTER = TIME()

IF _OFFLINE = 0 THEN
  WHILE 1=1        !---STAY IN LOOP FOREVER
   IF _methfile$ <> "STANDBY.M" THEN
    IF _RUNIDLEMANAGER = 1 THEN    !---_RUNSTARTED IS A CHEMSTATION VARIABLE ONLY
           !---_RUNIDLEMANAGER IS OPENLAB 
     If (TIME() - COUNTER) > 6300   !---IDLE FOR 105 MINUTES
      _METHODCHANGED = 0   !---so it wont ask to save changes
      LoadMethod _methpath$,"STANDBY.M"
      COUNTER = TIME()   !----Reset counter when standby method gets loaded
     ENDIF     
    ELSE       !----if someone is trying to use the software but not running a sample in online mode.
     COUNTER = TIME()    !----RESET TIMER
    ENDIF
   ELSE
    COUNTER = TIME()
   ENDIF

   SLEEP 120 !---WAIT 120 SECONDS
  ENDWHILE
ENDIF

ENDMACRO

CpStart STANDBYCHECKCP    !----INITIATE SEPERATE PROCESS
CpRequest STANDBYCHECKCP, "STANDBYCHECK" !----RUN MACRO IN SEPERATE PROCESS

If your doing batch injections then chauhan suggestion of adding it to the sequence is the simplest way to achieve a shutdown method. 

In our lab (20+ GCs) we do single injections and rarely do sequences.  I could have added a post run macro to the method to change it to a standby/shutdown method but then I would have to add that to every method runtime list.  Instead I added a macro to run when the instrument is loaded and will change the GC to a standby method after a certain amount of time.  I'm not sure if this is a good solution but it seams to work well in our lab. Below is the attached macro.

Hope this helps someone.

NAME STANDBYCHECK
COUNTER = TIME()

IF _OFFLINE = 0 THEN
  WHILE 1=1        !---STAY IN LOOP FOREVER
   IF _methfile$ <> "STANDBY.M" THEN
    IF _RUNIDLEMANAGER = 1 THEN    !---_RUNSTARTED IS A CHEMSTATION VARIABLE ONLY
           !---_RUNIDLEMANAGER IS OPENLAB 
     If (TIME() - COUNTER) > 6300   !---IDLE FOR 105 MINUTES
      _METHODCHANGED = 0   !---so it wont ask to save changes
      LoadMethod _methpath$,"STANDBY.M"
      COUNTER = TIME()   !----Reset counter when standby method gets loaded
     ENDIF     
    ELSE       !----if someone is trying to use the software but not running a sample in online mode.
     COUNTER = TIME()    !----RESET TIMER
    ENDIF
   ELSE
    COUNTER = TIME()
   ENDIF

   SLEEP 120 !---WAIT 120 SECONDS
  ENDWHILE
ENDIF

ENDMACRO

CpStart STANDBYCHECKCP    !----INITIATE SEPERATE PROCESS
CpRequest STANDBYCHECKCP, "STANDBYCHECK" !----RUN MACRO IN SEPERATE PROCESS

Dear hebgent,

I'm really naive in software deep controlling, but I think this is the perfect solution for the problem we have in our lab and it would be very nice to try it.

If I understood it well, you never run sequences so you add single samples to the def_LC.S sequence. Does this mean that you added this macro to this default sequence to be able to put the system in stand by?

Can you please explain it to me in more detail?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Hi adrian_phc,

I'm not a programmer so my code is usually pretty bad, but over the years I've been able to get Chemstation / OpenLab to due some useful things for our lab.  We currently are using Chemstation B.04.03 or OpenLab C.01.07 SR3 for our GC's.  I know OpenLab 2.X has some major changes in it so I can't confirm that it still supports the macros.

We use "Run Control / Sample Info" to due single samples (no def_gc.s is used).  After the run is complete the next sample may come right away or not for days so I needed a macro that would set the GC to a standby method after a certain amount of idle time. Place the attached User.mac file in the "C:\Chem32\Core" directory.  When Chemstation / OpenLab is loaded it will load the macro into a separate process and check every 120 seconds to see if the GC has been idle for 6300 seconds (105 minutes).  If so, then it loads a standby method (standby.m).  The macro should work just fine if your doing sequences.

It's not perfect.  For some reason the process that runs the macro crashes sometimes.  Simply close and reinitialize Chemstation / OpenLab to reload the macro.

Hope this helps.

Tim

dear hebgent

       we have to create the standby.m first, then with the micro, it can be loaded ?

Hi hebgent,

Thanks a lot for your help!!

I've already set up the macro in our systems and is working perfect.

Best wishes.

Adrián

thanks very much

Yes