[FEATURE]CAT port doesn't retry if Serial device fails or is powered off

[savagll]

Describe the bug
The serial CAT service doesn't manage serial devices that fail or are not powered on when the program starts. The CAT serial service should retry devices and/or flag devices that have failed to connect.

Thetis version 2.10/3/8 (released version)
Firmware version is 3.2
OS version is Win 11 Pro.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Connect a serial CAT device to the computer and identify it's serial parameters
2. Boot up Thetis and setup the serial device parameters in the "Serial/Network/Midi CAT" menu
3. Check Enable CAT# to start the service for the device and verify the device works
4. Power off the serial CAT device hardware
5. Power on the serial CAT device and verify that Thetis does not restart the service for the device
   Expected behavior
   A serial CAT device connected to Thetis could lose power or not be powered on when Thetis starts. Most serial port services would flag the serial connection failure or retry until the device is on line. The expectation is that Thetis would flag any CAT ports that fail and/or retry the connection. To restart the serial service for a failed device the user must uncheck and recheck the enable checkbox for the respective serial CAT device.

[ramdor]

the cat port when open, stays open in Thetis. There is no heart beat system to check if something is alive at the other end, how would it know what to send, what to receive, as every client implementation might be different? It is up to a client program to open up their end of the com port pair surely?

[ramdor]

the way we use them from the Thetis point of view is pretty dumb. It is just like a pipe that we open our end, and listen or shout into. We dont care what is at the other end, or if it is there ;)

[savagll]

If a hardware serial device was properly set up and enabled in Thetis and the device is currently powered off, then the serial service should provide an error message to the user (CAT port failure, unable to connect to "COM1" etc...)....Or retry the connection N times after a timeout period.....What I have noticed is that if Thetis is started and a CAT device is powered off the serial service, for that device, will not start even if the serial CAT device is then powered on and working. What is required to restart the serial service, for the failed device/s, is to uncheck and recheck each failed device in the setup menu.....and then the serial service/s will start properly for each device that failed. In the serial services that I have written I provide an error message box, to the user, to check the port hardware and a message box button to restart the respective serial port(connect to COMx port)..... A dumb pipe is ok provided the user knows the connection failed when Thetis starts.....

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________________________________ From: Richie - MW0LGE Sent: Friday, March 28, 2025 2:08 PM To: ramdor/Thetis Cc: savagll; Author Subject: Re: [ramdor/Thetis] [BUG]CAT port doesn't retry if Serial device fails or is powered off (Issue #561) [ramdor]ramdor left a comment (ramdor/Thetis#561)<#561 (comment)> the way we use them from the Thetis point of view is pretty dumb. It is just like a pipe that we open our end, and listen or shout into. We dont care what is at the other end ;) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#561 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BPSLEFYM7P44VG3P7IT2YD32WWF3VAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2AGS5EWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONRSGIYTCOJTGE>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[ramdor]

I honestly cant see much gained from adding that sort of thing to it. If you are using virtual serial ports then it will just open up he one end successfully, even if there is nothing on the other end of it. If you are opening up port direct to a connected device, that has cat support for example, but is turned off, all that Thetis can really do is keep trying to connect if it failed to open.

I personally very rarely use serial ports, but you are more than welcome to dig around in the code and implement it as you mention you have written serial services before. Changing this from a bug to feature request.

[savagll]

Is there a good theory of operation on Thetis ..... I would need to know quite a bit more detail on how the Thetis engine runs before touching the code .... Thank you for all the good work you have done on Thetis ......

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________________________________ From: Richie - MW0LGE ***@***.***> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2025 3:46 PM To: ramdor/Thetis ***@***.***> Cc: savagll ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [ramdor/Thetis] [FEATURE]CAT port doesn't retry if Serial device fails or is powered off (Issue #561) I honestly cant see much gained from adding that sort of thing to it. If you are using virtual serial ports then it will just open up he one end successfully, even if there is nothing on the other end of it. If you are opening up port direct to a connected device, that has cat support for example, but is turned off, all that Thetis can really do is keep trying to connect if it failed to open. I personally very rarely use serial ports, but you are more than welcome to dig around in the code and implement it as you mention you have written serial services before. Changing this from a bug to feature request. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#561 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BPSLEF7URMKGZO5PMS4C72T2WWRKPAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2AGS5EWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONRSGQ2TKNZYGI>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> [ramdor]ramdor left a comment (ramdor/Thetis#561)<#561 (comment)> I honestly cant see much gained from adding that sort of thing to it. If you are using virtual serial ports then it will just open up he one end successfully, even if there is nothing on the other end of it. If you are opening up port direct to a connected device, that has cat support for example, but is turned off, all that Thetis can really do is keep trying to connect if it failed to open. I personally very rarely use serial ports, but you are more than welcome to dig around in the code and implement it as you mention you have written serial services before. Changing this from a bug to feature request. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#561 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BPSLEF7URMKGZO5PMS4C72T2WWRKPAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2AGS5EWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONRSGQ2TKNZYGI>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>