Chronocast

Control Up to 99 LED Signs

Architecture

This application demonstrates our ability to build transaction based commit and rollback n-tier client server database applications and to communicate with serial devices via custom protocols. The application was written in Delphi 5 using Interbase 5.6 for the backend database and Async Pro 3 for serial communication. The application itself consists of two executables: Chronocast and Scheduler. Chronocast allows LED sign administrators to enter and edit message events. The multi-threaded scheduler uses the database to send messages to the LED signs.

Main Screen

This screenshot shows the main screen of the application. This screen provides continual feedback on the state of each sign in the system. It indicates what message was last sent to a sign, what will be sent next, when it will be sent and whether or not the sign is online.

Messages Window

This screenshot shows the screen where individual messages are entered. This screen provides formatting options for the user and automatically formats the message appropriately. In addition, the user can select to enter a custom message and hand code the formatting if so desired. These messages are then used by the scheduling portion of the system to send messages to the network of LED signs.