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Migrating from Earlier Versions to Platform 7

Your existing device will continue to run with no changes. However, we recommend that you migrate to the Platform 7 version of your device’s interface. For example, if you implemented iTelescopeV3 with the 0.x version of this SDK, it will continue to work, but your telescope mount will not support the new interface features of Platform 7, which are in iTelescopeV4.

Important

Your primary source of reference information is the ASCOM Master Interfaces which covers Platform 7. Please review new interface features of Platform 7 first, so you understand the reasons for the additions to the interfaces, which are mostly to assure asynchronous operations for Alpaca.

Migration Summary

  1. Add one or more new responder classes for the new properties and/or methods (members) to your existing responder module.

  2. Increase the value of the Interface Version property to indicate to clients that your device supports the new interface members.

  3. Use Conform Universal to test your device for both Interface and Alpaca Protocol.

Adding New members

This is best done by doing a diff of your existing responder module, for example, telescope.py with the telescope.py template that came with this new version of the SDK. This will show you the new responder classes that cover the new interface members. Copy from the template to your existing responder module, then wire up the new responder(s) to your controller logic as before.

Updating InterfaceVersion

Clients will not know that your device adheres to the new interface until you change the InterfaceVersion property reported by your device. For example, upgrading from iTelescopeV3 to iTelescopeV4 you must change the value returned by your Telescope.InterfaceVersion from 3 to 4.

Testing with Conform Universal

Once you have implemented the new interface members and updated InterfaceVersion, it’s vital to test your device with Conform Universal. The tool honors InterfaceVersion so it will recognize that your device is now compatible with the new interface for Platform 7, and itelescopev4 will test these new members along with the others. Perform both the main Conformation test as well as the Alpaca Protocol test. You will likely find places where you need to make adjustments.

If you run into difficulties, please feel free to post to the ASCOM Driver and Application Development Support Forum