PVCAM and micromanager

[sarifkin]

I'm having problems with the PVCAM.dll getting the right image size.  (this is an update concerning some unresolved issues from this thread:  http://micro-manager.3463995.n2.nabble.com/Matlab-and-MMGui-td5299914.html#a5313212)

At release 1.3.46 something changed in the PVCAM.dll such that it reported an image size of 1024x512x2 instead of 1024x1024x2 for my Photometrics PIXIS1024 camera.  After some discussion on this list at the time, we came up with a kluge whereby I substituted an older PVCAM.dll (from 1.3.44) for the bundled one and the camera part of it seemed to work.

However, at some time between then and the current release, micromanager started to no longer like the old PVCAM.dll.  The kluge doesn't work anymore which means I can't update to the newest version.  This wouldn't necessarily be a problem except that I am hoping the newest version might fix a TIXYDrive updating problem I've also been having for a while in addition to all the other updates to the software.
(both problems were discussed in the above thread).

I had corresponded with Pat Webster about the PVCAM.dll a while ago, but an email to his address bounced. Any suggestions for whom I could contact about it?

Thanks much,
Scott

[Nico Stuurman]

Hi Scott,

> I'm having problems with the PVCAM.dll getting the right image size.  (this
> is an update concerning some unresolved issues from this thread:
> http://micro-manager.3463995.n2.nabble.com/Matlab-and-MMGui-td5299914.html#a5313212)
>
> At release 1.3.46 something changed in the PVCAM.dll such that it reported
> an image size of 1024x512x2 instead of 1024x1024x2 for my Photometrics
> PIXIS1024 camera.  After some discussion on this list at the time, we came
> up with a kluge whereby I substituted an older PVCAM.dll (from 1.3.44) for
> the bundled one and the camera part of it seemed to work.


Did you try the PrincetonInstruments adapter?  This is basically an older version of the PVCAM adapter (it split off in May 2010, but there is some confusion in the logs about Roper-specific changes popping up again).  You do not need to change your PVCAM driver, just select PrincetonInstruments in the Hardware Configuration Wizard rather than the PVCAM adapter.

Best,

Nico



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[robwallen]

> I'm having problems with the PVCAM.dll getting the right image size.  
> (this is an update concerning some unresolved issues from this thread:
> http://micro-manager.3463995.n2.nabble.com/Matlab-and-MMGui-td5299914.
> html#a5313212)
>
> At release 1.3.46 something changed in the PVCAM.dll such that it
> reported an image size of 1024x512x2 instead of 1024x1024x2 for my
> Photometrics
> PIXIS1024 camera.  After some discussion on this list at the time, we
> came up with a kluge whereby I substituted an older PVCAM.dll (from
> 1.3.44) for the bundled one and the camera part of it seemed to work.

[Allen, Rob] I'd also make sure that you have the PVCAM intended for use
with the Princeton Instruments PIXIS camera.  The version is up to
2.7.10 and is downloadable from our ftp server.  

ftp://ftp.piacton.com/Public/Software/Official/PVCAM/v2pt7pt10/pvcam32.e
xe

[Allen, Rob] Just today I have downloaded 2.7.10 and tested it on a
Windows 7 32 bit box and PVCAM itself works well with my test software,
but I had problems setting up MicroManager from the last nightly build.
The problem is C14_CANT_READ_INI_FILE.  This does not happen in our
software, or my test software.  I'm guessing that the code is looking
for the file in the c:\windows directory, but Windows 7 doesn't like
putting files there so it makes a virtual store and puts it there.
C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\

Has anyone else had this problem?  Is there a fix besides making the
file read only and copying it to the c:\windows directory?  

Using the Princeton Instruments device adapter with the newest PVCAM
runs the PIXIS fine here.  When using the PVCAM DA there is a bug that
shows the dimensions as 1024 x 512 for some reason.

Best,
Rob

Robert Allen
Imaging Application Specialist
Princeton Instruments
3660 Quakerbridge Rd.
Trenton, NJ 08619

[hidden email]
[phone]



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[Nico Stuurman]

On Dec 16, 2011, at 9:15 AM, Allen, Rob wrote:

> [Allen, Rob] Just today I have downloaded 2.7.10 and tested it on a
> Windows 7 32 bit box and PVCAM itself works well with my test software,
> but I had problems setting up MicroManager from the last nightly build.
> The problem is C14_CANT_READ_INI_FILE.  This does not happen in our
> software, or my test software.  I'm guessing that the code is looking
> for the file in the c:\windows directory, but Windows 7 doesn't like
> putting files there so it makes a virtual store and puts it there.
> C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\
>
> Has anyone else had this problem?  Is there a fix besides making the
> file read only and copying it to the c:\windows directory?  

This same issue was found with the PVCAM DA.  The workaround consists of manually copying PVCAM.ini to the Micro-Manager directoy as descibred here: http://valelab.ucsf.edu/~MM/MMwiki/index.php/PVCAM

It would be nice to have a solution that involves less effort by the user, but I am not sure what it should be.  Wouldn't it be possible for PVCAM to find PVCAM.ini through a registry entry or something?


Best,

Nico


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[robwallen]

-----Original Message-----
From: Nico Stuurman [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 1:46 PM

On Dec 16, 2011, at 9:15 AM, Allen, Rob wrote:

This same issue was found with the PVCAM DA.  The workaround consists of
manually copying PVCAM.ini to the Micro-Manager directoy as descibred
here: http://valelab.ucsf.edu/~MM/MMwiki/index.php/PVCAM

It would be nice to have a solution that involves less effort by the
user, but I am not sure what it should be.  Wouldn't it be possible for
PVCAM to find PVCAM.ini through a registry entry or something?


[Allen, Rob]
That is the interesting part.  PVCAM will find the INI file by default,
Windows makes this change invisible to the library.  It just physically
puts the file in that virtual store folder instead of windows.  How it
does this I'm not too concerned about, it just works.  I'm betting that
the device adapter somehow has the path hard coded someplace and is
trying to read the INI file for some reason.  If I get a chance I'll dig
around in the code to try to find this.

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[Nico Stuurman]

On Dec 16, 2011, at 11:43 AM, Allen, Rob wrote:

> This same issue was found with the PVCAM DA.  The workaround consists of
> manually copying PVCAM.ini to the Micro-Manager directoy as descibred
> here: http://valelab.ucsf.edu/~MM/MMwiki/index.php/PVCAM
>
> [Allen, Rob]
> That is the interesting part.  PVCAM will find the INI file by default,
> Windows makes this change invisible to the library.  It just physically
> puts the file in that virtual store folder instead of windows.  How it
> does this I'm not too concerned about, it just works.  I'm betting that
> the device adapter somehow has the path hard coded someplace and is
> trying to read the INI file for some reason.

I don't think so (and I looked for it in the adapter source).  I suspect something much more sinister.  Windows likely gives automatic access to the file to the application that installed it (i.e., everything that was installed during PVCAM installation), but not to 3rdparties (like Micro-Manager).  Kind of defeats the purpose of shipping PVCAM as a library that others can link against....

Best,

Nico



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[robwallen]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nico Stuurman [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 4:44 PM
> To: Micro-Manager General
> Subject: Re: [micro-manager-general] PVCAM and micromanager
>
>
> On Dec 16, 2011, at 11:43 AM, Allen, Rob wrote:
>
> > This same issue was found with the PVCAM DA.  The workaround

consists
> > of manually copying PVCAM.ini to the Micro-Manager directoy as
> > descibred
> > here: http://valelab.ucsf.edu/~MM/MMwiki/index.php/PVCAM
> >
> > [Allen, Rob]
> > That is the interesting part.  PVCAM will find the INI file by
> > default, Windows makes this change invisible to the library.  It
just

> > physically puts the file in that virtual store folder instead of
> > windows.  How it does this I'm not too concerned about, it just
> works.
> > I'm betting that the device adapter somehow has the path hard coded
> > someplace and is trying to read the INI file for some reason.
>
> I don't think so (and I looked for it in the adapter source).  I
> suspect something much more sinister.  Windows likely gives automatic
> access to the file to the application that installed it (i.e.,
> everything that was installed during PVCAM installation), but not to
> 3rdparties (like Micro-Manager).  Kind of defeats the purpose of
> shipping PVCAM as a library that others can link against....

Interesting.  Try running pvgtk.exe out of this bin directory on a
machine with pvcam installed on windows 7 32 bit.  It seems to be able
to get to the pvcam.ini file even if it is in the virtual store.

ftp://ftp.piacton.com/Public/Software/Examples/PVCAM/pvgtk_bin.zip

or this simple exe:
ftp://ftp.piacton.com/Public/Software/Examples/PVCAM/db.exe

Best,
Rob

>
>
>
>
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[sarifkin]

Thanks for the info about the PI PVCAM.  I upgraded micromanger to the last 1.4 release and selected PI PVCAM, and it is reading 1024x1024x2 no problem now. A different problem has popped up but I will ask that in a new post.