Managers
Managers are singleton (MUST only be instantiated once) classes which collate information that pertains to the entire device. Each manager class applies to a specific functional context.
All managers MUST inherit from NcManager.
Implementations which derive any standard manager classes with the exception of NcManager MUST only instantiate the derived class and MUST NOT instantiate the base standard manager class. Furthermore, the derived classes MUST use the same fixed roles as the base standard manager class.
Implementations which create non-standard manager classes for functional contexts not covered by the framework MUST derive from NcManager and MUST only instantiate each manager once per functional context.
All managers MUST always exist as members in the root block and have a fixed role.
The roles for the managers defined by the framework are defined using the control-class extension as a third argument.
Example:
[control-class("1.3.1", "DeviceManager")] interface NcDeviceManager: NcManager
Device manager
The device manager contains basic device information and statuses.
The control class model for NcDeviceManager is listed in the Framework.
A minimal device implementation MUST have a device manager in the root block.
Class manager
The class manager is a manager which handles class and type discovery.
The control class model for NcClassManager is listed in the Framework.
A minimal device implementation MUST have a class manager in the root block.
The manager has two properties:
- controlClasses (lists all class descriptors in the device using the NcClassDescriptor type - descriptors MUST NOT contain inherited elements)
- datatypes (lists all data type descriptors in the device using the NcDatatypeDescriptor type - descriptors MUST NOT contain inherited elements)
The descriptor for an individual control class can be retrieved using the GetControlClass method ([element("3m1")]) and passing the classId (type NcClassId) and includeInherited (if all inherited elements should be included - type NcBoolean) arguments. The method has a response of type NcMethodResultClassDescriptor.
The descriptor for an individual data type can be retrieved using the GetDatatype method ([element("3m2")]) and passing the name (type NcName) and includeInherited (if all inherited elements should be included - type NcBoolean) arguments. The method has a response of type NcMethodResultDatatypeDescriptor.
Where the device model instantiates a control class, its class descriptor MUST be made available through the properties and methods defined in the class manager. Control class descriptors MUST correctly reflect any properties which have an immutable readonly state.
Where the device model makes use of a datatype, its datatype descriptor MUST be made available through the properties and methods defined in the class manager.