Ezcad 3 sdk/ap or tcpi programming

[Daniel James]

Hello,

I'm looking to make some custom programs to interface with ezcad 3. I've heard that the SDK isn't free and costs multiple thousands . Anyone have experience with C# or VC6 programming using the API?

I've written a program that tweaks markcfg7 and markparam.lib files and a .txt file linked as variable text in an .ezd file. This approach works for my firm but it's not ideal and feels like a dirty hack , upon researching the way ezcad 3 works it might be whole different ball game having to interface with ezcad to set the height of motorised Z axis rather than manually winding the Z axis up/down.

I'm thinking the alternative might be to write a program that communicates with ezcad via TCP, again, if anyone has any experience or links to sample project source code, videos, anything handy before I start it would be greatly appreciated. There's not a lot of great detail on this on the BJJCZ website, the documentation seems a little incomplete.

Our new fiber laser with automated Z axis arrives in a week or so and i'm gathering whatever i can early before i start experimenting/causing havoc.

Kind regards,

Daniel

[Jaime Wong]

Hi Daniel!


This site has the ezcad 3 SDK free to download. Hopefully this helps! https://ezcad.com/index.php?/files/file/24-ezcad3-sdk/


Have you found any good resources or tips and tricks on interfacing with ezcad? I am also looking to do some automation with a laser controlled by ezcad but am not sure where to start!


Jaime

[Daniel James]

In very late response to your question Jaime Wong, I apologize I only just noticed it checking back on this page..

I am still on a mission to get a running SDK and I have been persisting with the program using my Ezcad tweaks from 1.5 years back. For Jaime and anyone else whose interested, I have some points to add:

1) The Software Development Kit (SDK) for Ezcad 2 and 3 has a security lockout. As far as I can ascertain, there is a security feature that prevents any software interfacing with the SDK's MarkEzd.dll file unless there is a usb security dongle attached to the system, or via the anti counterfeiting circuitry on the interface card in the laser connected to the pc via usb. The "Lite" versions of the JPT fiber laser boards (FBLI-B-LV4 etc) also do not work with MarkEzd.dll even though it appears the dll can be loaded and returns codes from the intialise function, the dll still returns a "not initialised state" even if the laser is switched on and there is no message saying "dog not found" - you know the message. ..I found myself looking for a beagle not a dongle

3) Ezcad 2 and 3 SDKs were never free according to Bejing JCZ. Last time I checked, Ezcad2 + interface board + sdk was priced at approximately $800USD. This doesn't sound too bad but it's still a major hit to the wallet for what is essentially some interfacing dlls and some old API documentation written for Visual C++ 6.0 with a unicode specific install process tacked on the end. Sure you get the interface card, but the current card in the laser works well so swapping it out for software reasons is a real a hassle and seems wasteful to me as it's only going to be bin fodder.

The Ezcad 3 + interface board + SDK is in a ballgame of its own and at $4300USD is very hard to convince the boss that it's a worthwhile purchase, when essentially I only want to load a template and add a "Mark" button to an existing C# application, rather than my "Load Ezcad" button that supplies a command line argument with the location of the .ezd template I want to open.

For what I'm doing, EzCad2 is fine. Ezcad3 SDK for me, is not worth the upgrade yet. The JSF font bugs (Can't associate drawings with the '#' key or it crashes etc.) and the telemetry?-time-bug where it crashes everyday while marking with 5minutes of 10:30AM and about 4:30PM are still evident in EzCad3.

4) Lightburn now works with the JPT 60w fibre laser, but they have informed me that there is no plan to introduce an SDK option. There are only some rudimentary functions for loading templates via UDP. No option to load pen settings, adjust power, speed, freq etc. This is quite disappointing seeing that it could be a real money spinner for Lightburn software, although they are very friendly to deal with. But its back to EzCad 2 for me and to butter up the boss to buy this EzCad2 SDK.

Good luck.