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The Model Railway Applications Programable Interface (MRAPI) is a standard interface which has been developed for model railway control systems.
MRAPI is 'middleware' software which connects a Layout Control Software (LCS) product to a hardware driver. MRAPI provides a standard interface with which LCS products can communicate so that those products have no need to have any knowledge about the hardware.
MRAPI uses drivers which are interchangeable depending on the hardware in use.
A Layout Control Software product which is written to be MRAPI compliant can use any MRAPI driver to drive hardware and the drivers may be freely interchanged. The product does not have to be written for any specific hardware because MRAPI removes this need.
Why use MRAPI ?
If you wish to develop software to control a layout, MRAPI provides you with a library that you can program without needing any knowledge of back-end hardware. The functionality of hardware is taken care of by swapable drivers which MRAPI uses to connect with and this means that your software doesn't need to know anything about hardware and your software will work with any MRAPI driver/hardware system.
The functionality of MRAPI is not readily available in most programming languages. You could write something similar using a communications control, but it would be restricted to that programming language and your application would not be able to interchange with different hardware systems. You wouldn't be able to support different hardware systems by simply adding a new driver - you'd need to recompile your application.
Product Benefits
- Freely available and freely distributable (components supplied with our SSI product)
- Unlike other products, use is not tied up in restrictive patents
- Save time and money using an established standard
- Enables you to build LCS products with no need for LCS software to contain hardware specific functionality
- Provides a standard interface for all Layout Control software products
- Provides a standard interface that hardware manufacturers can supply drivers for with their products in the same way as printer manufacturers supply a driver with their products
- Easily swapable drivers
- Free Software Development Kit (SDK)
Product Features
- Fully documented with comprehensive help file included
- Allows up to 16 concurrent drivers to be in use
- Uses 'Layout Names' (like ODBC Data Source Names) which can all be individually configured according to you hardware
- Can be built into COM, DCOM or .NET objects
- Supplied as a single DLL with add-on driver DLL's - no complex installation requirements
- Full 32-bit support: operates on all current 32-bit versions of Windows (9x,ME,NT,2000,XP etc)
- Supplied with the MRAPI Administrator Utility so that you can configure MRAPI, its drivers and 'Layout Names' (this utility may be freely distributed with your MRAPI compliant products)
- SDK contains all documentation necessary for you to write MRAPI compliant LCS products
- SDK Supplied with Visual Basic (V5/V6) sample application including source code to use MRAPI
- SDK Supplied with drivers for MERG RPC system and Lenz LI101F/LI-USB
Version 2.00
Version 2.00 has now been released and a download is available on the download page.
This has been enhanced for DCC and is supplied with a new driver for the Lenz DCC XPressnet system which supports:
- Train driving (speed, reverse, speed steps)
- Function setting
- Double Heading
- Consisting
- CV Configuration (reading and writing) both on programming track and on the 'main'
- Turnout/Signal setting (LS150)
- Feedback handing (LR101) (solicited and unsolicited)
Additional Documentation/References
- Model Railway Electronics Group (MERG)
- Remote Panel Control System (RPC)
- RPC Technical Documentation (available through MERG)
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