Echelon LonTal Stack User Manual
Page 171
LonTalk Stack Developer’s Guide
159
If the fblock is implemented as an array, each network variable that is to be
referenced by the fblock must be declared as an array of at least the same
size. When implementing an fblock array's member with an array network
variable element, the starting index of the first network variable array
element in the range of array elements must be provided in the implements
statement. The Neuron C compiler automatically adds the following network
variable array elements to the fblock array elements, distributing the
elements consecutively.
external_name
Defines an optional external name for the functional block.
The external name is part of the device interface that is exposed to network
management tools. The external name is limited to 16 characters. You can
specify an external name using either the external_name or
external_resource_name keyword. If you do not specify either keyword,
the functional block identifier (supplied in the declaration) is used as the
default external name.
The external_name keyword is used to specify an external name as a string.
The string must follow the external_name keyword, and must be enclosed
in parentheses.
external_resource_name
Defines an optional external name for the functional block. This external
name is defined in a language file that is part of a resource file set.
The external_resource_name keyword is followed by a scope and index
pair (the first number is a scope, followed by a colon character, and the
second number is an index) enclosed in parentheses. The scope and index
pair identifies a language string in a resource file, which a network
management tool can access for a language-dependent name of the functional
block. You can use the scope and index pair to reduce memory requirements
and to provide language-dependent names for your functional blocks.
Alternatively, you can specify a string argument for the
external_resource_name keyword. The LonTalk Interface Developer
utility uses this string to look up the appropriate string in the resource files
that apply to the device. The string must exist in an accessible resource file.
Whether you specify a scope and index pair or a string name, the device
interface information uses the scope and index pair rather than the string.
implements
Defines the association between the members of the functional block
declaration and the abstract members of the profile.
At a minimum, every mandatory abstract member network variable of the
profile must be implemented by an actual network variable in the model file.
Each network variable (or, in the case of a network variable array, each array
element) can implement no more than one profile member, and can be
associated with at most one functional block.
implementation_specific
Defines additional network variables in the functional block that are not in
the list of optional members of the profile. Such additional network variable
members beyond the profile are called implementation-specific members.