Dokit

Dokit is a set of cross-platform, open source tools for accessing Pokit measuring devices. It consists if primarily three components:

1. QtPokit cross-platform Qt library - used extensively by the applications below, but also easily re-usable under the LGPL; and
2. dokit CLI console application demonstrating most of the features of [QtPokit]; and
3. Dokit GUI application - currently in very early stages of development.

Most Pokit Meter and Pokit Pro functions are supported, including the multimeter, oscilloscope and data logger functions. The one real feature missing currently is Pokit Pro's capacitance mode, which is not currently documented by Pokit (support will be added as soon as Pokit updates their documentation to include it... or I get around to reverse engineering it).

Also worth noting, is that while this project has extensive automated tests that run regularly on Linux, macOS and Windows, using a range of Qt versions from 5.9 to 6.4, most of the hands-on testing so far has been performed on Linux only. Testers with Pokit devices on macOS and Windows would be most welcome to help!

Usage

QtPokit Library

For shared library usage (for developers to create their own Pokit device applications), see the latest API docs.

dokit Command

The dokit CLI command is executed like:

dokit <command> [options]

Where <command> is one of: info, status, meter, dso, logger-start, logger-stop, logger-fetch, scan, set-name, flash-led, or calibrate

For example, to get a device's status:

dokit status

Outputs like:

Device name:           PokitMeter
Firmware version:      1.4
Maximum voltage:       60
Maximum current:       2
Maximum resistance:    1000
Maximum sampling rate: 1000
Sampling buffer size:  8192
Capability mask:       0
MAC address:           84:2E:14:2C:03:A8
Device status:         Idle (0)
Battery voltage:       2.76221
Battery status:        N/A (255)

Or, you can output in CSV, or JSON too, like:

dokit status --output json

{
    "battery": {
        "level": 2.760070562362671
    },
    "capabilityMask": 0,
    "deviceName": "PokitMeter",
    "deviceStatus": {
        "code": 0,
        "label": "Idle"
    },
    "firmwareVersion": {
        "major": 1,
        "minor": 4
    },
    "macAddress": "84:2E:14:2C:03:A8",
    "maximumCurrent": 2,
    "maximumResistance": 1000,
    "maximumSamplingRate": 1000,
    "maximumVoltage": 60,
    "samplingBufferSize": 8192
}

By default, the dokit command will use the first Pokit device it finds. However, if you have more than one device, you can specify the device's name, or MAC address, or (on macOS) device UUID, such as:

dokit status --device RedPokitPro

Tip: You can rename Pokit devices via the official Pokit app, or the set-name command, like:

dokit set-name --device Pokit --new-name PokitMeter

Here's a more complex usage example:

dokit meter --mode Vac --range 10V --samples 10 --output csv

This will fetch 10 AC meter readings, on the nearest range that can support 10Vac, and output those readings in CSV format:

For full usage information (albeit brief), use the --help option, which currently outputs something like:

Usage: dokit <command> [options]

Options:
  --color <yes|no|auto>    Colors the console output. Valid options are: yes,
                           no and auto. The default is auto.
  --debug                  Enable debug output.
  -d, --device <device>    Set the name, hardware address or macOS UUID of
                           Pokit device to use. If not specified, the first
                           discovered Pokit device will be used.
  -h, --help               Displays help on commandline options.
  --help-all               Displays help including Qt specific options.
  --interval <interval>    Set the update interval for DOS, meter and logger
                           modes. Suffixes such as 's' and 'ms' (for seconds and
                           milliseconds) may be used. If no suffix is present,
                           the units will be inferred from the magnitide of the
                           given interval. If the option itself is not
                           specified, a sensible default will be chosen
                           according to the selected command.
  --mode <mode>            Set the desired operation mode. For meter, dso, and
                           logger commands, the supported modes are: AC Voltage,
                           DC Voltage, AC Current, DC Current, Resistance,
                           Diode, Continuity, and Temperature. All are case
                           insensitive. Only the first four options are
                           available for dso and logger commands; the rest are
                           available in meter mode only. Temperature is also
                           available for logger commands, but requires firmware
                           v1.5 or later for Pokit devices to support it. For
                           the set-torch command supported modes are On and Off.
  --new-name <name>        Give the desired new name for the set-name command.
  --output <format>        Set the format for output. Supported formats are:
                           CSV, JSON and Text. All are case insenstitve. The
                           default is Text.
  --range <range>          Set the desired measurement range. Pokit devices
                           support specific ranges, such as 0 to 300mV. Specify
                           the desired upper limit, and the best range will be
                           selected, or use 'auto' to enable the Pokit device's
                           auto-range feature. The default is 'auto'.
  --samples <count>        Set the number of samples to acquire.
  --temperature <degrees>  Set the current ambient temperature for the
                           calibration command.
  --timeout <period>       Set the device discovery scan timeout.Suffixes such
                           as 's' and 'ms' (for seconds and milliseconds) may be
                           used. If no suffix is present, the units will be
                           inferred from the magnitide of the given interval.
                           The default behaviour is no timeout.
  --timestamp <period>     Set the optional starting timestamp for data
                           logging. Default to 'now'.
  --trigger-level <level>  Set the DSO trigger level.
  --trigger-mode <mode>    Set the DSO trigger mode. Supported modes are: free,
                           rising and falling. The default is free.
  -v, --version            Displays version information.

Command:
  info                     Get Pokit device information
  status                   Get Pokit device status
  meter                    Access Pokit device's multimeter mode
  dso                      Access Pokit device's DSO mode
  logger-start             Start Pokit device's data logger mode
  logger-stop              Stop Pokit device's data logger mode
  logger-fetch             Fetch Pokit device's data logger samples
  scan                     Scan Bluetooth for Pokit devices
  set-name                 Set Pokit device's name
  set-torch                Set Pokit device's torch on or off
  flash-led                Flash Pokit device's LED (Pokit Meter only)
  calibrate                Calibrate Pokit device temperature

Requirements

• Qt5 v5.4+¹ or Qt6 v6.2+²
• a Qt-supported platform, such as Linux, macOS or Windows
• a Pokit device, such as a Pokit Meter or Pokit Pro
• CMake (for building Dokit itself) 3.8+
  • some unit tests won't be built unless using CMake 3.12 or later.

Building from Source

Prototypical CMake-based out-of-source build and test process, for CMake 3.13 or later:

cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -S <path-to-cloned-repo> -B <tmp-build-dir>
cmake --build <tmp-build-dir>
ctest --test-dir <tmp-build-dir> --verbose

For CMake versions earlier than 3.13 (ie before CMake added the -B <build-dir> command line option):

cmake -E make_directory <tmp-build-dir>
cd <tmp-build-dir>
cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -S <path-to-cloned-repo>
cmake --build <tmp-build-dir>
ctest --test-dir <tmp-build-dir> --verbose

Documentation

Configure the same as above, but build the doc and (optionally) doc-internal targets, for example:

cmake -S <path-to-cloned-repo> -B <tmp-build-dir>
cmake --build <tmp-build-dir> --target doc doc-internal
# ls <tmp-build-dir>/doc/public    # Library end-user documentation
# ls <tmp-build-dir>/doc/internal  # Internal developer documentation

These are regularly published to Github Pages via Github Actions:

• public end-user docs
• internal dev docs

License

QtPokit is freely available under the LGPL.

Footnotes

1. The Qt BLE API was first added in v5.4 ↩

2. The Qt Bluetooth module was ported to Qt6 in v6.2 ↩