Tricks for Changing the Interface Used in an Activity

Sometimes you may open an activity that has been set up to work on a different interface panel or data logger than the ones you have in your classroom or lab.  For example perhaps an activity was designed for the TI-CBL from Texas Instruments but you own CoachLab II Interface Panels.  With Coach software it is possible to perform the activity using the interface panel or data logger that YOU own. 

Example 1: You don't own the interface that the activity was written for so you want to select an alternative interface.

Simply start Coach Software, pick the project, and pick the activity as normal.  Then Coach software will see if the interface that is designed into the activity is connected to your computer.  If it is not then you will get the following dialog box:

In this case it says that the activity was designed to work with the TI-CBL.  You can click "Ignore" to work in a software only mode, or you can pick another interface by clicking on "Select other."

A window will then appear that shows all the interface panels and data loggers that have been installed on your computer.  Pick one of the interface you normally use (in this case CoachLab II) and click "OK"

Example 2: You do own the interface that the activity was written for but Coach software didn't find it when the activity started because you have not yet installed the software for that interface.

If you can't find the interface you wanted to use?  (for example you DID own the TI-CBL but Coach software could not find it when the activity started) then simply click "Abort", exit out of the activity and the project, and then choose "Install Hardware" from the buttons on the main interface.

And then choose the appropriate interface file from the list

In this case, installing a driver for TI-CBL you would click on CBL.DLL, then click "Add" then in the settings window you would tell the computer which port that you have plugged the TI-CBL into.  From then forward you can use TI-CBL with Coach software as well as any other interfaces you had already installed. (in this case CoachLab I and CoachLab II).

Example 3: You own two different interfaces but want to perform the activity with a different interface than the one the activity is set up for.

Sometimes you may own two interface panels, such as TI-CBL and CoachLab II.  If the activity was written for CoachLab II then it finds the CoachLab II and the activity starts normally, but you want to do the activity with TI-CBL because you want to be portable. 

Here you see the activity has loaded normally and has initialized the CoachLab II interface panel.  But you want to use TI-CBL.

To fix this problem:

Right Click on the image of the interface panel (in this case CoachLab II)

On the menu that appears select "Alternative Panel" and then the interface you want to use instead (in this case TI-CBL).

The software will look for the alternative interface (in this case the TI-CBL) and when it finds it it will reset the activity to be used with the new interface (in this case the TI-CBL)