Smart Sniffer's FAQ

Q. What can program do?

A. Smart Sniffer is placed between any YOUR soft and hardware. So it can do record of conversation between any other program and hardware. It can't "talk" directly to hardware or "listen" it. However, for COM ports you can use MPSLViewer's replayer.

Q.What for this program can be used?

• Developing or implementing Serial (COM, USB) & Parallel Protocols
• Reverse-engineering the Serial & Parallel Protocols
• Developing Serial and Parallel Device Drivers
• Developing Hardware with RS232 interfaces
• Testing Software
• Testing Hardware

Q. There is a lot of such programs on market, why to use Smart Sniffer?

• Sniffer will skip any silly details, like which packet for driver XXX was received from driver YYY - you will see only plain real data which are flowing in/out connected hardware. Of course configuration queries are recorded also ;).
• You are able to produce separated streams of in/out requests. All requests are numbered and have sizes. You can make source code and binary resource in 1 click to integrate into own program.
• All timings are recorded and continuous packets of same direction are grouped - you will see most clear picture of what is going on. SmartSniffer has never seen before ability - it can insert mark-ups between packets without stopping recording in 1 click!
• When you need help of your friend from opposite side of the Earth fill free to use email - separated and freely redistributed MPSL Viewer is included, send your log to friend! - He(she) can use free addition VPMachine to emulate your hardware!
• You can always test your suppositions without programming at all - MSPLViewer can replay data recorded or manually entered !

Q.When i watched log i got a couple of txt files in same folder, why?

A. Those files are convenient to be used with C++ or Perl programming in form of arrays, or to view just in text form.

Q. I got log and i want to send part of it into device.

A. Use MPSLViewer to send ANY data to COM, it can be part of the log too. Or you can use it to do ANY communication on COM without complex logic. Or you can to use free addition VPMachine. In other cases you will have to write own program to make communication, also you can order it to us .

Q. I'm not sure how to use Smart Sniffer...

A. Run SmartSniff.exe, choose port and press "START". Run program you want to spy. Complete with program and make sure it has freed a port (close it). Press "STOP" on Smart Sniffer. Press "SAVE" to save log. Open saved log with MPSLViewer.exe.
To work with USB you will have to select spied USB interface before pressing "START" so device should be already connected and powered on. That is because Windows(tm) loads USB drivers only if device is present.

Q. At program's startup I can see error message like "Current folder contains space(s) in name. Please, copy program to other folder." then program terminates. Why?

A. That is not error. That is predefined action. MS Windows (tm) cannot load drivers placed in folder which contains spaces in its path. Possible solution could be placing drivers into c:\Windows but i decided didn't do it so you can just "uninstall" program pressing "Del" - no trash ;)

So, to resolve it use "C:\SmartSniffer" instead
"C:\Program Files\SmartSniffer" for example.

Q. What the unregistered limits are?

A. Program will record only 2000 bytes for COM and LPT or 20000 bytes for USB. Also it will work no longer than 1 minute. So recording will be stopped by time or size limit. Unregistered users can insert only 2 marks into each record session. To remove limits and reminders just register program.

Q. What for "Put mark into log" link?

A. While record is going you can click it and sequentially numbered mark will be inserted into log immediately. Later you will see all marks in log watching it by MPSLViewer, so it is convenient way to mark-up what was done between recorded packets. Also you will be able to give some readable names to each of marks.

Marks are available starting from v 3.2.1 of SmartSniffer. Minimal MPSLViewer's version which supports it is 2.5.1.

Q. Sniffer hungs trying to log COM-mapped IR port. How to do?

A. IR-drivers are modern WDM and cannot properly restart in request of sniffer sometimes because sniffer uses NT4-compatible driver. Try next: put IR device in "visible" zone, when icon will appear in system-tray immediately press "Start" in sniffer.

Q. You didn't answer to my email, why?

A. We answer emails during 48 hours usually. If you didn't get response from us then check your spam-filters please. Most likely email was trashed. That is common problem nowadays. Resend your query and give us additional contact info like ICQ or other email address.

Q. Where can I get more info?

A. You can ask us directly or visit our site. Or left your question/comment right here: