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This is my freeware Control and Flowcharting application, FlowGrid. It aims to provide the functionality of programs like Flowol at a cheaper price (and you can't get cheaper than free....) and with an easier interface. One of the inbuilt 'cartoon' style mimics. If you prefer Flowol style 'realistic' ones you can have them instead.

Updates

• 17th May 2006 : v1.1 Added subroutine handling, and the fonts in the boxes are now a consistent size.
• 17th May 2006: v1.2 Added support for Mimics (see below). Two releases in one day :)
• 18th May 2006: v1.3 Added nicer looking arrows on the 3 way junction, Turbo Speed, Sound Effects and 3 built in Mimics : a solo traffic light, a road junction, and a zebra crossing.
• 25th May 2006: v1.4 Added Lighthouse builtin Mimic, small bug fix on Mimic reset.

Instructions / Frequently asked Questions

It's not very complicated to operate ; but here are some questions about setup and usage.

1. To put objects on the screen, click on them on the toolbar (on the right), then click on the grid in the main window. It is a bit like putting stamps on a screen. You can overwrite stamps that are already there, and drag invididual things about the screen.
2. To edit the more complex objects (e.g. Processes, Output, Decisions), right click on that graphic on the main window. This will bring up a window which allows you to edit the contents. For example, if you put a decision box it is initially blank, right clicking allows you to change it to "Is Input 1 on ?"
3. To run a flowchart, press the F5 key (or Run/Start). This will create one 'marker' for every Start box on the screen. The markers (little circles) then maketheir way around the  flowchart, visualising progression, decisions and actions. It is easier to see than describe. To stop press Ctrl+F2 (or Run/Reset). It is possible to edit the flowchart while it is running (which can be fun !), and also you can change the speed at which the markers move.
4. The control box (with the lights and switches) represents the basic Input and Output. To toggle a switch, click on it.
5. The program does not check if the flowchart is valid. This may come in later, in a form of "syntax checking". However, it is not designed to control traffic on the M25, it is for simple control and basic concepts.
6. Unlike some flowcharts, you can only move vertically through outputs and processes, not horizontally. This is 'graphically obvious'. It is designed to be "visually checkable" ; if you create a wierd flowchart it will look wierd, or the markers will behave oddly. The markers should make this clear though !
7. The process button have two pages for delays and sound effects. You can only have one in each box. Sound generation is asynchronous e.g. the program continues while the noise is being made.
8. Subroutines use a different box with two lines down the side. This is the correct use of the symbol ; Flowol's symbol is wrong.
9. There are three special buttons that do not work like stamps. The X deletes anything you click on, and the two triangles are row and column inserts in Spreadsheets; e.g. if you select the down triangle and click on a square it moves everything on that row and below down one square.
10. The lines have no arrows on them, except for the 'three exit' joining ones, the arrow shows which way the flow should proceed. 2 is obvious, a 'cross connector' simply crosses two points.
11. The Grid can be turned on and off using the View/Grid (or Ctrl+G)
12. There are some very simple demo flowcharts included.
13. The flowcharts look a little bit lopsided. This is a design issue ; the grid squares are all the same size, this is a fundamental restriction of the design. It is not necessary to have lines between adjacent processing/output decisions (see demoparallel.ctl)
14. Your own mimics go in the mimics folder under the main program directory
15. The built in mimics are part of the program and require no extra files. They are very simple drawings ; there are advantages and disadvantages to this.
16. They are i/o compatible with the Flowol ones (where appropriate) ; you can actually switch Mimics in mid program if you wish.
17. Sound effects go in the sounds directory under the main program directory. If you delete all the (sounds the sound effects tab will not appear). These must be .WAV files. Just copy new files into the directory and they will appear in the combobox.
18. Save, Load, New, Print,  and Print Peview are all self explanatory (hopefully). The file format does not change, and it shouldn't change.

Download from here ; Feedback and Suggestions or Bugs please via email.

This needs the .NET 1.1 Framework to work. It is a C# program.

The program now works with Flowol Mimics that require only Input and Output. Analogue values and Motors are not supported in this release.

Simply copy the Mimic control file (a text file) and the bitmaps into the mimic subdirectory under the program directory, and restart the program. They'll appear in the Mimics menu.

There are three Mimics in Flowol in 2D ; the Lighthouse, Traffic Lights and Zebra Crossing.  FlowGrid has built in equivalents for these (and also a single traffic light on its own). 

I've enclosed three that I found on the Internet that I believe to be freely available. Please contact me if you believe they are not and I will remove them from the download. They are :-

• Awarding a Certificate at School
• A fireside at Christmas waiting for Santa
• A house in the snow.

Thanks to the Baptist Lui Ming Choi Secondary School whose website I found these samples on, and to Oathall Community College whose free Mimics will hopefully help with Analogue and Motor inputs, and to the Free sound Effects page "Amazing Sounds" source of the included sound effects.

If you get a Mimic that doesn't work (those with Analogue and Motors will not work at the moment) please contact me and I will try to make it work.

There is no documented file format for the Flowol Mimic, so I had to guess it from the files I had. So some may not work as I may have made incorrect assumptions. The included Mimics work perfectly, as far as I can see.