Device Driver Creation and Support

Purpose

An overview of how Tulip develops and maintains Device Drivers.

Device drivers allow Tulip Edge Devices (like the Edge IO) and Windows computers running the Tulip Player to connect to devices like scales, barcode readers, and torque drivers.

This article provides an overview of expectations around these device drivers.

Creating a New Device Driver

While Tulip does have a long list of supported devices, it's possible that there is a device you would like to use with Tulip that is not yet supported. In many cases it is possible for us to add support for this device, but doing so will require coordination between yourself and Tulip as well as a financial cost for the development work. To get started with the process, contact your Tulip Account representative with the following information:

• The name and model of the device with which you would like to integrate.
• The expected functionality with Tulip (the more specific the better!).
• Any alternative devices that would be able to meet the same need.
• Any existing connections or infrastructure related to the device.

Note that the device will need to either be purchased for Tulip or provided to Tulip to write the driver and then to continue to test with for future releases.

For information about how this driver will be supported after the initial creation, read on to the next section.

Supporting Existing Device Drivers

Device drivers are a central part of Tulip and our team works to ensure that every driver continues to function as expected. However, due to the nature of connecting to external devices, device drivers are provided as-is and do not have the same guarantees as those provided for the rest of the Tulip Platform.

All devices listed on our Supported Devices page are part of our regular testing program and are tested against every release of our product. However, even with testing, it's possible that variations in the devices to which our drivers connect will create issues. Variations in the physical hardware, device firmware, or device configuration can create issues.

Should you find an issue with a driver that was previously working for your device, please get in touch with our support team by emailing support@tulip.co. Issues are handled on a case-by-case basis, but we do try our best to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

Should you have an issue with a driver that was not previously working for your device, it's possible that the device has a variation that makes it incompatible with our existing driver. Should this be the case, please reach out to your Tulip Account representative to determine the appropriate next steps for adding support for your device. This could be a simple change for Tulip, but could also require the creation of a new device driver.

Further Reading

• List of Plug and Play Devices
• Device Driver Support in Tulip