Keys, commands and flags

Keys are case-sensitive: w writes and W arms a write session. Text fields (filters, forms, editors and the command bar) take printable characters, so there q types a q. A test checks this page against the TUI’s key map.

Everywhere

Key	Action
Ctrl-C	Close a dialog, or cancel the running Who-Is or connection attempt. A second Ctrl-C within 2 s quits
?	Help overlay
q	Quit. With changes still in the ledger, the exit guard asks first
L	Show or hide the log pane
:	The command bar
W	Arm a write session, or disarm the armed one
u	The session ledger
p	The profile dialog
c	Connect again, or retry a failed connection

The number keys switch screens: 1 the devices, 2 Browse (the browser of the device you opened, as you left it; with none open it stays on the devices and says so), 3 the watch list, 4 Network, 5 BACnet/SC, 6 MS/TP, 7 Capture. The status bar’s strip numbers the screens that apply to the session, with the one shown in brackets: 1 Devices 2 Browse [3 Watch] 4 Network 7 Capture, or 1 2 [3 Watch] 4 7 in a narrow terminal. Network appears once a session is connected, BACnet/SC for SC, and MS/TP with a serial port; the keys work on every session. 1 hides an open browser without closing it; Esc in the browser closes it.

The help overlay (?) lists these keys, then the screen’s own and the command bar’s commands.

Devices and the browser

Key	Action
d	Devices: the Who-Is form
Enter	Browse the selected device; in the browser, read the selected object
Esc	Devices: clear the filter, or a notice. Browser: clear the filter, then close the browser and go back to the devices (1 only hides it, keeping it as it was)
/	Filter the devices, or in the browser the objects
s	Devices: sort by the next column
S	Devices: reverse the sort order
Tab	Browser: the next pane. Below 120 columns a commandable object’s priority array is a pane of its own
Shift-Tab	Browser: the previous pane
r	Browser: read the open object again
a	Browser: watch the open object’s Present_Value
w	Browser, in a write session: write a property of the open object
n	Browser, in a write session: relinquish a priority slot
p	The profile dialog
c	Connect, or reconnect
x	Disconnect, or cancel a connection attempt
Up, Down, k, j	Move
PgUp, PgDn	Move a page
Home, End, g, G	First or last row
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Switch screens
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

Watch list

Key	Action
x, Delete	Stop watching the selected row and cancel its subscription
Up, Down, k, j, PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, g, G	Move
Esc, 1	Back to the devices
2	Browse, the open device’s browser
4, 5, 6, 7	Network, BACnet/SC, MS/TP, Capture
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

Network screen

Key	Action
Tab, Shift-Tab	Next or previous tab: BDT, FDT, Matrix, Networks; from 160 columns wide, the next pane
r	Read the BBMD’s tables again; on the Networks tab, ask the routers
m	Survey every BBMD the tables lead to, for the matrix
x	Disconnect
Esc, 1	Back to the devices
2	Browse, the open device’s browser
3, 5, 6, 7	Watch list, BACnet/SC, MS/TP, Capture
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

BACnet/SC screen

Key	Action
Tab, Shift-Tab	Next or previous view: hub certificates, doctor, my credentials; from 160 columns the credentials view shows the hub’s chain on its left
p	The profile dialog
c	Reconnect
x	Disconnect
Esc, 1	Back to the devices
2	Browse, the open device’s browser
3, 4, 6, 7	Watch list, Network, MS/TP, Capture
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

MS/TP screen

Key	Action
Tab, Shift-Tab	Monitor: next or previous view (stations, token ring, findings, errors, scan)
J	Monitor: start the safe join
Up	Safe join: propose the previous free MAC; on the Scan view, select the previous baud row for its error breakdown
Down	Safe join: propose the next free MAC; on the Scan view, select the next baud row for its error breakdown
+, =	Safe join: propose the next free MAC
-	Safe join: propose the previous free MAC
Enter	Safe join: review the proposal in the join confirmation
z	Count from now
Space	Pause the screen, or follow again
p	The profile dialog
c	Reconnect, or confirm a join again
x	Disconnect, or stop the monitor
Esc	Back
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7	Devices, Browse, watch list, Network, BACnet/SC, Capture
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

Capture screen

Key	Action
Space	Pause the list, or follow the newest frame again
Tab, Shift-Tab	Next or previous pane: list, decode tree, hex view
Enter	In the list, open the frame’s decode tree; in the tree, open or close the node
Left, Right	In the tree or hex view: close or open the node
/	Filter the frames; Enter applies it
e, E	Export the frames the filter keeps to pcap: B/IP as Ethernet, or as raw IPv4
z	Forget every frame
Up, Down, k, j, PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, g, G	Move in the focused pane
p	The profile dialog
c	Reconnect
x	Disconnect
Esc	Clear the filter, then back to the devices
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Devices, Browse, watch list, Network, BACnet/SC, MS/TP
W, u, :, ?, L, q	As everywhere

MS/TP join confirmation

Key	Action
y	Join the trunk
Up, Down, k, j	Choose the serial port
Esc, n, q	Cancel

Profile dialog

In the list and the preview:

Key	Action
Up, Down, k, j, Tab, Shift-Tab	Choose a profile
Enter	Preview the profile; in a preview, connect
a	Attest to first use, save the authorization and connect
y	Accept the credential warnings shown
c	Connect
e	Edit the profile
r	Reload from disk and check again
p	Back to the list
n, s, m	New B/IP, BACnet/SC or MS/TP profile
x	Disconnect the live session
Esc	Close the dialog
q	Quit

In the editor:

Key	Action
Tab, Down	Next field
Shift-Tab, Up	Previous field
Backspace	Erase
Enter	Save without connecting
Esc	Discard the draft

Interface picker

A flags-only B/IP session without -i asks which interface to bind.

Key	Action
Up, Down, k, j	Choose
1 to 9	Choose by number
Enter	Bind it
Esc, q	Quit

Who-Is form

Key	Action
Tab, Down	Next field
Shift-Tab, Up	Previous field
Left, Right, Space	Change the scope
Backspace	Erase
Enter	Send; past a warning, press it again
Esc	Close

Filters

Key	Action
Enter	Keep the filter
Esc	Clear it
Backspace	Erase
Up, Down	Move through the matches

Write dialogs

The arm dialog, the write and relinquish forms, the previews, the ledger and the exit guard.

Key	Action
Tab, Down	Next field
Shift-Tab, Up	Previous field
Backspace	Erase
Enter	Arm, preview, or send a T1 write; send a T3 write after the instance is typed
y	Send a T2 write; in the ledger, confirm a revert
R	Ledger: revert everything
r, k	Exit guard: revert and quit, or keep and quit
Esc	Cancel or decline; nothing is sent

Help overlay

Key	Action
?, Esc	Close the help
Up, Down, k, j	Scroll a line
PgUp, PgDn	Scroll a page
Home, End, g, G	The top or the end
q	Quit

Command bar

: opens it on the footer line. Enter runs the line, Esc closes it and Backspace erases. While you type, the footer shows the syntax of the commands that match, such as watch DEVICE OBJECT [PROPERTY] after wa. An unknown command shows the list below in the footer.

Command	What it does
watch DEVICE OBJECT [PROPERTY]	Watch a property; w is short for it. DEVICE is a device from the device table: its instance, DNET:instance for a routed one, or the routed station the table shows, such as 2:0x05. PROPERTY defaults to Present_Value
csv on	Log every watched value to a CSV file in the profile’s workspace
csv off	Stop logging
writem DEVICE OBJECT PROPERTY VALUE[@P] ...	Several writes to one device in one WritePropertyMultiple, previewed and confirmed at T2 or above; needs an armed session
bbmd [ADDRESS]	Show and read that BBMD’s tables on the Network screen (ip or ip:port); with no address, go back to the tables of the BBMD you register with
find NAME	Broadcast a Who-Has for the object named NAME and list the answers
find	Close the Who-Has panel
mstp rotation MS	Monitor: flag token rotations longer than this
mstp hold MS	Monitor: flag token holds longer than this
mstp listen SECS	Monitor: how long the safe join listens before it proposes

Single or double quotes group words, and a backslash makes a following quote, whitespace character or backslash plain text. A quote left open shows an error instead of running the line. In writem, a quoted or escaped value is a character string; a quoted number, such as '72.5', is a string too, so a numeric property refuses it. find takes the rest of the line as typed, and unwraps a name that is one quoted word, such as find "Zone Temp".

MS/TP baud scan

These run from a live monitor. See Scan: find the baud rate.

Command	What it does
mstp scan SECS	Measure six baud rates from a live receive-only monitor; 1..3600 whole seconds per rate
mstp scan cancel	Stop the scan, keep what it measured so far, and go back to the monitor’s original baud rate

On the Scan view, Up and Down or + and - select the row whose error counts are broken down. A suggestion never applies a rate, joins the trunk or changes a profile.

Device management commands

See DCC and reinitialize. Both go to the device open in Browse or selected on the Devices screen, ask for a masked password, and confirm at T3. They need an armed session on a profile with dangerous = true.

Command	What it does
dcc enable	DeviceCommunicationControl: let the device communicate again. control is the same command
dcc disable-initiation [MINUTES]	Stop the device starting conversations for MINUTES (1 to 65535), 15 by default
dcc disable [MINUTES]	The deprecated full disable, which current devices refuse; the confirmation warns
dcc disable-initiation forever	The same with no time limit: it lasts until a dcc enable or a restart
dcc disable forever	The deprecated full disable with no time limit
reinit coldstart	ReinitializeDevice: a cold start
reinit warmstart	ReinitializeDevice: a warm start
reinit STATE	The other states: start-backup, end-backup, start-restore, end-restore, abort-restore or activate-changes

Flags

bacnet tui takes these, as well as the global network flags. Plain bacnet uses their defaults; name tui to set them.

Flag	Default	What it does
--profile NAME		Preview this B/IP, BACnet/SC or MS/TP profile
--no-profile		Use flags only, with no profile or workspace
--passive		Listen on B/IP and transmit nothing; :find searches overheard I-Haves
--mstp-monitor PORT		Listen to an MS/TP trunk on this port without transmitting
--fps N	20	Redraws a second, 1 to 60. An idle screen isn’t redrawn
--log-file FILE		Also append log lines to this file
--max-rate N	20	Confirmed requests a second across the browser and the watch list; 0 for no cap
--cov-lifetime SECS	300	Lifetime of the watch list’s COV subscriptions, 10 to 28800
--poll-interval SECS	10	Least time between two polls of a watched point, 1 to 3600
--capture-ring N	50000	Frames the Capture screen keeps, 1 to 1000000; the oldest go first
--capture-device DEVICE		Also capture B/IP on the -p port from this network device with libpcap (the pcap feature)

-v and -vv raise the log level to debug and trace. --no-tui, or BACNET_NO_TUI set to anything but empty or 0, stops plain bacnet from opening the TUI.

Sources and release scope

These pages describe v0.15.0.

Key map · Command bar · Terminal UI reference.

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