Using TCP/IP Remote to Control the V16Pro

Transcription

1 Using TCP/IP Remote to Control the V16Pro Have you ever wanted to send TCP/IP messages from your iphone to control the V16 Pro? Well now you can! Imagine connecting to your show controller and running sequences at the touch of a button, all from your iphone. This application note will take you through the steps needed to get connected. If UDP messaging is more to your liking we have a UDP app as well. Contact us at support@alcorn.com for details. The iphone app used for this application note is called TCP/IP Remote and is available from the Apple App Store. This app is a simple wireless terminal and it was chosen because the button controls can be configured to send TCP messages from your iphone. Custom controls may be produced to suit your show control requirements quickly and easily. So let s get started. Configuring the iphone App 1. After loading the application, go to the iphone Settings ICON and open the settings menu. iphone Se8ng Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 1

2 2. Navigate down to the bottom of the list and find the TCP/IP app item and open it. TCP/IP Remote App 3. On the Macro Suffix configuration, select Carriage Return and then do the same for the Terminal Suffix. Just in case you want to use the terminal in the future it will be configured. 4. Close the settings configuration page. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 2

3 5. Open the app on the iphone. The Connect to.. screen should open. If it doesn t, touch the antenna pie ICON in the lower right and this will open the Connect to.. screen. 6. Enter the IP address of the A or B Ethernet port that is connected to the wireless network. The default IP address for port A is , port B is This app note will use Ethernet port A with an IP address of because the default address is commonly used on many products. You may use any available address on your network, but remember it as you will need to assign it to the Ethernet port of the V16 Pro. 7. Enter the Ethernet port number This port number will be used later in configuring the V16 Pro. 8. Touch the X in the upper right area of the screen. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 3

4 Adding Buttons Let s setup some control buttons which will turn on and turn off Output1 of the V16 Pro. The Macros and Terminal pages of the app both have configurable buttons. We will use the Macro page for this example. 1. Touch the Macros button which will open the first page of buttons. 2. Touch the Edit button in the upper left corner of the screen. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 4

5 3. The Screen will display everything in Blue. Touch the first button to open the edit window. 4. Touch the Caption text window and enter the button text you want to see on the button. You can use Output 1 Off. This is going to be the button label. 5. Touch the Command: text window and enter the text string the V16Pro will look for. In this case enter Output1Off, you may enter anything but remember the string because you will need it when writing the script. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 5

6 6. You may wish to select the button color. You may want to choose a dark color for the off function to let you know it perform the OFF function. 7. Touch the X in the upper right corner of the screen. 8. Repeat the same process for the second button but use the caption Output 1 On and the command string will be Output1On. Choose a light color for the ON function. 9. Repeat the process for as many buttons as you wish. The button command string will be the trigger text the V16Pro will look for to start the sequence in the script. 10. Touch the Done button in the upper left corner of the screen. 11. Touch X again in the upper right corner to close and save your changes. Now that you have set up two buttons on this app you can now add the two other controls RestartShow and ToggleOutput3 if you like. These functions are included in the ready to run script is included with this application note. You can do the same things using the terminal mode of TCP/IP Remote. When using this mode be sure to turn on the Send Command on Button Touch when setting up the other buttons. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 6

7 Configuring the V16Pro The basic idea of using remote control is to Start individual sequences in the script present in the V16 Pro show controller. The following sections describe the parameters needed to setup the interface and simple controls. The script may be downloaded from: Before we get started, the Ethernet port on the V16 Pro is assumed to be setup and a connection to a wireless network is operational. If this step is not complete, a wireless network connection will need to be established before you can continue. Be sure the IP address used in configuring the TCP/IP Remote app in the iphone is used here. Open Winscript Live and click on the Open button. Locate the script called iphone TCP-IP 01.ami What follows is an explanation of the script configuration and parameters. The script that is supplied will setup and configure the V16 Pro for you. Device Setup In order for the V16 Pro to know how to communicate with the iphone, the product file will need to be assigned to an Ethernet port. The following parameters will setup the interface. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 7

8 <portname>, Apple, ipad/iphone, <version>, Ethernet, A, TCP/IP Remote, tcp_server, 1000 (this is the Ethernet port number used in Configuring the iphone App, step 7) Script Sequences Remember the button strings we entered into the iphone terminal app, Output1Off and Output1On? We will now use the iphone to control those sequences using strings as trigger messages. The sequence and trigger configurations are added as in any other script. The parameters for the sequences are as follows: seqoutput1off Trigger Type = Start Cause = incoming message Device Name = iphoneona (port name) Trigger Text - Custom - trigger text = Output1Off seqoutput1off Sequence Time = 00:00.00 Device = V16Pro Event = Off Data1 = output1 seqoutput1on Trigger Type = Start Cause = incoming message Device Name = iphoneona (port name) Trigger Text - Custom - trigger text = Output1On seqoutput1on Sequence Time = 00:00.00 Device = V16Pro Event = On Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 8

9 Data1 = output1 As mentioned before there are two other sequences, complete with triggers, we have not talked about as yet. The seqdefault is triggered by the RestartShow message and seqtoggleoutput3 is triggered by the ToggleOutput3 message. The seqdefault is a startup and restart function that will set everything to a known state. If at any time you feel the show needs to be reset, this sequence will perform that function for you. The ToggleOutput3 is an example of how the sequence can be used to control more complex operations. This sequence will not only toggle output 3 but perform different functions depending on whether Output3 is Off or On. A counter will keep track of the number of times the sequence is triggered. The count will be displayed on the front panel display as well as the state of Output1 and Output3. Test Run When the TCP/IP Remote application is started it will go out on the network and search for the IP address and port that was set up in the section Configuring the iphone app steps 6 and 7. The message Connected to port 1000 (or whatever IP and port is being used in your case) will appear in small print at the bottom of the main page when the connection is completed. Press the button that turns on output 1 and the V16 Pro should respond with the output 1 LED turning on. The same should work for turning off output 1 Add the RestartShow and ToggleOutput3 functions and gain additional control of your show. Conclusion So now you have a terminal you can control individual sequences within your script. So what do you do now? It may not be advantageous most of the time to start and stop all the sequences of your show. Rather, design new sequences that will be triggered by your TCP/IP terminal to perform useful functions as with the sequence ToggleOutput3. This way the controls can be used to start other sequences in groups that make sense. For example, changing the day/night mode, turning on house lights, unlocking doors and other maintenance type sequences could all be started by a single terminal controlled sequence that controls all the others. In any event, no pun intended, take charge of your show remotely. Aloorn McBride Inc. Applica1on Note 9