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^BMF button command on G5 panel

richardhermanrichardherman Posts: 400
in AMX Technical Discussion

I'm seeing some confusing behaviour with this command on a G5 panel (MXT-1001; v1.7.30)

For years I have sent the following command to G4 panels:

SEND_COMMAND dvaTP,"'^BMF-721.780,1,%SW0,%CTGrey4'"

(for buttons with an address code in the range 721...780, hide the button (%SW0) and turn the text color for the OFF state to 'Grey4')

On a G5 panel this does not work, no buttons are hidden.
If I change the color name to the equivalent color number (78) it does work:

SEND_COMMAND dvaTP,"'^BMF-721.780,1,%SW0,%CT78'"

But this has side effects: sending a command afterwards to unhide the button, does not work anymore:

"'^SHO-721.780,1'" Does nothing, no buttons are 'unhidden'.

If I send the the ^BMF command with the color number again, but now to unhide the button:

SEND_COMMAND dvaTP,"'^BMF-721.780,1,%SW1,%CT78'"

This also doesn't work, no buttons are 'unhidden'

If I use the same command with the color name, it DOES work, the buttons are 'unhidden':

SEND_COMMAND dvaTP,"'^BMF-721.780,1,%SW1,%CTGrey4'"

Very confusing...

for now i've split up the ^BMF command into ^BCT and ^SHO commands and this works as expected.

I can't find anything in the PI2 documentation that shows that these commands would behave different on a G4 or a G5 panel; as far as I can tell, the descriptions for both panel types are the same.

Comments

  • Joe HebertJoe Hebert Posts: 2,159

    This is on page 1 of a pdf file named: AMX_G5_Deprecated_Commands.pdf

    Please note that the ^BMF/@BMF command as well as the ^BMC command have been removed completely and are not supported in G5 now, or in the future.

    Not sure where I got the file from and I don't know how to attach with the new forum but I hope this clears up the confusion.

  • richardhermanrichardherman Posts: 400

    Thanks Joe, that does help.

    I guess PI2 can't be trusted as a source for this sort of information. Thinking that whas what it was made for...
    trying to find the document you mentioned on the AMX site, I eventually found: 'AMX G5 considerations' in the 'whitepapers' section. Looks somewhat dated (4 1/2 years old), but on the first page it also states what you mentioned above: the ^BMF command has been removed completely.

    After my unintended experiment with the command it seems clear that it is not 'completely removed'; more likely is that for some reason it didn't work reliably on G5 and they gave up on it. Not a big deal, because the ^BMF command is just a way to set any/all button parameters by sending embedded codes and data, but all the parameters can be send by individual button commands as well.

    In the same document it is mentioned that the password protection related to buttons is completely removed, as is the ^PWD command. The latter is true, the former isn't. Although you can't send passwords (except password 5) to the panel through NetLinx commands anymore (which is kinda annoying) you still can set them on the panel itself through the settings page and button related passwords will work as they did in G4.

    So, the information in this document has probably changed in recent years, with firmware updates for the G5 panels. Still it is probably useful: https://amx.com/en-US/support_downloads/download_types/whitepaper

  • richardhermanrichardherman Posts: 400

    Oh, BTW, both commands (^BMF and ^BMC) are still fully explained in the 'Modero X-Series G5 Configuration and Programming Guide' which, according to the last page, was last updated on 1/3/2018.

    So, I'm probably still confused about what should work and what shouldn't... :/

  • quirkquirk Posts: 28

    Hi @richardherman, I would suggest submitting a web case by e-mailing HProTechSupportUSA@harman.com and submitting the information you have gathered here.

    From there the tech that receives the request can submit an escalation to have the documentation fixed.

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