New Stuff - Virtual Keypad
ryanww
Posts: 196
I just saw the AMX news email thing. They have some pretty neat things like the new panels and the VOIP deal. A project I am working on right now would be perfect to use the new virtual keypanel.. Does anyone know when this will come out and if there can be more then one of them per master?
Thanks,
Ryan
Thanks,
Ryan
0
Comments
I will see if I can ask that today.
Jeff
Thanks,
Ryan
I've not found any tech info on the amx site.
Anybody got any info? Is this a firmware update to the netlinx masters? The product info page says there is sample netlinx code available - if so, where?
Regards
John
This is cool!
The COM-SIP-GATEWAY harnesses the power of standards-based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Voice over IP (VoIP) technology to establish, maintain and terminate calls to/from AMX intercom-enabled Modero Touch Panels, PDAs, cell phones, laptops, IP phones, and instant messaging clients.
The new products are now on the AMX site!
Jeff
Ryan
The link above show the dealers price which I assume is around $500 retail.
The new Virtual Keypad (NDT-VKP) has limited functions and I found it to work as advertised. If you haven?t tried it yet here?s what you get:
1) A completely fixed interface with 12 buttons and one 3-line "LCD". Image attached.
2) The 12 buttons have channel codes fixed at 1-12.
3) The 12 buttons can have ON and OFF feedback
4) Text can be sent to any of the 12 buttons or to the 3-line LCD.
5) The VKP is instantiated with a DUET module.
6) The VKP shows up as a link under web control on the NI Master web interface.
7) The VKP "runs" in a browser as a simple web page. It?s not a Java applet like the G3 web panels so there is no constant IP connection to the master. Instead the browser polls the master every 3 seconds and asks for some XML data to populate the interface with. Or the interface gets populated with the most recent data when a button is pushed and the push is submitted to the master.
8) The instructions say only one VKP can be used per master. Naturally I had to try to instantiate 2 of them and to no surprise no dice.
When you issue SEND_COMMANDs to the virtual device to write text to the buttons or if you turn the buttons ON/OFF, the commands don?t go to the web interface itself (it can?t since it?s connectionless.) Instead the module tracks the button states and button text and when the browser polls, the module returns the most current status.
Everything you need to get up and running can be found in the Tech Center under Application Files --> !integration Solutions (No charge.) If you can?t get it to work make sure you have the latest DUET Platform Runtime which you can install via the Web Update tool. That was the only problem I had. Once my runtime was up to date the VKP worked fine.
Has anyone tried the VKP yet? I?m trying to think of a situation where the VKP could be useful. It?s kind of cool and I like the simplicity but I really don?t see myself using one of these. I?m curious as to what you all think.
Thanks for trying
Ryan
The java module keeps polling the device every 30 seconds like its supposed to but sending commands to its virtual device connection seems to fall on deaf ears.
Maybe in preventing multiple instances of the VKP they have actually disabled the ability to run multiple duet modules?
I'll do some more testing but so far this duet module suddenly started to work again when i commented out the line
DEFINE_MODULE 'VirtualKeypad_dr1_0_0' VKP(vdvKeyPad, vdvKeyPad);
I thought the same thing.
This is lifted directly from the AMX sample code plus it shows something similar in the pdf guide that comes with the download.
On the iPhone, go to Safari and enter in the IP address of your master. You will see a link to the Virtual Keypad on the master page. Click there and the keypad should come up. Once up, you can set a bookmark for it to return more easily next time.
I am not prticularly impressed with the Virtual Keypad. It usually misses button releases. It seems to me to be one of those things that's cool to play with, but is way too clunky to provide to clients.
Speakercraft released a web interface for their multiroom system last year. It's OK, it's a custom browser interface and it's got the issues associated with that. What they did do well was use that route because it was quick so they got to market extremely quickly with their NEW hardware.
It took an age for our Virtual Keypad to ship out. If it's going to take that long, why can't we have a proper app? Our competitors have managed to ship one recently.
I'm not AMX bashing. We do not and will not sell Honktron, however I'm getting concerned that the best touchscreen platform out there doesn't have a native AMX interface
All you need to do is define the module in your main program, just like any other module.
If you do exactly in the instrucions, it will work.
Agreed. Many of my resi AMX customers already have iPhones. It would be a logical progression to bring some reliable AMX control into the iPhone.
I don't think the Virtual Keypad ME is solid enough for end-users. I see it as a tech-toy at best right now.
I also have the iEquipment Montor running on the master giving him email update of the systems status.
i compile and all goes ok. no errors or warnings.
and then when i try to open the webpage i get this error:
HTTP ERROR: 404 Not Found
RequestURI=/web/module/VirtualKeypad/com.amx.virtualkeypad/virtualkeypad
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tnx for help!
I think they are fearing that the iPhone might took away TP sales, however if they ignore the iPhone completely they will definitely loose and guys like CommandFusion already offerding a complete solution and development plattform for controlling AMX and other masters from the iPhone and using it like a regular TP.