Dimming screen but not autolocking

hodeyp

I am finding it frustrating that every time you want to use the iPad to control the system you have to press the home button and swipe to unlock. Would it be possible to add the ability to switch the screen off after a specified period but not lock the screen. this way you can save battery but not suffer the (minor) inconvenience of having to unlock the panel every time you want to adjust volume.

RicardoSiqueira

I also would like to see the iPad display behaving like a true AMX panel as far as display time out. In other words, for example, after 5 minutes of no use the Ipad display turns off and to reactivate it, you just need to touch the screen, like any AMX touch panel, without the need to unlock it first by touching the home button and then slading your finger.

John Nagy

Remember that the iPad is still an iPad, and the operating system by Apple is in charge. There are things that can't be done, no matter how much we'd like them.

DHawthorne

That's something I needed to be reminded of as well ... I kept expecting things to run in the background. I had to wrap my head around the idea that it is an independent product as isn't going to work exactly like a tablet or a pure touch panel.

a_riot42

hodeyp wrote: »

I am finding it frustrating that every time you want to use the iPad to control the system you have to press the home button and swipe to unlock. Would it be possible to add the ability to switch the screen off after a specified period but not lock the screen. this way you can save battery but not suffer the (minor) inconvenience of having to unlock the panel every time you want to adjust volume.

I just send it the sleep command.
Paul

Joe Hebert

hodeyp wrote: »

I am finding it frustrating that every time you want to use the iPad to control the system you have to press the home button and swipe to unlock. Would it be possible to add the ability to switch the screen off after a specified period but not lock the screen. this way you can save battery but not suffer the (minor) inconvenience of having to unlock the panel every time you want to adjust volume.

You can put a quick and dirty sleep button on the TP without any code modifications.

Choose any button, select the programming tab, and enter the following:
Channel Port = 0-loopback port
Command Output = SLEEP

When the user hits that button the iPad will go to sleep (the backlight will go out) and the iPad will not wake until the user hits the screen (not too hard though) or if you send a popup to the panel like a caller ID popup or alarm of some sort.

The iPad will not auto-lock even if auto-lock is configured to do so in the general settings of the iPad if you go with the SLEEP command.

HTH

Joe Hebert

As a follow up if you want to have an automatic SLEEP after x amount of time of non-use you can trap for all button events for the iPad and do something like this:

BUTTON_EVENT[dviPad,0] {

   PUSH: {
   
      CANCEL_WAIT 'iPad Timeout'
      // 5 minute wait
      WAIT 3000 'iPad Timeout' {SEND_COMMAND dviPad,'SLEEP'}
   }
}

You can take it a step further and let the user configure the timeout period or let the user disable the timeout all together by making the wait time a variable.

John Nagy

Is there any way to get the panel to send itself the sleep command after a timeout?

I've been using a BLACK page as the inactivity page, flip time to one minute, and a touch on it is set to flip to "previous page". This works well but leaves the backlight on (though hard to tell unless it's a dim room). You need to also leave the TPC settings with DEVELOPER MODE turned on which prevents the timed lock. This is now called the "Enable Auto-Lock" setting.

But this runs batteries down pretty quickly as the light stays on 24/7.

SLEEP sounds like it solves this, but ideally, the inactivity page would have a way to initiate the SLEEP all by itself upon display (and not require a NetLinx or human trigger). But not by any means I know. Ideas?

Joe Hebert

Sleeping disorder

Upon further review:

1) Sleep does NOT turn off the backlight. It dims it considerably but there is a definite difference between the iPad in its off state and TPC in a sleep state. I imagine it looks the same as a BLACK page that John referred to.

2) The following steps will force a restart of TPC as the panel becomes unresponsive:

a) Start TPC

b) Send the SLEEP command to the iPad (either via code or the loopback port)

c) Turn the iPad off.

d) Turn the iPad back on and unlock.

The iPad is in the dim state (sleeping state) but touching the screen does not wake it up. You have to close TPC and then launch again.

Even if we were to monitor the ONLINE event and then issue a WAKE command it still won’t wake the panel. You have to reboot TPC.

At least that’s what I’m seeing here. Are others getting different results?

Joe Hebert

a_riot42 wrote: »

I just send it the sleep command.
Paul

How do you handle the sleep command? Have you found a way around the lockup issue I ran into?

Joe Hebert

This just arrived in my mailbox:

Subject: TP Control Upgrade ~ Multitasking
The latest version of firmware for the iPad (4.2) was released yesterday which enables multitasking.

With this capability, TP control stays online full time allowing you to switch between apps, and shut the display off, and immediately go back in to the TP control application to control your system.

I haven't tried it myself yet.

John Nagy

I also found the SLEEP to only paint black over the still-on backlight, so that's maybe no better and harder to accomplish (something must initiate the SLEEP) than my all in-panel inactivity method.

I did NOT however experience any problems coming back out of SLEEP in the iPad, but I only tried it about 30 times, never after a long time.
On re-read, it appears your lockout occurs if the panel turns OFF while sleeping. I didn't try that, I will later. But sounds like another vote against SLEEP.

The new OS brings a new set of variables, so this whole thing is back up into the air... in a good way I hope.

Joe Hebert

John Nagy wrote: »

I've been using a BLACK page as the inactivity page, flip time to one minute, and a touch on it is set to flip to "previous page".

That appears to be a better solution than SLEEP.

The black page dims the backlight as much as sleep does and the inactivity timeout can be adjusted by the user in the TPC setup page. There’s also no lockup issue with the black page like there is with sleep and it’s completely TP driven.

Either way the battery is still going to drain pretty quickly since the backlight stays on so it’s a pick your poison.

Ant

Has there been any progress on this?

John Nagy

No and Yes.
No for iThings. Read the TPC documention on GUIDED ACCESS for iPad/iPhone/iPod. It improves a number of things. Not a lot, but some. See below.

If you get the settings right on an Android, it pretty much rocks. You can set the timeout as you want in regular settings, set the DOCK/CHARGE behavior to "dream", and when it is on the charger it will time out to a very dim clock, and return with a touch, no disconnection. When off the charger, it will lock, but reconnects pretty fast. So at least on a dock, it exactly behaves like a real touch panel.

For either, it looks like the best patch to keep the panel going longer while OUT of the charger but not kill the battery is to set the autolock high (20 min or more if your operating system version offers it), and in your AMX program code,
start a timer at any touch or page send to the panel...
At a given count (a minute, or adjustable), send a SLEEP....
Any touch will end the sleep, so you get at least the timeout time without having to unlock, even while the screen is "darkish".
You can get fancier yet with the API to turn on and off the AUTOLOCK based on what the feedback is from DOCK NOTIFICATIONS.
Lots of dancing, but the tune is worth it.

From TPCONTROL:
For more information on the LockOut modes (including links to our info/how-to pages), please refer to the COMPARISON CHART at the top of our Products pages
Direct links here...
Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5509?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Android: http://www.touchpanelcontrol.com/tpclockout
Windows: http://www.touchpanelcontrol.com/assigned-access

John Nagy

Here's an Android "dreaming" on a charging stand, waiting for a touch to instantly resume, just like an AMX panel would. With the cool addition of the very dim clock, in several styles.

Ant

Has anyone experienced the issue of an iDevice not relaunching even after it was in focus before the device went into autolock following a time out period?

I have an online event with
SEND_COMMAND TpKtchn_d1Phys, 'TPCCMD-AutoLaunch,true'

// TpKtchn_d1Phys = 10001:1:1


Which doesn't seem to work anymore

It worked fine before i updated the iDevices to iOS 8.1

John Nagy

This was reported before in a different thread. iOS 8 has changed the rules, TPControl is informed and has said they will do what they can in the next release.

Touch Panel Control Team

Ant wrote: »

Has anyone experienced the issue of an iDevice not relaunching even after it was in focus before the device went into autolock following a time out period?

I have an online event with
SEND_COMMAND TpKtchn_d1Phys, 'TPCCMD-AutoLaunch,true'

// TpKtchn_d1Phys = 10001:1:1

Which doesn't seem to work anymore

It worked fine before i updated the iDevices to iOS 8.1

A couple of things here:
1. The 'AutoLaunch' operation only applies to Android devices and relates to custom functionality for the TPCLockOut feature. When enabled, TPControl will launch when the Android device is restarted. 'AutoLaunch' does not perform any function for Apple or Windows TPControl devices.

2. iOS's nature, after a device enters auto-lock, is to present the last active application, or desktop, when resuming from auto-lock. However, changes made by Apple in iOS8 cause TPControl to be forced closed after a few minutes of entering auto-lock, and as such you currently have to launch TPControl as if you were cold-starting.
We have implemented changes to avoid TPControl being forced closed in iOS8, so these will be posted in the coming weeks.

Ant

Excellent thanks