How to password protect MVP 8400?
Infotech@tiua.edu
Posts: 1
Please excuse if this is a noob question. But how can we password protect the touch panel to allow faculty and staff (authorized users) to activate the system using the touchpad, yet prevent students (unauthorized users!!) from turning things on? We've been searching documents and forums for hours for an answer to this simple question!?
MVP-8400 Modero Viewpoint TP , relatively new model, installed 08/2010.
TIA for any suggestions!!
Bill Nelson
MVP-8400 Modero Viewpoint TP , relatively new model, installed 08/2010.
TIA for any suggestions!!
Bill Nelson
0
Comments
the easiest way I can think of is to put a password routine in code and have the panel frequently return to a login page. I used to work at a University and we tried to do the same thing. What we found was the instructors hated the fact that the panels went back to the login page 'too often' and they ended up giving out the passwords to students anyway. Pretty soon, you'd find students in rooms running the gear during off hours.
At any rate, I'd do it in code and send the panel back to the login page after X minutes of panel inactivity.
Then set the login page as the "inactivity page" in the panel properties in TPD4.
Once this is all done you will have a panel that returns to a "login page" after x minutes of inactivity and you don't need to write a single line of code.
Unless you need to change the pass code on umpteen panels all over campus - but it'll never happen...
Unless you need to edit umpteen TP4 files - but it'll never happen...
Unless you need to have different access codes for different people - but it'll never happen...
Unless you need multiple pass codes on the same panel - but it'll never happen...
Unless you need to tie the pass code into something like Active Directory or LDAP - but it'll never happen...
Unless you need to turn off the pass code function remotely for a short time without giving away the pass code - but it'll never happen...
etc...
I say these things because every single one of them has happened to me multiple times.
Can't say I've tried using them, but do the following commands not provide the flexibility you're talking about?
Yes, in a sense. But, if you have to reload the panel from the saved TP file or make a small change, you then have to still modify the file or send the commands from the program.
So, why not just build a single routine that runs all the time and manages the password(s) from a central location? I could write a routine that could manage hundreds of panels from one text file saved on a master or server or even on the local master that I could easily update and change on the fly without having to load a TP file or reboot a master.
This is an old argument hashed out on this forum many times. I just don't want to spend that much time in TP Design myself. I like the flexibility of running my panels from code. It's so much easier to manage large scale systems than the one-off panel files with built-in navigation.
But, I realize that there is a camp of people who disagree. To each his own.
I would agree. You never know what someone is going to ask for, and things that'll never happen tend to happen quite frequently. Some folks want to track which user has logged in and be able to prevent some users, at certain times, from doing certain things, etc. It's easier to do it yourself, although those commands look like they could come in handy. I had a request where the client wanted the users to be able to control lighting without a password, but starting a source did, and tweaking projector settings required a different password, etc, so its easier to implement it all in code. We are selling custom programming after all, so anytime there is an opportunity to customize something I will generally always take that route.
Paul
I took it for granted that we all know and agree that it is better to implement this in code, but I got the impression from the original post that the author is not well versed in AMX programming. I got that impression from the references to spending hours searching docs and forums when it really isn't a tough problem and the TP4 commands are pretty easy to find in PI.
I then suggested the quickest and easiest way I could think of to solve the author's request without writing the code to make it flexible and easily adjustable on the fly.
My assumptions may be correct or incorrect, but that was my thought process.
Fair 'nuff. I still think you're a cool dude.