Landmark Primer
in AMX Hardware
Greetings...trying to work up a proposal to upgrade an old Landmark system with either new functionaility or an NI-3000 and have a couple of questions for you Landmark experts.
1) How do you (or can you) parse incoming information from a serial device? I see how to send a command and how to define an event to occur on specific incoming data, but it looks like the incoming packet has to match the event string exactly as defined, can't find documentation on specifying an input definition where variable data may be received. Also, in programming the event I don't appear to have the option of selecting this device (or event string) as Input into my user defined variable.
2) This system has a Vantage PhastLink connection which I can find zero documentation on. If you have used this, did it come from AMX or Vantage, and will it support Vantage thermostats?
More than likely we are going to upgrade, but I can't stand being stumped, so any help is appreciated.
Thanks for the help...Sonny
1) How do you (or can you) parse incoming information from a serial device? I see how to send a command and how to define an event to occur on specific incoming data, but it looks like the incoming packet has to match the event string exactly as defined, can't find documentation on specifying an input definition where variable data may be received. Also, in programming the event I don't appear to have the option of selecting this device (or event string) as Input into my user defined variable.
2) This system has a Vantage PhastLink connection which I can find zero documentation on. If you have used this, did it come from AMX or Vantage, and will it support Vantage thermostats?
More than likely we are going to upgrade, but I can't stand being stumped, so any help is appreciated.
Thanks for the help...Sonny
0
Comments
...Sonny
Yeah, Landmark strings have to be exact, there is no parsing ability. I have been able to get some psuedo parsing out of them in the past by creating events for individual characters, and stringing together long convoluted conditionals as they come in - but that is ugly, time consuming, and only practical for a very limited command set. Somewhere out there, they must be an API for writing drivers for the various Phast Converters that are out there, but I don't know that Phast ever released them to anyone but manufacturers.
As for those Phastlink converters, they come from the manufacturer of the interfaced equipmet, but Phast used to have the "modules" for interfacing them to Landmark. I have no idea where you can get them from now, but make sure it isn't already in your copy of Landmark, many of them were.
Sonny,
Dave is too kind when describing incoming string handling in Landmark
Regarding the Vantage interface, I do not believe that the Zoom module for the Vantage system was ever included as part of the standard Landmark distribution. In fact, it is one of the handful of PMB-SAM devices and Zoom modules that had to be purchased from the manufacturer and not from AMX (like Jandy Aqualink, Lutron Homeworks, ...). The Vantage SAM was noted on the 2003 AMX price list but could only be purchased from Vantage. Like you, I have absolutely no documentation on this module. That is however not unusual since the command set provided by the Zoom that is visible once the module is added to a Landmark project is generally all the documentation one would get!
Upgrade to Netlinx .....
Hope this helps,
Reese
Kevin 'glad to out of Landmark' D.
Sonny