Front Panel Tab

 The Front Panel tab is a graphical representation of the control panel of a product.  It gives you the ability to:

  • Configure the operations of the front panel buttons.

  • Configure the captions and functions of the control buttons that are displayed in the GlobalViewer® interface.

Functions of the Front Panel tab vary depending on what product is selected in the IP Link® Tree window.  Functions include:

Setting a Button Caption

To set a button caption:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a control button.

  2. In the Line 1 field, enter the top line of text for the button caption, if desired.

  3. In the Line 2 field, enter the bottom line of text for the button caption, if desired.

In the example on the right, Line 1: "Power," and Line 2: "On" are displayed in line 1 (top) and line 2 (bottom) of the selected button.

A caption can be set for each button in the front panel display.

Setting a Button Tooltip

A tooltip is a descriptive line of text that is displayed in the GlobalViewer interface when the cursor is positioned over a button.

To set a tooltip:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a control button.

  2. In the Tool Tip field, enter the desired text.

Setting a Button Repeat Rate

The repeat rate is the rate at which a button repeats its function if the button is held down.

Example

If you have configured a button as an increment volume button and given it a repeat rate of 1.00 second, as long as you keep this button pressed (the front panel button or  the GlobalViewer button), the Increment Volume command is sent every 1.00 second.

To set a repeat rate:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a control button.

  2. From the Repeat Rate drop-down list, select a rate.

Setting Button Operations

The tabs located within the Button Operations section include:

The functions of each tab are described in the paragraphs below.

Notes:    Functions in the Button Operations (1) section are selected and moved to the Press (2) section or Release (3) section to be assigned to a button.  If a function is moved to the Press section, the function occurs when the selected button is pressed (either on the physical front control panel of the device or in the GlobalViewer interface).  If a function is moved to the Release section, the function occurs as the button is released.  

Because the Display power buttons are pressed down together to enter PIN mode, it is good practice to assign functionality to them on their release (as opposed to the press) so that when you enter PIN mode, if you inadvertently press one button slightly before the other, you do not initiate its assigned function instead of entering PIN mode.

A red triangle in the top, left corner of a button indicates that it has been assigned a button operation.

Changes to the GC file do not appear in the GlobalViewer interface until the GC file has been built and uploaded to the network devices.

See the Build Changed Configurations section for more information.

Driver

To assign a driver function to a device button:  

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a front panel button (see below).

  2. In the Button Operations section, select the Driver tab.

  3. On the Driver tab, select a device and expand its folder by clicking the + sign (such as Eiki LC-XG100 in the figure below).

  4. Expand the desired operation folder by clicking the + sign (such as Power).

  5. Select the desired function (such as On).

  6. Click and drag the selected function to the Press section or the Release section.

     - or -

Click one of the Right Arrows (7) to move the selected function to the respective Press section or Release section.

     - or -

Click and drag the selected function and drop it over the selected button (1).

Relay

The Relay tab in the Button Operations section gives you the ability to add relay functions to a selected button.

Example

If you want to power on a projector and lower a projector screen all with one press or release of the Display Power On button, you can:

  • Connect the projector screen motor to a relay output of an MLC 226 device.

  • Configure the Display On button to send a Power On command to a projector.

  • Use the Relay tab in the Button Operations section to add a second function to the Display On button that would drive a relay output to lower the projector screen.

To add a button function using the Relay tab:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a front panel button.

  2. In the Button Operations section, click the Relay tab.

  3. Expand the Relay function by clicking the + sign.

  4. Click and drag the desired relay function (such as On, Off, Toggle, or Pulse) to either the Press section or Release section.

- or -

Select the desired relay function and click one of the two Right Arrows (5) to move the selected relay function to the respective Press or Release section.

The example below shows the result of adding a Relay On function and a Relay Off function separated by a
10-second time delay (Wait 10 seconds), which gives the projector screen 10 seconds to reach the lowered position.

Time Delay

When you add multiple functions to a front panel button, you may want to insert a time delay between the functions.  The Time Delay tab provides the capability to add a delay period ranging from 1 second to
180 seconds to the Press or Release action of a button.

To add a time delay:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a front panel button.

  2. In the Button Operations section, select the Time Delay tab.

  3. Expand the Time Delay function by clicking the + sign.

  4. In the Wait field, enter the desired number of seconds (1 to 180) for the delay between functions.

  5. Click and drag the Wait function to either the Press or Release section.  

- or -

Select the Wait function and click one of the two Right Arrows to move the selected function to the respective Press or Release section.

Note:  In the example below, a 10-second delay has been placed between Relay On and Relay Off functions, which allows the relay to be on for 10 seconds before turning off.

User Defined

The User Defined tab in the Button Operations section allows you to add button functionality that is not
pre-defined by entering ASCII strings or Extron Simple Instruction Set (SIS™) commands in the Command field and moving those commands to the Press or Release section.  The User Defined tab is functional only with serial ports.

For a list of ASCII codes, open the View menu and select View ASCII Chart.

To add a user-defined command:

  1. Select a front panel button.

  2. In the Button Operations section, select the User Defined tab.

  3. Expand a serial port by clicking the + sign.

  4. Click User Defined Command.

  5. In the Command field, enter the desired ASCII command string.

  6. Click and drag the user-defined command to the Press or Release section.

- or -

Click one of the two Right Arrows (7) to move the user-defined command to the respective Press or Release section.

Light Control

The Light Control tab allows you to assign an indicator color to both the Press and Release actions of selected buttons.

Indicator Color options are:

  • Off

  • Green

  • Red

  • Amber

Indicator Blink options are:

  • No Blink

  • Slow Blink

  • Fast Blink

To assign an indicator color to a button:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a button.

  2. In the Button Operations section, select the Light Control tab.

  3. Expand a No Blink, Slow Blink, or Fast Blink folder by clicking the + sign.

  4. Drag the desired color icon (such as Off, Green, Red, or Amber) to either the Press (4) or Release (5) section.

Note:  In the example below, a solid green indicator is assigned to the button when pressed.  A solid amber indicator is assigned to the button when released.  These indicators appear on the actual device button and in the GlobalViewer graphical representation of the button.

Setting Button Modes

The options listed in the Button Modes drop-down list allow you to apply four different modes of operation for the Room buttons on the System 5 IP front panel.

Button modes of operation are:

Button modes of operation are described below.

Single Switch

In Single Switch mode, the push-button switch will perform the same primary function each time it is pressed.

Single Switch mode is the factory default state of the Room buttons and is indicated by a gray-colored button within GC.

Single Switch mode is the opposite of Toggle mode, which is described below.

Toggle

In Toggle mode you can assign two different actions to subsequent depressions of the same pushbutton switch.

If we apply the Toggle mode to a pushbutton switch, the initial press of the switch causes one action, and the next press of the switch causes a second action to occur.

To create a Toggle mode button:

  1. Select a button.

  2. Expand the desired device driver by clicking the + sign.

  3. Expand the desired operation folder by clicking the + sign.

  4. Select toggle state 1.

  5. Click and drag the desired Button Operation (such as Video Mute On) to either the Press or Release section.

  6. Select toggle state 2.

  7. Click and drag the second desired Button Operation (such as Video Mute Off) to either the Press or Release section.

Toggle mode is indicated by red (top) and gold (bottom) colors on the switch as shown in the image below.

Input

An Input button mode means that when this button is activated, the audio or video input signal associated with this button is sent to the display device.

To assign an Input mode to a switch:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a switch.

  2. From the Button Modes drop-down list, select Input.

Group (X)

When multiple buttons are assigned to a group:

  • Only one button can be activated at a time.

  • When a button is activated, it deactivates any other currently active button.

  • The button label color changes to match other buttons of the same group:

  • Group 1 = blue labels

  • Group 2 = red labels

  • Group 3 = purple labels

  • Group 4 = green labels

To create a button group:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a Room button.

  2. From the Button Modes drop-down list, select the desired group number.  The selected button turns the color of the selected group (blue in the example below).

  1. In the Front Panel section, select a second Room button.

  2. From the Button Modes drop-down list, select the desired group number.  The second button turns the color of the selected group, indicating that these two buttons now belong to the same group.

To return a grouped button to its original single switch state:

  1. In the Front Panel section, select the desired button.

  2. From the Button Modes drop-down list, select Single Switch.  The button returns to its single switch state and its original gray color.

Enable MPS 112

The Enable MPS 112 check box enables you to add the MPS 112 Media Presentation Switcher control panel to a System 5 IP control panel and configure all of the MPS 112 buttons along with the System 5 IP buttons.

The Extron MPS 112 Media Presentation Switcher merges four independent switchers in a single enclosure:

  • A four input, one output VGA switcher with stereo audio

  • A four input, one output S-video switcher with stereo audio

  • A four input, one output composite video switcher with stereo audio

  • A 12 input, one output program audio switcher

To enable an MPS 112:

  1. Select the Enable MPS 112 check box.  The MPS 112 front panel buttons are displayed below the System 5 IP front panel buttons (2).

Clearing, Resetting, and
Auto-filling Button Captions

The Clear button is used to clear all of the front panel button caption text.

The Reset button is used to set all of the front panel button captions to their factory default text.

The Auto Fill button is not active on the Front Panel tab.  It is active on the Address tab when a Control Module is selected in the IP Link Tree window.  See the Clearing, Resetting, and Auto-filling Button Labels subsection of "Control Module Summary Tab" for more information.