User guide

Composer Pro User Guide
Copyright © 2011 Control4. All Rights Reserved.
Saved: 4/14/2011 4:10:00 PM
200-00005 Composer Pro
User Guide Part 2
Page 9 of 179
For best results, understand the following concepts and guidelines:
1. Supported Commands and Inputs/Outputs of the Device. Prior to starting the Driver Wizard,
have a basic understanding of the device.
2. Discrete versus Toggle. In the Driver Wizard, the term 'discrete' indicates a direct setting rather
than a toggle option between settings. For example, a receiver might have 'discrete input select,'
which lets you select the input directly (DVD) rather than using a toggle button that cycles through
all the inputs (DVD, VCR, TV), such as Input Toggle.
3. IR Codes versus Macros. In the Driver Wizard, some IR codes complete the needed command;
however, to complete the commands, you may need a macro (a sequence of codes).
4. Adding All Options for AV Connections. When adding AV connections, select all possible
options for the device so all options are available for selection.
5. Power Management Options. A variety of supported Power-Management options are available
to choose from, but the optimal method depends on the device. When no other option works, use
the Assume the Device is Always On option, and leave it up to the user to ensure manually that
the device is on. See “Guidelines for Defining Power Management.”
6. Adding Commands and Custom Commands. The Driver Wizard supports a set of default
commands for each device type, such as Television, VCR, DVD, etc. If a command you need
does not appear on the Default Command list, click Add and use the pull-down menu to look for
the command. You can also add custom commands if necessary.
7. Driver Wizard Screens Vary for Device Types. Because different devices, such as televisions,
VCRs, and DVDs have different functionality, the Driver Wizard steps you through different
questions as appropriate for that device type, and there are pre-defined generic Device Types
that have a common set of commands with varying capabilities that you can use as a base. The
Driver Wizard prompts you to select the appropriate commands from these basic commands, as
well as identify any additional capabilities that the particular device is able to perform.
Example: All televisions have Up/Down channel and Up/Down volume commands, so these
basic commands are already included in the generic TV device type. However, not all televisions
have direct channel selection, where you can select a channel by pressing a sequence of
numbered keys.
8. Creating or Editing Multi-Featured Device Drivers. You can create only combination types that
are listed in the Create New Driver wizard. Control4 recommends that you start with an existing
driver in the Online Database, add it to your Local Database, and then edit it as needed to meet
the new device-driver need. Be patient. You may need to change IR codes if a code doesn't work
with your device.
9. DriverWorks can be used to create 2-way drivers for AV and non-AV devices. It requires some
programming skills, however, but leverages the Lua-embeddable scripting language, a powerful,
fast, and light-weight (when compared to other scripting languages). See “Creating 2-Way Serial
or TCP/IP-Controller Drivers Using DriverWorks.”
Tip: When a device driver is created, you may want to distribute it to multiple projects on different
computers. To do this, copy the driver file from the default install directory: C:\Program
Files\Control4\Composerxxx\Drivers\Virtual to the same directory on the other computers.
This action makes this driver file available to all the projects stored on that computer. Driver files
are named by device type, protocol, manufacturer, and model with a.c4i extension.
Example: tv_ir_samsung_tx-p1430.c4i.