Example: Creating a serial driver InFocus LP850 projector

When creating a serial driver using the Driver Wizard in Composer Pro, the driver supports one-way communications.

Example: In this example, you create a driver to support the serial-controlled InFocus LP850 Projector.

To create a new serial driver:

  1. Start Composer Pro and connect to a Director.
  1. Ensure that you have added a controller to your project (this should be the first device added).
  2. To launch the Driver Wizard, from the Driver menu select Create a New Driver.
  3. In the Driver Wizard, select the device driver you want to create, and click ok.
  4. Fill out the driver information, such as Manufacturer, Model, and Driver Creator name. The date created, date modified, and the copyright information is generated automatically.

    5. For the InFocus LP850 Projector, use the following information:

    • Manufacturer: InFocus
    • Model: LP850
    • Driver Creator: ACME Integrators
  1. Indicate how this device is controlled using IR or Serial. Example: Serial.
  2. Set up the serial settings.
  • Serial—Select this radio button if the device you want to create a driver is for serial controlled. The following serial options are specific settings on serial devices.
  • Baud Rate—The number of symbols or characters per second sent over a serial link. Options: 110, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 – default, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200, 230400, 460900, 921600.
  • Data Bits—Use the drop-down menu to select (5, 6, 7, 8 – default).
  • Flow Control—The control of the transfer of data to avoid congestion. Options: None - default, Xon/Xoff, Hardware.
  • Stop Bits—Options: 1-default, 1.5, 2.
  • Parity—The process for detecting whether bits of data have been altered during transmission of data. A parity bit is appended to an array of bits to make the sum of all the bits always odd or always even for error detection. Options: None – default, Even, Odd, Mark, Space.
  1. For the InFocus LP850 Projector, use the following settings:
  • Baud Rate: 19200
  • Data Bits: 8
  • Flow Control: None
  • Stop Bits: 1
  • Parity: None
  1. Click next.

Define the audio parameters

Example: Projectors do not have audio, so do not check anything.

  1. Click next.
  2. Fill out the device properties for the driver you are creating. Properties are features that vary between the different models of the same device type. For example, some Televisions have discrete power control and some only offer toggle power on/off. You must define in the driver you’re creating the features supported in the model.
  3. For the InFocus LP850 Projector driver, check Discrete Input Selection.
  4. Click next.

Indicate how the power is handled

  1. For the InFocus LP850 Projector driver, select Use discrete on/off codes. For more information about power management options, see “Guidelines for defining power management.”
  2. Click next.

Select the appropriate codes

  1. For the InFocus LP850 Projector driver, de-select the following commands:
  • Cancel
  • Channel Down
  • Channel Up
  • Enter
  • Info
  • Number 0 through 9
  1. Click Add to enter any custom commands.
  2. Add the following options:
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Aspect Ratio: Native
  • Ceiling mount off
  • Ceiling mount on
  1. Enter the serial code for each serial command.
  2. Click next to continue through the codes. For information about how to enter serial codes, see “Creating a serial-controlled device driver.”
  3. Click Add to identify the Input connections on the device.
  4. For the InFocus LP850 Projector, add the following input connections:
  • Video 1 (Input, Line Level)
  • Video 2 (Input, Line Level)
  • Video 3 (Input, Line Level)
  • Computer 1 (Input, Line Level)
  • Computer 2 (Input, Line Level)
  • Computer 3 (Input, Line Level)
  1. Click next.

Define the connection types for the inputs and outputs

  1. Define the connection types for Inputs/Outputs for all the inputs/outputs. For the InFocus LP850 Projector driver, define all the previous inputs identified previously.
  2. Click next until you have defined all of the inputs and outputs.

Define the macros

  1. Enter any additional serial codes needed to perform the desired action. For Serial Drivers, based on the selections you made in the Device Info section (where you defined Driver capabilities), both Codes and Macros have to have the serial strings entered.
  2. Click next.
  3. Click next again.
  4. Click OK to return to Composer Pro. The driver you created is located in the Search tab in Composer Pro.
  5. You have now completed the setup of you driver. Select the Search tab and the driver type you just created.
  6. To check whether your driver is in the Online Database, select the driver. For the InFocus LP850 Projector driver, select Projector > InFocus LP850.
  7. Drag and drop the new driver to the project tree.
  8. Make the appropriate video, audio, and control connections or network connections (if appropriate) for the device.
  9. Click System Design and double-click the device in the project tree. Use the Device Control window to test the control of the device.

    10.  Example: Double-click Projector.