TouchControllers as a bespoke CT product designed to make control of video equipment easier for non-technical operators such a conference room managers or speakers.

Quick-Start

• Connect PoE Cat5/6.
• Device will boot, displaying the CT Logo
• The TouchControl will launch a browser
• Once the browser has loaded, the page will navigate to the Control screen.
• Click on the Settings icon at the top, centre of the screen. If the cog icon is not present, press and hold the reset button for 2 seconds to enable it.
• In the settings page, configure the following:
• Network settings set either DHCP or Static. Click ‘Update Network’
  1. Set device to the correct Time zone and date. Click ‘Update Date/Time”.
  2. Setup buttons, including the devices due to be controlled.
  3. Add widget if required.
  4. Reboot device.
• Test buttons work on the connected device/s.
• Once a working configuration has been made, this can be exported to a USB stick and imported to other devices.

Resets

Holding the reset button for 2 seconds enables the Settings icon so you can access the settings pages described below.

Holding the reset button until the screen goes off resets the unit to its factory default, removing all configuration and setting the IP of the onboard ethernet port back to 192.168.0.100.

Dismantle and Internal Connections

Details of how to open the TouchControllers and check internal connections are available here.

UI & Navigation

The UI first displayed post boot is the ‘Home Screen’. This page contains the buttons which control their allocated devices or inputs.

To navigate pages, buttons in the top right of the screen will show either ‘Prev Page’ or ‘Next Page’. Either of these will redirect to the corresponding page as suggested by the button clicked.

To the left of the navigation buttons; both a refresh and settings icon can be observed.

The refresh button is used for UI updates, in cases where data is cached, or UI changes have been made – this button will allow the operator to update the page.

The settings page will navigate the operator away from the current ‘Home’ screen. This button can be disabled by administrators, meaning it won’t always be visible. To re-enable the icon, press the reset button for 2 seconds.

General Settings

General settings are a combination of colour setting, styling and background changing.

‘Allow local configuration’ is a toggle which allows access to the settings page by clicking the cog icon. This is usually turned on. However, turning it off will block access to the Settings page unless the TouchControl is being remotely accessed.

It is advised that the CSS (cascading style sheet) template is not altered unless by someone who is using remote access and has knowledge of CSS styling. All aspects of the page and buttons can be altered by editing this field but knowledge of web design is recommended.

When opting to change the background image, this can be done easily through selecting the ‘Upload New Background’ option in the drop-down selector. If a USB is connected via the rear port; a file can be selected and uploaded through the systems file explorer. The background image should be an 800 x 480 PNG.

For all colour settings, the accepted format is Hex. These can be changed through the onscreen keyboard inputting desired Hex code. The first field defines the background colour, the second field sets the text colour. There are many Hex colour pickers available online if you want to set specific colours. The code consists of a pair of values between 0 and f, each relating to the amount of red, green and blue in the colour (RRGGBB). #ff00ff would mean 100% red, no green, 100% blue meaning the you get purple.

Finally, when all the settings are correct. Press the ‘Update Settings’ button.

Network Settings

Unless an IP Address range has been provided to the operator on site, setting the ‘Automatic Configuration (DHCP)’ option to ‘On’ will request an IP address via DHCP.

To use a static IP address, set the toggle switch to “Off” and fill in the IP address, subnet, gateway and DNS fields.

The network settings allow for setting IP addresses of the onboard network port, and an additional ethernet adaptor which can be plugged into the USB port.

Time Settings

Where time and date are crucial, setting these values is recommended. The time settings are intended to adopt which ever time zone the TouchControl is used in. After setting the correct zone, date and time; press the ‘Update Date/Time’ button.

Button Setup

Buttons are the primary feature of the TouchControl hardware and software. The purpose behind configurable buttons is to provide a versatile product what can be used in an array of events.

TouchControl can interface with network accessible hardware such as Barco S3/E2/PDS/ImagePro to switch input channels and load pre-sets. These functions are controlled by modules which are custom written by the software team. If a module has been written for a new piece of hardware, see the Import Modules section below.

Firstly, create a new button. Do this by clicking the ‘New Button’ button.

A button name will be needed to continue. When setting a button name, ensure that the name is meaningful and directly relates to its purpose. Now save.

The moment after the button has saved; the newly created button will appear in the list below where the create button is located and all other previously created buttons.

Set the IP Address that the button is due to be connected to. For the purpose of this example, 192.168.0.150 will be used. 

When a valid address has been set, the drop down to the right of the address will become accessible.

Select the appropriate device from this list. The next drop-down list will now be available.

Depending on the device that was selected, the options of this drop down will vary. In this example the device is set to ‘BarcoEM’. The option in the ‘Action’ list is then ‘Load Pre-set into PGM’. Select continue.

Provide a pre-set ID number followed by pressing the ‘Add’ button. This needs to be the preset number value for the given preset that you wish to action.

The action has now been registered to the button. However, to provide feedback to the user as to which inputs and sources are currently live on the given hardware outputs, conditions can be provided which will query the device for what destination/layer/source it is currently outputting, buttons will highlight dependant on condition outcome.

You can query the given hardware for its destinations/layers/sources by clicking on the ‘state’ button,

Set the condition IP address. The example address provided in this run is 192.168.0.151.

When the IP for the condition has been set, the drop down to the right can be set. In specification to the current example, the device that is selected is the ‘Barco S3’ device.

Set the Destination ID, Layer ID and Source ID of this device which will form the overall condition. As part of this example the ID has been set to ‘0,Layer3-A,7 (Without any spaces).

Page Designer

The design and layout of the screen is difficult to achieve on the touchscreen so the Settings pages are available remotely via a web browser.

Connecting

Open a web browser and navigate to the IP address of the TouchControl unit. Log in using root / createch

Accessing the designer

With a successful login, the browser will load the Settings page. This will look familiar to any person who has followed this manual up to now.

Within the settings page, there is a button titled ‘Open Page Designer’ under the ‘Button Setup’ section.

Designer UI

As the Designer loads, to best experience the interface; set the browser to full screen mode. Usually F11 is the shorthand to doing so.

Toolbox

The left-hand panel(‘Toolbox’) is where three sections can be found. These three sections consist of ‘Pages’, ‘Labels’, ‘Buttons’.

In the Designer screen the central reservation will populate with the layout, buttons and labels of the engineer set structure.

To add a new page, click on the ‘Create Page’ button. A pop-up will appear asking for the engineer to input a page name. Clicking ‘Save’ will create the page and add it to the list of available pages.

Labels are written tags which can provide basic insight into the button. These can be used to provide a name for the button. The labels can also be used to leave information on the home screen that is easily viewed.

Buttons can not be created within the Designer. The buttons list is populated from the button setup in the TouchContol settings page.

Labels can be created within the Designer then, buttons labels can be dragged from their respective lists and dropped onto the designer page.

Designer

The designer is found in the centre of the screen. This is a visual representation of the home screen on the TouchControl.  

Buttons that have been placed on the designer can be moved. A snap feature has been implemented so that buttons and labels are aligned.

Properties

The properties pane found on the far right of the designer screen allow for the engineer to change properties of the selected item.

For example, if a label is selected, the value that label shows can be edited here. Screens can be renamed. Buttons, too, can be renamed.

Before exiting the remote designer, be sure to save the design.

The save button can be found in the header bar, just left of the properties title.

Export and Import

Once a TouchController has been set up, the configuration can be exported so it can be deployed on other devices.

The Export feature is only available remotely, meaning you have to access the Settings pages from a web browser. Open a web browser and navigate to the IP address of the TouchControl unit. Log in using root / createch

From the top menu select Export. The page will automatically download a zip file of the configuration. This can be saved to a USB stick ready to imported onto other devices.

To import the configuration, insert the USB drive containing the zip into the TouchController and select Import from the Settings page.

TouchController uses modules to control devices. If you have been given new modules by the software team, the zip containing these should be loaded using the Import Modules button.

Event Specific Features

Widget Setup

Finally, the last feature to set is the widget.

This is specifically for the use of certain jobs such as the Cisco Live event where speakers require a countdown of their seminar.

To set a widget, tap the ‘Cisco Widget’ button. A modal will appear which contains three fields.

The API endpoint is designed to accept an endpoint relative to the host’s configurations. In an example instance, a server with a dedicated IP Address is being used.

Input the http path as well as the IP. Together the API string will look somewhat like the following: http://192.168.0.100.

With the correct endpoint, the room list will populate with the API response. Select the room to which the TouchControl will be used in.

Tick the ‘Active’ checkbox to set the widget as active.

After saving, a row in a table below the creation button will appear with the widget details. To quickly deactivate or activate the widget, uncheck or check the tick box in this table.

Version Control:
v1.0 – 28.01.20 – Landan Cerf
First published version

v1.1 – 29.01.20 – Joe Loe
Updated Buttons, added snippet of a set button removed pre-set reference in designer section.