Alcorn Mcbride V+ series, User Manual

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15-16 Appendix A
– Adding User-Defined Serial Protocols
[Play:Continuous]
param1=port, "A valid Port"
message="PL" h0d
retries=1
timeout=60
completionack="R" h0d
In this case, the
Play
event has an optional parameter, which is the frame to stop
at when reached. If the user enters a frame number as parameter 2, the first
event is compiled. If the user enters nothing as parameter 2, or something that is
not a frame number, the second event will compile, yielding a play forever. If it
is important that the parameter is empty, and not that the user entered invalid
information, this parameter validation could be used in the second event.
param2="", "The PlayContinuous event does not have a parameter 2"
This validation compares what the user entered to an empty string. This forces
the user to leave parameter 2 blank in order to compile.
The important thing to remember with multiple variations of the same event is
that the compiler chooses the first event to pass validation, so you should choose
which variation goes before which variation. In the
Play event variations
above, it would not work for the
Play:Continuous
variation to come first.
This variation would always be chosen, even if the user entered a valid frame
number in parameter 2. This would not be the case if the comparison to an
empty string validation was put into the
Play:Continuous variation, but you
should always be careful of the ordering regardless.
Using Variables in your protocol messages
If your show controller has the latest firmware installed you have the ability to
include variable values in your serial messages. Here are some good examples
that show how to implement this feature for a DVM:
[SelectClip:ByNumber]
description=Stops playback and preloads new clip
supported=5.00
retries=1
timeout=60
completionack="R" h0d
param1=port, "A valid Port"
param2=framestring, "A valid clip number (1-99999)"
message=@string(param2) "SE" h0d
[SelectClip:ByVariable]
description=Stops playback and preloads new clip using a variable
supported=6.40
retries=1
timeout=60
completionack="R" h0d