Lectrosonics DM812, Reference Manual, Page: 48 / 51

DM Series Digital Matrix Processors
LECTROSONICS, INC.
48
Macros and Macro Control
About Macros
DM devices can be remotely controlled using com-
mands sent over USB, a serial port, or a network con-
nection. An extensive text-based command language
is defined for the DM. Touch panel controllers, for
instance, use this command interface.
NOTE: Refer to the Online Help for details of using
Macros as a powerful remote control option.
Macros are predefined groups of commands that
are stored internally by the DM. All of the commands
contained in the macro can then be executed by issuing
a single
Run
command to the DM. There are two two
advantages to this approach:
Efficiency - only one command needs to be sent
to the DM to execute complex actions, which may
involve dozens of individual commands.
Modularity
- frequently executed sequences can
be implemented as a macro which can be reused
in other control designs, or combined with other
macros to form complex actions.
Macros are stored in the DM nonvolatile memory. 128
macros are available, each are global in scope, mean-
ing that they are not associated with any particular
preset.
Macros may be given a descriptive title which is stored
along with the command list.
It is important to know that when a macro is run, the
response messages normally returned when the com-
mands are executed individually are discarded. This
means that ill-formed or unsuccessful commands fail
silently, as the error message is discarded.
Queries , commands which request information from
the DM, make no sense within a macro.
Macros can be
chained
if necessary, meaning that
one macro can call another macro by virtue of contain-
ing a run command. It is important to know that a run
command issued from within a macro will be delayed
until
after
the first macro has finished running. In other
words, macros aren’t nested, they always run se-
quentially (chaining). The best practice when chaining
macros is to make the run command the last command
in a macro.
The control panel contains a
Macro Editor which is
used to create new macros or edit existing ones when
the PC is connected to a DM. Macros may also be
opened and saved as files, making it possible to work
with them in offline mode as well.
The control panel also contains a
Macro Recorder
which allows a sequence of commands to be captured
as a macro without typing them into the Macro Editor.
The Macro Recorder works by capturing the commands
generated by the control panel when the mouse and
keyboard are used to make changes to DM settings.
The macro recorder can be while connected to a DM or
used in offline mode to create command sets in ad-
vance of the installation.