L-VIS User Manual
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LOYTEC
Version 6.2
LOYTEC electronics GmbH
projects with recurring graphical elements, like room automation, the effort for creating the
project is considerably reduced. References to data points used by the template can be
variable, such that each instance can automatically work on a different set of data without
any extra work to re-route the data point references manually. For continued maintenance,
templates offer much more than a simple copy, because each instance is linked to the
template it was created from, and automatically follows any subsequent changes done in the
template, even after the instance was created.
Another advantage is that projects using templates are significantly better structured,
reducing the effort for maintenance and extensions in the future. Project documentation can
be done mostly by documenting the templates, without sacrificing the convenience to have
the documentation readily available anywhere throughout the project.
Building a library consisting of templates for various applications can lead to consistent
user interface designs across different projects, considerably increasing the recognition
value of a company’s products.
A typical user interface will consist of a header, footer, navigation area, and a main area
containing elements to display information and input data. Using a template instance for
each of these areas can guarantee a consistent placement of UI elements across pages,
avoiding shifting effects due to inaccurate positioning of for example a navigation button.
This leads to a more professional and intuitive interface, with a consistent layout across the
individual pages of the project. Local deviations from the template contents are possible for
each instance, allowing changes to text, color, position, or visibility, to name a few.
8.10.2 Improve Marketing
Templates not only speed up commissioning and maintenance of individual projects, they
can also help in technical sales and distribution to create demo applications. For example, if
a room automation project based on templates was done for a customer before, this same
project can easily be adapted to match the requirements of a potential new customer, such
that it can be used as a demo. Exchanging the entry graphics, the company logo in the
header, and adjusting colors and fonts is usually enough to make the demo look like a
customer-specific solution.
8.10.3 Corporate Design
Corporate design in a building means specific requirements from the customer regarding
the appearance of visible elements in the entire building, including graphical user interfaces
for room control. Such requirements are best met by using templates, since they provide the
flexibility to deploy a certain look throughout the project easily, without editing a lot of
individual components.
Any templates created in this process can be re-used for other projects of the same customer
to maintain a consistent cross-project design.
8.10.4 Solving Complex Tasks
Templates can be nested inside each other, which means that a template can instantiate
other templates to access their functionality, thereby automatically taking over any changes
or improvements done to the instantiated child templates, for all instances of the parent
template.
This mechanism can be used to create a type hierarchy, where simple elements are put
together to form more complex parts of the user interface, which can in turn be used to
create the content of entire pages. On the top level, only one template may need to be
instantiated to provide the content for an entire page. Which template to use, would depend
on whether the page should be used to control lights, sun blinds, or any other system. Such
a page template would contain instances of a header, footer, and navigation template, as
well as an appropriate content template (lighting, sun blinds, HVAC …).
