Connections

IP Address Configuration

Once Pathfinder Core PRO has booted, its display will show the OK logo along with the factory default IP address.

Use the following legend when manipulating the keypad in the sections below:

Enter the IP address, netmask, and gateway for the system:

• Tap the Enter key in the center of the keypad once; a menu will appear

• Tap the Down arrow to highlight the network menu, then tap the Enter key to enter the network menu

• Tap the Enter key again to enter the Livewire network settings

• Tap the Right arrow to enter the IP Address, then use the Up and Down arrows to increment or decrement each number; tapping the Right arrow advances the cursor to the next octet

• When you reach the end of the IP Address field, tap the Right arrow again to return to the main item selection

• Tap the Down arrow to move to the Netmask

• Tap the Right arrow to enter the netmask assignment section

• Use the Up and Down arrows to select valid netmask entries, then tap the Right arrow to advance to the next octet; the system will only allow you to enter valid netmask addresses

• Once the netmask is entered properly, tap the Right arrow to return to the main section, then arrow down to the Gateway field

• Repeat the above procedure to set the gateway

• Arrow down to click Done; this will return you to the network menu

• Repeat the procedure for the office network and DNS settings

• Once all addresses have been assigned, tap the Down arrow to select Reboot and Apply Settings

• Tap Enter to reboot the system

You may now move to the Discovery section.

Congratulations on your purchase of the Pathfinder Core PRO. We know that you're anxious to get started, so this section will take you from “out-of-the-box” to “up-and-running” as quickly as possible.

We've made a few basic assumptions:

• That you have some knowledge of network basics and network terminology

• That you are familiar with other Axia Livewire products

• That you have a correctly configured network switch

Once you’re all set up, the manual will provide in-depth knowledge of Pathfinder Core PRO's more advanced options. Please refer to the Quick Start Guide below that matches the platform you purchased (R/2, AE-2000 (2021), or Virtual Machine). The R/2 and AE-2000 (2021) look identical from the back and use the same software update packages, but the AE-2000 (2021) platform does not have an LCD display on the front. Once you're completed the product specific section, finish with the "Discovery" section of this Quick Start Guide.

The next step requires a web browser on a PC connected to either the office or Livewire network.

• If your computer is connected to the office network, open your browser and enter the IP address you assigned to the WAN port into the URL bar

• If your PC is connected to the Livewire network, open your browser and enter the IP you assigned to the Livewire port into the URL bar.

• An authentication window will appear. Type the following values: Username = Admin Password = Admin

• Select Sign In to load the Pathfinder Core PRO control panel

• From the links in the left-hand navigation bar, click Configuration under the System heading

• Next to Livewire Endpoint Discovery, click Start

Now would be a good time to grab a cup of coffee while the system evaluates the network, discovers devices, and builds your primary audio and GPIO routers.

While the Discovery is running, the system will continue to look for new devices. There is no message indicating completion, but if you click the Devices link in the navigation bar, you should see Devices populating the Devices list.

Congratulations! Your Pathfinder Core PRO is now configured and ready to start controlling your broadcasting world.

Approved Virtual Machine Hypervisors

The Virtual Machine (VM) instance of Pathfinder Core Pro has been verified on the following VM hypervisor engines:

• VMWare 6.7.0

• Hyper-V Server 2016

• ProxmoxVE 5.1-41

• VirtualBox 5.2

• Stratus everRun 7.5.05

This document does not cover the setup of a VM hypervisor engine, and it is the responsibility of the customer to set up and be knowledgeable of the VM engine in use.

Minimum VM Instance Requirements

The virtual instance created should have the following minimum settings applied:

• 2 GB RAM memory

• 4 GB hard drive storage (fixed allocation)

• 2 processor allocation

• Bridged network adapter (minimum of 1 bridged for the Livewire network)

  • It is recommended to use Paravirtualized VirtIO, VMWare Vmxnet3, or Intel Pro options for network interface emulation.

Installation

Once the VM instance is defined, point the VM to load the ISO file provided with the purchase. Start up the VM instance and the system will begin to install.

The system will ask you to type 20 random characters. Just tap random keys on the keyboard at random rates of speed until the system tells you to stop. This will initialize the random number generator. When complete, the system will instruct you to press the ENTER key.

The system will warn you about overwriting the hard drive (a virtualized instance). The system expects to find a virtualized SATA drive, and if it cannot be found, the installation will not continue. If found, it requests a second confirmation. Press "y" to proceed. At completion, the system will ask for removal of the ISO image. Make sure you remove the ISO pointer before proceeding (eject the virtual CDROM). Press any key to reboot the new installation. After bootup, the first step is to assign an IP address to the system.

IP Address Configuration

You must assign an IP Address to your Pathfinder Core PRO VM instance before you can use it. The screen at the VM terminal can be navigated using the arrow keys and the ENTER and ESC keys.

• Press ENTER to access the configuration menu

• Use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to highlight the NETWORK menu option, then press ENTER

• Use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to highlight the LIVEWIRE network interface, then press ENTER

• Configure the IP settings, using the UP/DOWN arrow keys to increment or decrement the values and the ENTER or ESC keys to edit or exit each option; you can also type numerals instead of using the arrow keys

• After configuring the IP, NETMASK, and GATEWAY settings, select DONE and press ENTER

• Repeat this process for the Office interface and the DNS configuration (DNS may be required for email configuration)

• Once all configurations are complete, navigate to Reboot and Apply Settings and press ENTER; confirm any request; the system will reboot using the new network configuration

First Time Licensing Access and Setup

• Access the web interface by typing in the IP address configured earlier in a web browser; an authentication window will appear; type the following values: Username = Admin Password = Admin

• Select Sign In to load the Pathfinder Core PRO control panel

• After logging in, you must enter a License; click the Edit Licenses link on the System page

• Click the New License item in the list and type the Access Code you received after purchasing Pathfinder Core PRO into the Access Code field

• Click Generate Request; a Request Code will appear that matches your access code

• Copy the Request Code and Access Code, then click the Generate License link to open the Pathfinder licensing web site in a new window

• Create a new account; if you have an existing account, log in using your username and password

• The Activation Type drop-down, Access Code, and Request Code fields should be pre-populated with the information you entered in Pathfinder CORE Pro; if they are not:

  • Verify Activation Type is set to Pathfinder Core PRO VM or VML (depending on your purchase)

  • Paste or type your Access Code in the AccessCode field

  • Paste or type your Request Code in the RequestCode field

• The remaining fields are customer information needed required registration of the product; these fields should be completed using end customer details, not those of the contracting integrator or installer

• Once submitted, the account will be generated and license information will be available; copy the license information to the License Key field on the Licenses page

• Once a valid license is in place, reboot to make sure the license is active; once the licensing is complete and the networked devices are on line, you may move to the Discovery section.

The installation and service instructions in this manual are for use by qualified personnel only. This equipment is not suitable for use in locations where children are likely to be present. To avoid electric shock, do not perform any servicing other than that contained in the operating instructions unless you are qualified to do so. Refer all servicing to qualified personnel. This instrument has an auto-ranging line voltage input. Ensure the power voltage is within the specified range of 100-240VAC. The "~" symbol, if used, indicates an alternating current supply. Equipment must be connected to protective earthing by means of a power cord connected to a socket outlet. Equipment with an earthing terminal should be connected to a proper ground system with 20 - 14 AWG (0.5 - 1.5mm) wire.

User Warnings and Cautions

Important Safety Symbols

This symbol, whenever it appears, alerts you to the presence of uninsulated, dangerous voltage inside the enclosure - voltage which may be sufficient to constitute a risk of shock. Disconnect equipment from all power sources before any servicing of parts.

This symbol, whenever it appears, alerts you to important operating and maintenance instructions. Read the manual.

This symbol, whenever it appears, identifies the associated terminal as a protective earth ground for protection against electric shock in case of a fault. The terminal should be connected to a proper ground system with 20 - 14 AWG (0.5 - 1.5mm) wire.

This symbol, whenever it appears, indicates a fuse to protect against excessive current. When replacing fuses, use only the type and rating of the original fuse as indicated by the manufacturer. Never install a fuse with a higher current value.

Hazardous Voltages and Fuses

The instrument power supply incorporates an internal fuse. Hazardous voltages may still be present on some of the primary parts even when the fuse has blown. If fuse replacement is required, replace the fuse only with the same type and value for continued protection against fire.

Electrical Warnings

The product's power cord is the primary disconnect device. The socket outlet should be located near the device and easily accessible. The unit should not be located such that access to the power cord is impaired. If the unit is incorporated into an equipement rack, an easily accessible safety disconnect should be included in the rack design.

To reduce the risk of electrical shock, do not expose this product to rain or moisture. This unit is for indoor use only.

This equipment requires the free flow of air for adequate cooling. Do not block the ventilation openings on the rear and sides of the unit. Failure to allow proper ventilation could damage the unit or create a fire hazard. Do not place the units on a carpet, bedding, or other materials that could interfere with any panel ventilation openings.

If the equipment is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer, the protection provided by the equipment may be impaired.

USA Class A Computing Device User Information

This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio-frequency energy. If it is not installed and used as directed by this manual, it may cause interference to radio communication. This equipment complies with the limits for a Class A computing device as specified by FCC rules, part 15, subpart j, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interferences when this type of equipment is operated in a commercial environment. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interference. If it does, the user will be required to eliminate the interference at the user's expense. Note: Objectionable interference to TV or radio reception can occur if other devices are connected to this device without the use of shielded interconnect cables. FCC rules require the use of shielded cables.

Canadian Class A Computing Device Warning

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radio noise emissions set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian department of communications.

Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites applicables aux appareils numériques (de Class A) prescrites dans le règlement sur le brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le ministère des communications du Canada.

CE Conformance Information

This device complies with the requirements of the EEC council directives:

• 93/68/EEC (CE marking)

• 73/23/EEC (Safety – Low voltage directive)

• 89/336/EEC (Electromagnetic compatibility

Conformity is declared to those standards: EN50081-1, EN50082-1.

Trademarks, Patents, and Licenses

Telos is a trademark of TLS Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

All versions, claims of compatibility, trademarks, etc. of hardware and software products not made by The Telos Alliance which are mentioned in this manual or accompanying material are informational only. The Telos Alliance makes no endorsement of any particular product for any purpose, nor claims any responsibility for operation or accuracy. We reserve the right to make improvements or changes in the products described in this manual which may affect the product specifications or to revise the manual without notice.

This document and its content are copyrighted by TLS Corporation and may not be copied, reproduced, or distributed in any form without expressed written permission.

Patent information can be found at www.TelosAlliance.com/legal.

Software Updates

The features and operations of most products and equipment are determined largely by software. Telos Alliance strives to provide the most stable and feature-rich software available, and we encourage you to check for software updates from time to time by visiting our website or by contacting us directly.

Feedback

We welcome feedback on any aspect of our products or this manual. In the past, many good ideas from users have made their way into software revisions or new products. Please contact us with your comments or suggestions.

We support you

By phone or fax: You may reach our Telos Support Team in emergencies by calling +1 216-622-0247. For billing questions or other non-emergency technical questions, call +1 216-241-7225 between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM USA Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

By e-mail: Non-emergency technical support is available at Support@TelosAlliance.com.

By web: A direct support request may be initiated via our website at https://www.telosalliance.com/support-request.

Our main product support page also has a variety of helpful information at www.telosalliance.com/support.

Service

You must contact Telos Alliance before returning any equipment for factory service. We will need your unit’s serial number, located on the back of the unit. We will issue a return authorization number, which must be written on the exterior of your shipping container. Please do not include cables or accessories unless specifically requested by the Technical Support Engineer. Be sure to adequately insure your shipment for its replacement value. Packages without proper authorization may be refused. US customers, please contact Telos Alliance Technical Support at +1-216-622-0247. All other customers should contact their local representative to make arrangements for service.

Warranty

For the latest Telos Alliance warrant information, please visit www.telosalliance.com/warranty.

Product Registration

Register your product today to get the full benefits of our warranty, support, and product updates at www.telosalliance.com/product-registration.

Company Headquarters

Telos Alliance, 1241 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114 USA. Telephone +1-216-241-7225.

Status

When you first log in to the Pathfinder Core PRO web page, you will be presented with the System Status page. This is the same web page displayed when clicking the System link in the navigation bar.

This screen is primarily informational outside of the licensing configuration fields. There are four sections:

Version Information

This shows which of the two Firmware Banks is currently active and the version of software running in that Bank.

Licensing

This shows the current license in the system and its capabilities.

System Status

This shows graphs representing the current CPU, memory, Ethernet utilization, and available disk space. The graphs are updated automatically every two seconds.

Downloads

This section provides download links to the online documentation.

System Configuration

Under the System heading in the navigation bar is a Configuration link. If you've already referenced the Quick Start Guide, you will have already been introduced to this page.

• Access the web interface by typing in the IP address configured earlier in a web browser; an authentication window will appear; type the following values: Username = Admin Password = Admin

• Select Sign In to load the Pathfinder Core PRO control panel

• From the links in the left-hand navigation bar, click Configuration under the System heading

• Next to Livewire Endpoint Discovery, click Start

When a new device is discovered, the system will add it to its device list and add any route points provided by the device into the audio and GPIO router. This is one of the first options you will use when configuring a new system as it is how you will discover the equipment that Pathfinder Core PRO can control.

When discovery is enabled, the button will say Stop instead of Start; clicking the button will stop any additional automatic discovery.

Additional System Buttons

Network Configuration Options

Current IP address information is visible in the Network Configuration section of the System > Configuration page.

Livewire and Office Configuration

System IP options can be edited using the front panel display or through the web GUI.

• Click the Configure button to open the network interface’s Edit screen

• Type the IP Address, Netmask, and Gateway values and click OK, or click Cancel to leave this dialog without making any changes

DNS Servers Configuration

The DNS section lists the currently defined DNS servers.

With correctly configured DNS settings, the system can send emails to administrators and employees alerting them to network changes requiring attention. For example, you can send emails when critical sources or destinations such as air chains become silent. To do this, the system needs to be able to resolve email server names with the correct IP addresses to send the email through. The DNS entries can also be used when entering NTP server information. Talk to your network administrator if you are unsure of which DNS servers to use.

• Click the DNS Server Configure button to open the Dns Entries dialog, allowing you to add, remove, and reorder DNS server entries

• Click Add to add a new DNS server to the list and Remove to remove a DNS server entry

• To move a DNS Server up or down in the priority list, select a DNS server entry and click the << or >> buttons

• Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to leave the dialog without making any changes

Licenses

Each Pathfinder Core PRO system includes a base license allowing a 1000 license point pool to be allocated between both Axia Audio Sources and Logic Flow endpoints.

Virtual License Types

If you purchased a hardware-based Pathfinder Core PRO, the base license is pre‑installed. If you purchased a virtual machine license, there are three possible license types:

Additional Licenses

Additional licenses to add functionality may be purchased through your Axia distributer, with each additional licenses providing either an additional 500 (the Pathfinder Core PRO Add-On 500) or 100 (the Pathfinder Core PRO Add-On 100) license points.

Add-on licenses are shared between the Pathfinder Core PRO units that are participating in a clustered system. This means that if you need a redundant Pathfinder Core PRO system that supports 1400 license points, you will need to purchase two Pathfinder Core PRO systems (each of which comes with a base license or backup license) and a single add-on license to add the additional 500 sources. The add-on license allows both systems in the cluster to mirror and synchronize the full 1400 license point functionality.

• To view or add additional licenses, click the System heading on the navigation bar and then click the Edit Licenses link

• The licensing page will display your base license information; it will also provide a list of your additional licenses

• Click the New License line then type the new Request Code and License Key to add a new license

• Finally, click Submit Changes to add the license to the system; license changes may require a reboot to become effective; click the Configuration link under System to find the reboot button

Backup/Restore

The Backup/Restore page presents a list of all backups in the system. If this is the first time using this page, there will probably not be any backups present in the system.

To take a new backup, or to upload a backup from your local computer back into the system, click the plus icon.

Taking Backups

To create a new backup, type a name for the backup, select whether you want logs and/or the IP address to be included in the backup, and then click Take. Click Cancel to exit the dialog without making any changes.

The backup will include any configuration files needed to return your system to its current state.

If logs are included, the backup will also include all system and application logs currently on the system. The log information can be very useful to Axia support if they are trying to assist in troubleshooting an issue, and it is likely they will ask you to take a backup including log files and send it to them.

If you intend to restore the backup on a different Pathfinder Core PRO, you may not wish to include IP addresses so the restore process does not overwrite the IP addresses of the other unit.

Backups are stored in the software Bank. When you move to a new software Bank, you will not be able to directly access the backups from the previous Bank. However, if the backup is saved to your local computer, you can easily upload it back into a new Bank if desired.

Uploading Backups

To restore your configuration to a new system, a factory default system, or a system that has had the desired backup removed from the system, click Choose File.

Select a System Backup file on your local system, then click Upload. After the upload is complete, the backup will be available in the Backup/Restore list.

Removing Backups

The minus icon will delete a backup from the system.

Since there is limited space on the storage medium it is recommended to keep only a few backups on the system at a time.

Restoring Backups

Click the Restore link next to a stored backup. The system will request confirmation that you really wish to restore the system to that state.

After confirming the operation, the system will shut down active services, restore the configuration files to the state of that backup, and reboot.

Upload Update

One of the Pathfinder Core PRO Administrator’s most important tasks is periodic firmware updates. This project is undergoing a very active development lifecycle with many new features planned for future versions. That, in addition to fixes for any bugs reported to us by our users, will make occasional updates of the firmware in your Pathfinder Core PRO system necessary.

The system has two software Banks so that if there is a need to return to an earlier version, it will live in the preceding Bank. To upgrade your system:

• Take a backup of your system as explained in the Taking Backups section above; we always recommend backing up your system before making any major change just to be safe; the backup process generates its own backup as well, but it never hurts to have another copy stored on your local computer

• Download the new firmware version from the Axia Audio web site to your local computer; the file name extension will be .pfc_upd which stands for Pathfinder Core PRO update package; it is also a good idea to take a moment to scan the release notes to understand the changes between the version you are currently running and the version to which you will be upgrading

• Select the Upload Update link under the System heading in the navigation bar; this page will display the Bank on which you are not currently running, as the update will always load to the inactive bank

• Click Browse and select the file you downloaded from the Axia web site

• The File Upload bar will change to the name of the file which you have selected to upload and a status bar will appear with the Begin button; if the file is not correct for the type of system you have (for example, you attempt to install VM software to a Fanless Engine platform) a warning will appear

• Click Begin to begin the updating process

• A new page will appear with a progress bar that presents stages along with some additional information regarding what is taking place at that point of the update process; the update may take several minutes to complete

• Once the update is complete, you should receive a Processing Succeeded message; because you are updating the Bank which is currently active, the system should continue to run even if there was an error with the update

• If you receive an error message instead of Processing Succeeded, please contact Axia support

• To boot into the updated Bank and start using the new software, click the Bank Control link in the navigation bar

Bank Control

Bank Control displays the software versions in both Banks of the system and offers control over the currently executing software revision Bank. Click the Bank Control link under the System heading in the navigation bar to view this page.

The Bank button can be used to select which Bank will be used on the next reboot. It also displays the currently selected Bank as the next Bank that will be active at reboot.

After changing the Bank that will be used on the next reboot, a Reboot button will appear on the page.

Clicking Reboot will reboot into the newly selected Bank.

The information tables display the software version in each Bank. An asterisk will be present next to the Bank that is currently executing.

This also means that after rebooting into a new Bank you should return to the Bank control web page to make sure the boot was successful and you are executing on the desired Bank. If the boot fails, it could fail back to the previous Bank and you will only know that by double-checking this page.

Configuration File Between Bank Changes

Since configuration files reside within the executing Bank, if you are switching to a different Bank the configuration may be different. It is always recommended to take a backup of your configuration before switching Banks, and then restore that configuration on the new Bank.

If you are switching Banks immediately after upgrading the firmware, then this backup and restore have been already completed as part of the upgrade process. Otherwise, it is recommended to review the backup and restore procedures earlier in this manual. Conversely, this also means if you make a mistake in the configuration in a new Bank, you can boot back into the old Bank to get to an older and successfully working configuration, though using backups and restores is a more efficient way of doing this.

Services

Click the Services link on the navigation bar to view the Services page.

This page will only be used in conjunction with Axia tech support, but it is worth discussing what this page represents. To make Pathfinder Core PRO as robust as possible, the system has a sophisticated watchdog process. This process monitors the state of each of the services in the system and is responsible for sending ping messages to each service to make sure they are still responsive at the application layer. If a service fails to respond within a certain period of time, the watchdog will restart the service. In a rare and catastrophic situation where the watchdog is not able to achieve proper responsiveness of a service, it might also restart all services or even reboot the system after enough subsequent failures.

This screen shows each service, when it was last started, and the most recent ping and response time. If you watch this screen you should notice the pings changing at approximately 5-second intervals.

In many ways, this page is equivalent to the Services control panel in a Windows machine.

Time

Click on the Time link under the System heading of the navigation bar to view the Time settings. The System Time configuration page allows you to define NTP servers, set the system’s time zone, and sync the current time to that of your local PC.

Use the Current Timezone drop-down to select the correct time zone for the system.

Click Set time from PC to update Pathfinder Core PRO’s current time to that of your local PC.

Defining NTP servers in the Ntp servers list is recommended so that Pathfinder Core PRO can update its time automatically and always be as accurate as possible.

There are a number of reasons why it is important to keep Pathfinder Core PRO’s time accurate. The first is that the system has the ability to define events that happen at specific dates and times. Those events will, of course, fire at incorrect times if the system’s time is not up to date. Additionally, log files use the system’s time settings to keep track of when changes happen.

Finally, proper cluster synchronization relies on date and time settings to determine whether a specific piece of information is more up-to-date on one system or another and therefore whether synchronization of that piece of information needs to take place. Talk to your network administrator if you have questions about which NTP servers to use.

Email Settings

In order to send emails from Logic Flows, the server parameters must first be defined in the system in order to let Pathfinder Core PRO know which email server to use to send email messages. Under the System section of the navigation bar, click the Email Settings link.

These settings are like those used by any other email client application.

Once you have the parameters configured correctly, click Apply Changes to store them to the system. This button must be clicked before Send Test Email will use the new settings.

Use the Send Test Email button to generate a test email. The page will ask for a destination email address and will then attempt to send the message. Any errors will be reported. Once you can successfully send test emails, you are ready to create messages that may be used by Pathfinder Core PRO’s event system, Logic Flows.

Go to the Email Messages section of this manual for more details about creating email messages determine when those messages are sent.

Connections

IP Address Configuration

Your system is configured from the factory with default Livewire and office IP address as follows:

Left NIC: 192.168.2.100 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 Right NIC: 10.10.2.100 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0

These IP addresses can be changed either by attaching a monitor and USB keyboard and using the intuitive menu or by browsing to the default IP address as described below.

Screen and Keyboard IP Address Assignment

Attach a monitor to the VGA port on the back of PathfinderCore PRO and a USB keyboard to the USB port. You will see a menu dialog similar to this:

Menu navigation uses the arrow keys and the ENTER and ESC keys.

• Press ENTER to access the configuration menu

• Use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to highlight the NETWORK menu option, then press ENTER

• Use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to highlight the LIVEWIRE network interface, then press ENTER

• Configure the IP settings using the UP/DOWN arrow keys to increment or decrement the values and the ENTER or ESC keys to edit or exit each option; you can also type numerals instead of using the arrow keys

• After configuring the IP, NETMASK, and GATEWAY settings, select DONE then press ENTER

• Repeat this process for the Office interface and the DNS configuration (DNS may be required for email configuration)

• Once all configurations are complete, navigate to Reboot and Apply Settings and press ENTER; confirm any request; the system will reboot to the new network configuration.

You may now move on to the Discovery section of this guide.

Alternate Network IP Address Configuration

• Attach the left NIC of Pathfinder Core PRO to a network switch

• Attach a computer to the same switch and configure the computer’s IP address to be within the 192.168.2.xx range, but avoid using 192.168.2.100

• Using a web browser, browse to 192.168.2.100

• Log in using the default Username and Password: Username = Admin Password = Admin

• Click on the Configuration link

• Use the Configure buttons to change the IP address, Netmask, and Gateway for both the Livewire and Office network interfaces

• Click the Reboot button to restart with the new IP addresses

You may now move on to the Discovery section of this guide.

Pathfinder Core PRO offers you ultimate control of your Axia network. It is a toolbox that allows you to fashion your own custom workflows for your users. At its foundation it provides router control. By communicating with Axia devices on your network, it brings the sources and destinations together into a common user interface that can then be used to make route changes anywhere in the system.

It also offers control over console parameters, metering, audio levels, and many more parameters that an Axia system provides. Plus, it allows you to design your own user interfaces to display this information and provide your users with whatever degree of control and information over the system you deem appropriate. Building on the highly successful PathfinderPro product line, Pathfinder Core PRO strives to make the information about your Axia system more dynamic, visible, and accessible than ever before.

Web Browsers

Pathfinder Core PRO uses modern web browser tools to bring a rich and dynamic user experience to the product, including web sockets and HTML5. This comes at the expense of being unable to support older web browsers. For example, web sockets are only supported in Internet Explorer 10 and later. Most of our development work has been done using Google Chrome which should provide the most consistent and best user experience. If you find things that do not work or behave properly in a specific browser or do not update the data properly, please feel free to file a report with Axia support so that we can investigate the issue. We are always striving to improve the user experience across all browsers.

If data does not seem to display properly or if data is missing, refreshing the webpage is sometimes helpful. Many browsers also have a key combination that will force a refresh from the serving device rather than relying on cached data; for instance, holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys while clicking the refresh button in Google Chrome.

Navigation Bar

All links necessary to configure, control, and monitor your Pathfinder Core PRO system are on the left-hand side of the Pathfinder Core PRO web pages. This will be referred to throughout the manual as the Navigation Bar.

While the links on this bar are presented alphabetically for ease of use, this manual will skip from link to link as we go through a logical progression of using the system.

Network Connection Icon

The right corner of each web page displays a network connection icon. In normal situations it should look like:

This icon tells you whether the underlying web socket used to obtain and set information from the web page to and from Pathfinder Core PRO is open and communicating properly. If it is not, the icon will look like this, indicating a communication problem between your browser and Pathfinder Core PRO:

Check network connectivity between your browser and Pathfinder Core PRO and verify Pathfinder Core PRO is booted and functioning properly. An additional symptom of this problem may be that configurations look as if they were blank. Before panicking and assuming that your Pathfinder Core PRO has somehow been wiped of its settings, check to see if the network icon is in an unconnected state.

Lists: Searching and Sorting

Many of the configuration pages in Pathfinder Core PRO need to present lists of data. For example:

There are a few conventions that apply whenever you see a list like this in Pathfinder Core PRO. The first is the Search box in the right corner.

Typing in the search box will dynamically filter the list. These filters are also often stored by the browser, so if you return to a page and do not see the expected data in the list, check the search field to see if you have a filter on the list.

Next, notice that each column header has arrows next to the header names. Clicking on the header will sort the list according to the data in that column. The column that only has the single arrow represents the current sort column. Clicking on that column a second time will flip the arrow to the other direction and flip the sort from incrementing to decrementing and back again.

Many of the lists will have the hyphen sign in the last column of the list. Clicking this Delete icon removes the selected list item from the system.

Many of the lists will also have a plus sign at the bottom of the list. This sign indicates that items may be added to the list. Clicking the Add icon will usually open another dialog box with specifics for adding the new item.

When lists expand beyond what can be viewed on a single page, page navigation buttons will appear:

Event System Catch 22

Pathfinder Core PRO includes an event system called Logic Flows. Because Logic Flows can reach into almost every part of the system, they present a bit of a Catch 22 when it comes to introducing certain subjects in a manual.

There are certain subjects - such as Memory Slots - that are primarily useful in the context of Logic Flows, so you have to understand Logic Flows in order to make the best use of Memory Slots. However, the examples and discussions within the Logic Flow section of this manual also will refer to Memory Slots in order to present some of its examples.

Wherever possible, we have attempt to note this and refer to the relevant sections of this manual. However, as a reader, be prepared to skip around if necessary. If the manual is read from front to back, there may be points where we refer to subjects covered in a later section.

The Devices link in the navigation bar displays a list of all devices discovered by Pathfinder Core PRO.

Each device entry in the list includes the following options:

Manually Adding Devices

Some devices cannot be discovered automatically. These include Axia OLED and LCD rackmount button panels. Additionally, you may want to add a device into the system without enabling the full network discovery engine. To add these into the system, click the Add button on the Devices dialog.

A dialog box will appear that allows you to define a range of IP addresses to scan and the investigation method to use.

Virtual GPIO Node

Pathfinder Core PRO includes a virtual GPIO node which may be accessed by browsing to the GPIO navigation bar link under the System items.

This virtual node behaves very much like the GPIO portion of an Axia Livewire driver except that the number of ports is dynamically adjustable and includes a few additional features as described below.

When you first open the GPIO link it will recognize that the internal GPIO node has not been added to the devices table and will ask if you would like to add it. The node may only be used and/or configured after it has been added to the device list.

Click OK to discover and add the internal GPIO node into the device list. This will also discover the GPIO points into the GPIO router as well.

GPIO Refresher

It is important to understand the various ways GPIOs may be used in an Axia environment.

• Software GPIOs with no source address assignment will simply allow closures to be directly tripped on either GPI or GPO by Pathfinder Core PRO

  • Example: SRCA:””

• If a source address field for a GPIO port uses a Livewire channel number in its address field, it will listen to and generate closures to and from an Axia Console over multicast

  • Example: SRCA:9501

• Finally, if the source address uses an IPAddress/port format it means that the GPIO port should use TCP to connect to the device at that IP Address, monitor the GPIs from the selected port on that device, and mirror those closures on this port’s GPOs; this is the method used by the PathfinderCore PRO GPIO router to route GPIO data across a network

  • Example: SRCA:”172.16.1.23/8”

Pathfinder Core PRO GPIO Properties

By default, Pathfinder Core PRO’s GPIO node works in the same way as described above; clicking Edit in the GPIO table allows advanced users to manipulate advanced properties

Pathfinder Core PRO’s event system is called Logic Flows, and it enables information visualization so that you can see how things work within your system.

Click the Logic Flows link in the navigation bar to open the Logic Flows user interface.

Each Logic Flow can be thought of as an event. More specifically, a Logic Flow is a set of property translations. During an event, we convert an input property value to an output property value.

There are four components that may be used to design a Logic Flow:

Using these tools, you can visually build Logic Flows to accomplish just about any task you want.

Organizing Logic Flows with Views

When you first look at the Logic Flows screen you will see an organizational panel on the right called Views. Think of Views as folders in your computer’s file system - organizational containers into which you can place Flows, allowing you to keep all Flows related to a certain subject in the same place.

Creating a New View

To create a new View:

1. Check an existing View (this will become the parent View).

2. Click the Add (plus) button in the Views panel.

1. Type a Name for the new View and click OK.

Like your computer folder structure, you can nest Views as deep as you like. While you can add Flows to the master LogicFlows View (your “Root” folder), this is not recommended as LogicFlows is the one View that you cannot completely delete. Instead, devise a View naming strategy and create additional Views underneath LogicFlows to store your Flows.

There are two special Views called HardwareMaps and _panels. These Views are created by the system and used to manage the mapping of software buttons to hardware controls and bindings in HTML5 user panels. This is described in the chapter on HTML5 panels, but it is important to understand that these Views are managed by the system and should not be deleted.

Manipulating Existing Views

With a View selected:

It is assumed that after completing a copy and paste you will want to modify the Start and End Points of the Flow to reproduce behavior using different End Points.

View, copy, and paste operations are completed by the Pathfinder Core PRO appliance rather than by the browser and so they do not require an Apply.

Under the hood, the browser sets a write-only CopyTo property on the copied View folder object via a SapV2 Set message. The value used in the set message is the path to which the View should be copied. The Pathfinder Core PRO Logic Flow engine then handles the data cloning.

Deleting a View

To delete a View:

• Select the View

• Click the X button in the Views panel

• The system will ask for confirmation; all Logic Flows and descendent Views of the View selected for deletion will be deleted as well

Toolbar Controls

From left to right, the Toolbar controls are:

Toolbar controls will be enabled or disabled depending on whether the control is currently valid. For example, the Cut icon will not be enabled if you do not have a Flow selected that can be cut.

First Flow

Understanding how these tools are used will be easier if we walk through creating a Flow.

Create a New View

1. Click the Logic Flows checkbox then click the Plus icon in the Views panel

• Type a name for the new View and click OK

• You can select "multiple Views" to view the Flows from multiple Views together on the same screen; in order to create new Flows, you must select a single View since the system has to know into which View to place the new Flow; click the newly created View’s checkbox to select the new View; click the root Logic Flows View to uncheck its checkbox so only your new View is selected

• Once a single View is selected, the Add button (plus) in the main control panel for Logic Flows will switch from its disabled grey state to green; click the Add button to create a new Flow consisting of a Start Point, a Translator, and an End Point

All Flows must have at least one Start Point, one Translator, and one End Point, which is the simplest Flow you can creat. However, we have not yet set parameters to define what this Flow will do. You can define the options for each block in this Flow by double-clicking on the block, though double-clicking on the Translator itself will not do anything until the Start Point and End Point are defined. The reason for this will be explained shortly.

Double-click on the Start Point block; its background will turn orange on the first click to indicate that it is selected.

The second click opens the property selector dialog. This dialog is used to select a property in the system that the new Flow will monitor for changes.

Use the arrows to expand and navigate into the objects in the system until you find the object and property you want to select. Properties will have a green dot next to them as opposed to the expansion arrow.

You can either click the property you want to monitor and then click Select, or just double-click the property to select it.

In this example, we are selecting the PinState property of GPI#1, Pin#1 on the Fusion device at 192.168.2.62. Notice that as you select properties in this dialog, a description of the property will usually appear underneath the tree window providing more detail about the property’s purpose.

• Double-click on the End Point block and repeat the procedure to select the End Point or property we want this Flow to change; in this example, we are going to pick an LCD button, but you could also pick a GPO in order to make the GPO state follow the GPI state

At this point, the Flow looks something like:

• With configured Start and End Points, you can edit the translation table by double-clicking the ListTranslator block

The dialog that opens allows you to enter a list of translations you want to execute as part of this Logic Flow. The other buttons on the translation list screen can be used to move translation definitions up and down in the list, insert new ones, and remove them.

• Select the top translation point (*=*) to enable the drop-down boxes below; the left drop-down has Low and High as options, and the right drop-down has a list of indicator states; for this example, select Low in the left drop-down and On in the right drop-down

• Click Add to add another translation to the list

• For this example, select High in the left drop-down and Off in the right drop-down

You cannot edit the translation block until the Start and End Point properties are configured because the system will filter the list of possible options depending on the property selected. For example, in this case, Low and High were available options on the left, and indicator states were available on the right. If the Start Point had been the CurrentSource property of a destination, the right drop-down would present a list of available router sources.

• Your Flow should now look something like this:

What we have just defined is that if the Start Point (GPI) is Low, then we are going to set the LCD Button indicator on the button to On. If the GPI is High, then we are going to set the LCD button indicator to Off. We are essentially defining a list of rules as to what the End Point value should be depending on the Start Point property value.

When creating translation items, the asterisk serves as a special wildcard that will be evaluated as “any” value. For example, we could have made the second entry in this translation list *=OFF.

Since the list is analyzed in order, this would mean that if the GPI is Low, then the indicator should be turned On. If the GPI is anything else other than Low, then the indicator should be turned OFF. In this case, using * or explicitly defining the High are equivalent because the GPI only has two possible states.

Where the * comes in useful is in situations where there are multiple options on the Start Point side. For example, if the Start Point was the current source routed to a destination, we could build the translation such that if a specific source is selected the indicator would be On, and then use the * to say if there is any other source routed, turn it Off.

Order is important. If you were to move *=Off to the top of the list, the indicator would always be Off because the first item in the list says if anything, then Off, and the system would never analyze any of the other items in the list.

Generally, a * should almost always appear at the end of a list of translations as a catchall. If there is a * on the right-hand side of the translation it means to pass the value from the left on unchanged. So *=* would pass anything from the Start Point to the End Point (or next step in the Flow) unchanged.

For those of you familiar with programming languages, this list works very much like a select case or switch statement. When the Start Point property changes, the value is analyzed in order through this list until a match is found and then the correct value is applied to the End Point or next step in the Flow. If no match is found, the End Point is not changed.

• Once you are finished, click Done. The Flow will now look something like this:

• This Flow is not active yet, and the black and gray states are showing us that this Flow has not been committed to Pathfinder Core PRO; in the top toolbar, the flashing Apply button indicates changes are pending; click Apply to commit the changes to Pathfinder Core PRO

The Flow will now change colors to indicate that it is a live and active Flow:

Dynamic Data

The Flow diagram does not simply show the design of the Logic Flows in your system. It also shows the live up-to-the-second state of each of the Flows. Using the Flow example created above, if we trip the source GPI to Low, we will see the diagram change to:

And if we switch it to High, it will change to:

Within the top of the translation box, we see the currently active translation state in text and a color change depending on that state. These dynamic changes indicating the state of the Flow makes for much easier monitoring and troubleshooting.

Adding Combiners

Translation points are one-to-one only. In other words, we are translating one value from a property to another value on another property. Combiners, on the other hand, allow us to pass values to multiple End Points and make logical decisions based on more than one Start Point.

• To add a Combiner, click a Translator in an existing Flow to enable the Combiner tool in the toolbar; click the tool to insert a Combiner into the Flow

Using the Flow we created in the example above, it will look like this:

Combiners can perform many useful functions, but each Combiner type both require a minimum number of inputs and are limited to a maximum number of inputs.

As you attempt to change Combiner types, you will only see options that meet these restrictions. For example, with the single input in our sample Logic Flow, we are restricted to NOT, PASSTHRU, and DELAY Combiner types:

• We can access the other Combiner types by adding the requisite number of inputs by clicking on the Combiner to select it; notice that both the Start Point and End Point tools then become available

• Click on the Start Point tool to add a second input to our Flow

By adding a second input, you will notice the Combiner switches to AND.

With two inputs, we can perform other Combiner operations, including: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR, EQUALITY, and RELAY.

In this case, since the default AND Combiner is a logic gate, the translation types entering and exiting the Combiner are automatically switched to True/False. By assigning a second GPI pin to the second Start Point…

…we can change this event so that two buttons must be held simultaneously for the End Point change to happen. This Flow will light the indicator light on the button only if both GPI 1 and 2 are Low.

• As it is, this Flow is not very useful, but if we were to change the End Point to be a route destination, it becomes more interesting; to do so, double-click on the End Point and instead of a GPIO, expand the Routers section and select the CurrentSourcePath property of one of the router destinations

Your Flow should now look something like this:

• Edit the translation which is after the Combiner and change the translation so that True= one of the sources in the right-hand drop-down of the translation dialog; remove the False translation as we do not want to do anything if the buttons are released, and you end up with:

This essentially means a user must hold two GPIO buttons down simultaneously and then source SRC 4 will be routed to destination DST 2. This is a common scenario where we don’t want an accidentally bumped button to change the air chain routing.

Logical Combiners

Logical Combiners include AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR, and NOT. All of these except NOT accept multiple inputs which must be translated to True or False on the input side. NOT only accepts a single input. In each case, the translation that feeds the input of these Combiners should be converted to a True or False like we did in the example above.

The output of the Translator then becomes either True or False based on the truth table associated with the logical type selected.

PASSTHRU

The PASSTHRU Combiner allows only one input but can pass the value from the Start Point translation to as many output Translators as you like, allowing you to change multiple output properties based on a single input property.

RELAY

The RELAY Combiner allows you to define one Start Point property that will translate to a True or False. If it evaluates to True, the value from the second Start Point is passed through the Combiner to any translations on the output of the Combiner.

The diagram within the combination displays which Start Point translation is acting as the trigger and which is acting as the PASSTHRU:

This will achieve the same functionality as our previous example but in a different way. GPI 1 must be Low in order for changes taking place on GPI 2 to pass thru. If it is Low then changes from GPI 2 will be passed to the output translation which converts the Low to a route change.

EQUALITY

The EQUALITY Combiner takes multiple inputs and will result in an output value of True or False depending on whether all input values match.

The EQUALITY Combiner also has a Case Insensitive checkbox which defines whether comparisons are done in a case sensitive or insensitive way:

This Combiner can be used in situations where the primary concern is whether the property states are equivalent or not.

DELAY

The DELAY Combiner takes a single input and introduces delay directly into the Logic Flow. It works like a PASSTHRU Combiner in that it takes the input value and passes it through to the output but only after a configured number of milliseconds. There are also some additional parameters that can affect how this Combiner functions:

DELAY Combiners can be used in many situations where you need to introduce some delay into a Logic Flow. Previously this required using an interval timer. Therefore, there will be many situations where an interval timer is no longer necessary to accomplish the task as the delay can be built directly into the Flow. This also reduces licensing requirements as the DELAY Combiner does not require an intermediary timer End Point.

Interval timers are still useful in situations where a single delay needs to be stopped, started, reset, or manipulated by different Flows.

DELAY/EQUALITY Flow Example

In this example, the EQUALITY Combiner outputs True or False depending on whether two silence alarms are in the same state. This can be useful if two audio channels should have the same audio. Silence is expected in certain situations, but we are trying to make sure that if audio is present on one, it is present on both and if it is silent on one then it is silent on both. True or False is translated into a message of AudioMatches or AudioDiffers. A delay is introduced to expunge short variations of alarm states and only pass on definitive states. This is one example of how the DELAY and EQUALITY Combiners might be used.

DELAY Momentary Example

In many cases you may want the DELAY to pass a value through after the delay but then reset the output for the next change. For example, if we want a Flow that requires a user to hold a button down for a length of time before making a change, the Flow might look something like:

Our goal with this Flow is the following:

• If the button is pressed, start a 5 second timer

• If the button is released cancel the timer

• If the button is held for 5 seconds make the route change

The DELAY Combiner has an input value and an output value. Changes only get passed to the output Translator when the Combiner’s output value changes. And the delay is only analyzed for countdown when the Combiner’s input value changes. For this example, we would set the DELAY Combiner parameters as follows:

• The timer starts counting

• If the user releases the button before the timer elapses, the input value of the Combiner gets set to False. Since this matches the cancel value, the delay timer stops counting

• A route change is made

• Since the Clear Value and Clear Output after countdown completes options are set, the output value of the Combiner is then set to False again so it is ready for the next button press

• When the user releases the button, the Combiner input is set to False but since that is the Cancel field no change to the Combiner output is made

Without the Clear Value and Clear Output after countdown completes options, the output of the Combiner would remain True and so the next press would not change the output and therefore would not trigger another route.

If we cleared the Cancel value and did not use the Clear options, releasing the button would pass False to the output but 5 seconds after the button was released. It is important to note that a Cancel value if set will cancel the countdown, but the Cancel value does not get passed through.

These parameters will allow you to produce differing effects using the DELAY Combiner depending on the required goal.

Going Crazy

By adding Combiners and Translators you can make any individual Flow as deep as you need it to be.

This example is not created to do anything specific; it is just shown to illustrate that you can theoretically continue to add Translators and Combiners as needed to get the logical job done. Translators and Combiners must alternate. You cannot have a Combiner next to a Combiner or a Translator next to a Translator, but the user interface helps with that by only enabling the controls you can use depending on which logic block you currently have selected.

EAS Example

Another relevant example is EAS. This is a pretty common EAS Flow that we see customers make:

Without enabling this option, a restart of the system will request the current GPI state which is High and will therefore toggle the Previous route. In many cases this will route “nothing” to the air chain because no previous state exists yet.

However, even with that option enabled this Flow may produce unforeseen results. For example, what happens if the GPI goes Low and someone manually changes the route before it goes High again? At that point EAS is now the previous source when it does go High. This can be solved by using a slightly more complex Flow and Previous:

In this example, a route to Previous will only happen if the GPI is High and we are currently on the EAS source. This will function in a much more reliable manner.

While these examples have been EAS related the same rules apply to other uses of previous. More importantly, if you can avoid the use of Previous and design the Flows to be more specific, the outcome will also be more reliably specific.

Extending Flows

If you select the End Point of a Flow, you will notice that the right Translator control in the control panel is available and not disabled. This is what is referred to as "extending a Flow". You can create a second Flow whose Start Point is the same as the End Point of the previous Flow.

If we go back to this example Flow:

Click on the End Point and then click the End Point control in the tool bar.

Our Flow now looks something like this:

In this case, the second Flow is joined to the first Flow because the Start and End properties are the same. Likewise, if we had added a second Flow using the + button and then set the Start Point to the DST 2 destination’s CurrentSourcePath, after we applied the change, the system would detect that the Flows should be joined and join them.

In this example we could now set the indicator of a button at the End Point of the second Flow:

What we have designed is a Flow where if you hold GPI buttons 1 and 2 down, PC4 source will be routed to PC4 destination. And if PC 4 source is routed to PC4 destination then LCD button 1’s indicator will be turned on. If anything else is routed to that destination then the Indicator will be off.

The system is intelligent enough to recognize when Flows should be joined into a single logical entity.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Cut, Copy, and Paste are standard tools and require little explanation. You can select a Flow by clicking in the area surrounding a Flow at which point the cut and copy icons become available. "Cut" will remove the Flow from the View and place it on the clipboard while "copy" will just make a copy of it on the clipboard. Once a Flow exists on the clipboard it can be pasted back into the current View or any other View.

The system does make some assumptions regarding pasting. If you copy a Flow and paste it back into the same View, the system assumes you are trying to duplicate the functionality with a new set of End Points. It will clear the outer Start and End Points of the pasted Flow so you can select new ones.

It is important to reiterate that none of the changes involved in a cut/copy/paste operation ever become a reality on the system until you click the Apply button, and that clicking the Cancel button will return to the last known applied state.

Flow Titling

Each Flow can be assigned a title. If you double-click in the whitespace surrounding a Flow, the system will ask you for a title for the Flow. Click Apply to apply the title. Flows that have titles will display the titling text underneath the Flow.

Titling is a very important habit to form as it makes it much easier to glance at a Logic Flow View and understand the states of the Flows and which Flows are performing which functions. Additionally, it is useful as an organizational tool as Flows with titles will be displayed alphabetically within the View. Otherwise the Flow order within the View is somewhat arbitrary.

Disabling/Enabling

Translators, Combiners, and entire Flows may be enabled or disabled. Select the Translator, Combiner, or entire Flow (by clicking in the whitespace within the Flow), and then use the disable/enable button on the control panel.

This change is the only one that takes place immediately within Pathfinder Core PRO Logic Flows without the need to click Apply. The object will become greyed out and that particular object will no longer function, stopping the Logic Flow at that point. For example:

If you trigger the GPIs, their states will change within the attached Translators, but the End Point in the first half of the Flow will not change because the Combiner is disabled. This is a useful tool if you are testing logic up to a point but do not want the End Point (which might be an air chain change) to change. It is also useful if you want to temporarily disable a Flow during testing or troubleshooting.

Cluster Disabling

If your system is clustered and you are Viewing Logic Flows on the secondary system, you may see a lighter gray form of disabling:

Also with clustering the upper right corner will show an Event System state:

In this case you are being shown that the final output will not actually execute on this server because the other server is currently in control of the event system. On that server, you will see:

And in the right corner:

The Event System True or False will be hidden on systems that are not in a cluster because in that case the Logic Flow End Points will not be disabled by the clustering system.

Object Translators

You may notice when editing the Start or End Point of a Flow that if you select an object in the property selection tree (arrow icon) instead of a property (green dot icon), you will get a warning message that looks like:

Object translations are a slightly more advanced subject and should be used with caution (hence the warning), but they can also be extremely powerful. Object translations will most likely be used in situations where you want to mirror several different property states across a couple of objects. We could create a Translator Logic Flow where the Start Point is a VMIX sub mixer on Engine 1 and the End Point is a different VMIX sub mixer on a different engine:

This Translator looks slightly different in that the Start and End Points only have two pieces of information rather than the usual three.

If we do not alter the translation pattern from the default *=*, every change to every property of every sub-object under the sub mixer 1 will get mirrored to the equivalent object and property under sub mixer 2. For example, if sub mixer 1, channel 1 gets turned On, then sub mixer 2, channel 1 would also be turned On. If sub mixer 1, channel 3 has its TimeDown property changed, then sub mixer 2, channel 3 will also get its TimeDown property changed. This allows us to mirror an object’s settings.

When you edit the translation list and select an object translation, there are additional drop‑downs that allow us to specify the object’s properties as well as its values. For example, we could change the translation pattern from *=* to:

In this case, we are specifying that we only want this translation to operate on State properties. If sub mixer 1, channel 4’s State property gets turned on, so would sub mixer 2, channel 4’s state property. Other properties would not be affected.

Or, we could apply values such as:

This allows us to invert the states on the second sub mixer. Now when sub mixer 1, channel 5’s State property gets turned on, sub mixer 2 channel 5’s State property gets turned off and vice versa.

Another useful way to use Object Translators is when you want to set multiple properties on an object. For example:

In this case the Start Point is a normal property but the End Point is an object selection. If we click on the translation properties we can make the configuration look like this:

In this case, we are setting two different properties on the button each time the GPIO pin state changes High or Low. This can simplify the Flows and greatly reduce the licensing counts used when there are many button states that need to be set.

Object translation is extremely powerful in situations where you want to match multiple properties across two similar objects or multiple properties on a single object.

Latching

It is common to need a button to latch, where each press of the button will toggle something back and forth. Using the kind of logic shown above to accomplish this can get complicated because the state becomes a condition which is also an action. For example, many novice Pathfinder Core PRO users may try to create a Flow that looks like this:

The goal of this Flow is that each time a GPI goes Low, the user wants to toggle the on state of the fader back and forth between on and off.

The user has tried to create a Flow where if the GPI is Low and the button is on, it turns off, and if the GPI is Low and the button is off, then it turns on. The problem is that this creates a loop that lasts as long as the GPI is Low.

Setting the GPI to Low changes the state of the console channel which in turn causes the second half of the Flow to change it again and so on until the GPI is returned to High. This leads to interesting and convoluted loops resulting from trying to solve what on the surface appears to be a simple problem. To avoid this scenario, we have crafted two much simpler approaches to latching in Pathfinder Core PRO.

Swap

Many of the properties that have two states (On/Off, Low/High, etc.) also have a value that you can set called Swap. For example:

In this case, each time the button is pressed, the button state will be swapped (On to Off or Off to On).

If a Swap value is available, it is always preferable to other options.

Latching Memory Slot

To achieve similar behaviors for properties that do not have the Swap value, you can use the Latching Memory Slot. While basic memory slots can be created using the Logic Flows property tree as a shortcut, there are additional types that can only be created from the memory slots page as outlined in the Memory Slots chapter.

To create latching functionality, go to the memory slots link in the Navigation Bar and add a new memory slot using the plus icon. In the resulting dialog, switch the memory slot type to “Latching Memory Slot”. Provide a name for the slot and click Apply to create the slot.

The Latching memory slot can only have a value of True or False. For example, in Logic Flows we could now add a Flow such that whenever a button is pressed on the console, the Translator sets the trigger property to True:

It also has a property called "Trigger" which is write-only and cannot be read. Whenever you apply a True value to it, it automatically switches the SlotValue property of the memory slot from True or False to the opposite state. This simple Logic Flow will cause the latching memory slot to switch its value back and forth every time button 10 is pressed.

Next, we can create a second Logic Flow that defines what we want to happen depending on whether the Latching memory slot is True or False. For example:

Now the button will cause the latching memory slot to switch back and forth between True and False. If the slot’s value is True source sa_server_05, it will be routed to Destination sa_server_04. If the slot value is False, then whatever the previous source contains will be routed back to Destination sa_server_04.

Swap over Latching Memory Slot

It is important to reiterate that Swap is preferable where it is available. For example:

In this case, the Trigger property causes the latching memory slot to Swap between True and False each time the GPI goes Low, and then that True or False is translated to the on/off state of the fader. Engaging the GPIO repeatedly will cause the fader to turn on and off. The problem with this Flow is that the fader can also be turned on and off with the actual console button which causes the latching memory slot to get out of sync with the fader state. This could be solved with a third Flow if we allowed you to force the state of the memory slot each time the fader state changed, but this requires numerous Flows and the creation of a memory slot for every instance of this functionality. This approach feels too complicated to accomplish what should be a simple task.

The Swap value makes this much simpler and is all that is needed to solve this problem:

Each time the GPI goes Low, a value of Swap is sent to the fader. The device manager picks up this request, checks to see whether the fader is currently on or off, and sends the opposite state as a command to the equipment. The problem with the earlier Flows is that the Flow logic had to encapsulate all viable options of the existing state and specifically request what state to move to accordingly. The Swap property removes that complexity from the Flow logic and allows the system to handle it for you.

It is important to note that the Swap value is an action and so will only appear in the translation options for an End Point. It has no meaning for a Start Point because placed there, there it is not an actual state accordingly will not appear in the options on a Start Point. The user interface will present the option only where it is available. For example:

Device-Specific Parameters

Infinity Product Support

Detected devices identified as Infinity products have a SendToRestAPI property which can be used by Logic Flows to address the Infinity Rest API. The format of the commands addressed to this property should be as follows:

Operator Path Value

For example:

PUT /api/s/main/audio/speakerMute True

Note that Gets have not yet been implemented as we do not want to encourage polling logic. It is also important to know whether or not the value being sent needs to be wrapped in quotes.

Contact Telos support for details on properties that may be manipulated using the Infinity Rest API.

Z/Ip One Control Points

Dialing and status items are exposed in the Logic Flows simple tree under the Z/Ip One branch.

Selecting Start Points

When viewing a Start Point there are several options:

It is important to understand the difference between Call#0 > State and ConnectionState. Call#0 > State lists all possible connection statuses including multiple options for Idle and options for how the connection was established. ConnectionState offers only Idle, Connecting, and Connected options making it suitable for situations where logic needs to be fired based on the connection being active or disconnected.

The ConnectedTo property will contain the phone book entry matching the one selected in the Call Connect property allowing you to display the current call connection phonebook entry name.

Selecting End Points

When selecting an End Point in the Simple tree, the Z/Ip One branch includes several properties for any Z/Ip One in the system:

Connect and Drop can be used to establish and drop connections. After selecting the Connect property as a Logic Flow End Point, the translation list will display the list of entries in the Z/Ip One phone book. Currently, only phone book entries may be used for dialing:

There is also a special phonebook entry that only lives in Pathfinder Core PRO called None which, when dialed, will behave the same as the Drop item.

For example:

This Flow will dial the Z/Ip One every time Fader 1 is turned on and drop the call every time it is turned off.

Zephyr iPort Control Points

The iPort branch in the simple tree exposes the Encoder and Decoder Enable and Disable options. We have limited those options to the simple tree as most other properties related to the iPort MPEG side of the configuration are considered advanced and are not normally dynamically adjusted.

Most of the other settings found on the Configuration pages of the iPort are available via the API.

Advanced Options

Endpoints and the API Property List

When editing a Start Point or End Point, the property selection dialog has two modes: Simple and API.

The simple tree is what most users should use. It is designed to present the most commonly used objects and properties organized for quick access. Occasionally there may be a job that requires reaching beyond the normal options, and selecting the API tree will present a much wider array of objects and properties.

Pathfinder Core PRO has an advanced protocol called SapV2 which extends beyond most typical protocols and reaches the level of an API (application programming interface). It allows virtually complete control over the system. This API is the protocol used for all internal messaging between system services. If you want to learn more about this API, see the SapV2 appendix.

For this API to do its job successfully, almost every property and object must be available. The API section of the property selection dialog exposes the object and property tree available via that API.

Translator

To configure advanced options on a Translator, click the Advanced link on the Translator Properties window.

Translator Skip Startup State

In the expanded Translator dialog is the Advanced Skip startup state request and wait for next change option:

By default, when the system starts (or when a Flow is applied to the system) the Flow asks for the current state of the Start Point and then applies the correct result to the End Point. In most cases this is desirable, but not always. For example, what if the Logic Flow in question was a latching GPIO on the Start Point and an automation system that gets tripped on the End Point?

If we needed to restart Pathfinder during that event, we would not want the automation system to be tripped again. Checking the Skip startup state request and wait for next change option overrides the default behavior and forces the system to wait for the next change that would cause the Flow to execute.

Another highly relevant example for where the Skip Startup State option becomes important is with the commonly-used EAS example shown earlier in this section.

Recursion Detection

If the Logic Flow system detects a given Translator being activated more than 20 times in 1000 milliseconds, it will assume there is recursion involved and the Translator will be disabled to prevent excess CPU load. In some situations, this can create a False positive. For example:

In this Flow, the same memory slot is used for multiple entry points to a Flow, so a change to that memory slot could cause multiple pass-throughs of some Translators. If this Flow were to grow to a much larger variation with many more entry points of the same memory slot, it is possible to trip the recursion detection incorrectly.

Recursion detection threshold settings are modified in the expanded Translator dialog.

This value includes two parts separated by a forward slash. The first value indicates the analysis frequency; the second indicates the analysis duration in milliseconds. For example, typing 50/1000 will disable the Translator if it is being analyzed more than 50 times per 1000 milliseconds.

Additionally, there is an API property that that can change the default recursion settings for all new Translators:

Set LogicFlows#0 DefaultRecursionSettings="50/1000"

This setting should be modified with extreme care as it will also update any existing Translators that are currently at the default settings. This can be CPU intensive and require a significant amount of writing to disk. Please make a backup before changing this value.

Combining the * Wildcard with Other Values

It is common to have a conversion list item in a translator of:

*=*

However, the * on the ToValue side does not need to be by itself. For example, you could have:

*=Hello I am *

In this case, the input value would replace the * in the output value. If the input value is Dan, the ToValue example above would output the string:

Hello I am Dan

This can provide similar functionality natively in the Flow translation as string builder memory slots.

* cannot be used in the middle of data on the "from" side. Use regular expressions for complex matching if needed.

Advanced Conversion Field

The Advanced Conversion field, available in the expanded Translator dialog, allows users to bypass some of the helper dialogs and enter conversion statements directly.

While bypassing the helper dialogs can be useful in certain unique scenarios, those dialogs present information that is helpful when selecting a property but may or may not be the underlying value needed in the conversion. For example, when using the CurrentSourcePath property, the conversion list and normal drop-down list will show you the friendly name of the source. However, the actual conversion list item needs the uri based pathio which looks something like:

"tcp://172.16.1.53:93?l=SRC&d=src&i=6&t=aaudio"

If you are uncertain about the value requirement, create an example of what you are trying to do using the normal conversion list selection methods and then select it in the Advanced field to see the actual values that need to be applied. If you have questions, contact support.

Conversion text syntax is:

<FromValue>=<ToValue>

For example:

l=True

If the From or True value needs to include a literal equals sign, then enclose the value in quotes. The From value will be abc=frz in this example:

"abc=frs"=True

If <NoChange> is applied to the ToValue portion of a translation, the output of the translator will not be changed. For example:

AAA=True

BBB=<NoChange>

*=False

In this case, an input FromValue of AAA will result in True, BBB will not cause anything to change on the output of the translator, and any other FromValue will result in False.

In many cases, a <NoChange> is not required because you can just opt not to supply the input which will result in nothing happening when that input occurs. But in a situation where you are using the * wildcard as a catchall but want to explicitly exclude a value from making a change, this can be used.

Translation Regular Expressions

Regular expressions as described in the Watchers and Regular Expressions section in the Device Emulators chapter can also be used in the FromValue portion of a conversion list item. Regular expressions are added to the Advanced Conversion field as follows:

In this example, we are using the IsMatch property. Fader_Gain values that are not negative will result in a button turning On; otherwise, the button indicator will be Off. Because Fader_Gain generates significant data as it slides, we have also increased the recursion detection value to prevent this Flow from getting disabled.

Combiner Raise Output Property

Over the course of the examples above, you may have noticed an additional property in Combiners that we have not discussed yet called Raise Output.

The values for this property are Raise Output on Set and Raise Output on Change. The effects of this property are subtle but are important to understand:

In this Flow, if both pin 1 and pin 2 are Low, then pin 4 will be set Low. If either pin 1 or pin 2 is High, pin 4 will be set High. If the Combiner is set to Raise Output on Set, then any time either pin 1 or pin 2 is changed a message will be sent to set pin 4 to the corresponding value. So, if we assume pin 4 is currently High or Low and we set pin 1 to Low when pin 2 is still High, a message will get sent to pin 4 to go High.

However, if the setting is set to Raise Output on Change, no message will be sent to pin 4. When both pin 1 and 2 were High the resulting output of the And Combiner is False. When pin 1 goes Low, the resulting output of the And Combiner is still False. Its output value has not changed and so no message is sent.

The difference is subtle, but essentially with “Raise Output on Set”, a change message will be sent to the End Point any time the input of the Combiner changes even if it evaluates to the same output the Combiner was at before, whereas with “Raise Output on Change”, a change message will only be sent when the Combiner’s output changes.

Let’s look at another example of when Raise Output on Change could be useful:

In this example, GPIO pin state 4 appears at each pair of And Combiners on the left-hand side of the Flow. The buttons are button 1 of three different LCD panels. If all the Combiners in this Flow are set to Raise Output on Set, then the resulting End Point may get set 3 times when GPIO pin 4 changes. This is because a change to the pin would get fully passed through the Flow for each instance where it appears as a Start Point. However, if the left And Combiners are all set to Raise on Change, then the output will only get set for Combiners where the pin state change actually causes a different state on the output of the Combiner. This can greatly reduce load and improve performance in large and complex systems.

It is also important to note that this property is a new variable that must be stored in the backing storage. For backward compatibility with older software versions, Raise on Set will store the same way it historically has. However, any Flows that are changed to use Raise on Change will not be loadable by older software versions that do not support this property.

For advanced users, it is possible to change all of the Combiners to a particular setting using the port 9600 API. Each Logic Flow View has a write-only property called ChangeAllCombinerRaiseOutput. Using this property, all Combiners in a View and that View’s sub-Views can be set to the same value. This is useful for changing many Combiners at once but should be used with caution. It is recommended that a backup be taken before using this api command. For example:

set LogicFlows#0.LogicFlowFolder#yyy ChangeAllCombinerRaiseOutputSettings=RaiseOutputOnSet
set LogicFlows#0.LogicFlowFolder#yyy ChangeAllCombinerRaiseOutputSettings=RaiseOutputOnChange

See the API reference in Appendix 2 for details on how to use these commands.

Simple Tree Commonly Used Properties

Providing a list of every object and property in the system is beyond the scope of this documentation. One of the reasons we provide the description within the property selection dialog is to make the software self-documenting. However, it is useful to describe some of the more commonly used properties here if for no other reason than to generate ideas for how to use Flows within your environment. While this list is not inclusive, we encourage you to spend some time browsing the tree and examining the various available properties and their descriptions. And as always, our support staff stands ready to assist. Remember that due to the read/write nature of some of the properties, they may only appear and be available for use with a Start Point or an End Point.

• Audio Alarms

  • AlarmState: Once an audio alarm has been configured, this property exhibits the current state of the alarm; it can be Unknown, AudioPresent, AudioSilent, or Clipping; logical decisions can be made when this state changes

  • LvlState: When a silence alarm is configured, Pathfinder Core PRO requests updates whenever the threshold value is passed for more than 250ms; this property carries the current state regardless of the current alarm countdown

• Buttons

  • BackColorOn: Used to set the backcolor value when the button is on

  • BackColorOff: Used to set the backcolor value when the button is off

  • Ind: Used to set the indicator of the button on, off, or in a variety of flash states

  • Text: Used to set the Text value of a button

  • Key: This property will be UP or DOWN depending on whether the button is pressed or released

• Console

  • ShowProfId: The id of the show profile loaded on the console; this can also be used to change the currently loaded show profile

  • ShowProfName: The name of the show profile loaded on the console

  • Asg_PGM1-4: Used to set or determine whether a specific console fader is assigned to any of the 4 program busses

  • Asg_Prev: Used to set or determine whether a specific console fader is assigned to the preView buss

  • Fader_Gain: Used to change the gain of a fader

  • MUTE_State: Used to set or determine if the mute state on a fader is engaged

  • OFF_But: Whether the Off button on a fader is up or down.

  • ON_But: Whether the On button on a fader is up or down

  • ON_State: Used to set or determine if a console fader is on or off

  • src_lwch: Carries the Livewire channel number loaded to a fader

  • talkback: Used to engage or sense the engagement of the talkback button on a fader

  • tt_cr: Used to engage or sense the engagement of the talk to control room button

  • tt_st: Used to engage or sense the engagement of the talk to studio button

  • tt_prev: Used to engage or sense the engagement of the talk to preView button

  • IND: Used to change the indicator state of user definable buttons on the console

  • KEY: Used to sense the key state of certain user definable buttons on the console

• DeviceConnections

  • Connected: This property can be used to sense and react to connection problems with any of the Axia devices

  • Online: This property senses whether a device is responding to commands

• Email

  • Body: Used to change the body text of an email message

  • Subject: Used to change the subject of an email message

  • Send: Used to send a predefined email message

• Emulators

  • Triggered: Used to determine when a Generic emulator’s watcher detects a defined input value

  • ToSend: Used to send data out a generic emulator port

• Gpio

  • PinState: Used to change or sense changes on a GPIO pin

• Memory

  • SlotValue: Used to sense changes or change the value of a memory slot

  • Trigger: Used to change the value of a latching memory slot from True to False or False to True

• Routers

  • CurrentSourcePath: Used to sense or activate a route change on a specific destination

  • CurrentChannelNumber: Used to sense the Livewire channel number assigned to a destination. This property can also be used to make router changes using Livewire channel numbers for the source

  • CurrentSourceName: This property is updated with the name of the source that is currently routed to the selected destination

• Scenes

  • IsActive: This property will be either True or False depending on whether all states in the scene are currently active

  • : Setting this property to True will make Pathfinder Core PRO initiate all of the changes in a scene

• Startup

  • StartupFileProcessed: This property can be used to set up certain states after Pathfinder Core PRO has been restarted

• Time

  • Enabled: Used to enable or disable a timer. Logical decisions can also be made depending on whether a timer is enabled or disabled

  • Elapsed: Becomes True when a timer elapses

• VMIX

  • Gain: Used to sense or make changes to a VMIX fader’s gain setting

  • State: Used to turn VMIX channels on or off and sense the same state changes

  • TimeDown: Used to sense or make changes to the length of the fade-out when a VMIX fader is turned off

  • TimeUp: Used to sense or make changes to the length of the fade-in when a VMIX channel is turned on

  • Master_Gain: Used to sense or make changes to the master gain of a VMIX submixer

• VMODE

  • AUDIO_MODE: Used to sense changes to the audio mode state of a VMODE IO

  • IN_SELECT: Used to sense changes to the IN_SELECT state of a VMODE IO

Flows, Flows, and More Flows

While this chapter has reviewed the details of Logic Flows, many of the other chapters of this manual will touch more on their uses as we detail how the aspects of the system functions and therefore what capabilities may be used.

Pathfinder Core Pro's Memory Slots provide a named location for storing data that can be used in Logic Flows. You can create and view Memory Slots via this link. You can also monitor the slot’s changes in real-time and alter the value of a memory slot directly from this page.

Add a memory slot by clicking the plus icon on the bottom-right corner of the memory slot list.

Pathfinder Core PRO has six different types of Memory Slots. Each one has its own options and properties:

• Memory Slot: This is the traditional memory slot into which any kind of data may be stored

• Latching Memory: This memory slot can only have a value of True or False; its write-only property is called Trigger; using a Logic Flow end point, you can set the trigger property to true and the slot value will toggle from true to false, or from false to true; see the latching example in the Logic Flows section of this manual for more details

• Numeric Memory Slot: This memory slot only accepts numbers; its write-only properties are increment and decrement; use this in Logic Flows where you need to increment or decrement the value in the memory slot

• Sap Property Memory Slot: This slot allows you to assign any property in the system to this memory slot; when this property value changes, the slot is updated with that value; the ellipsis button can be used to select the property to be used with this slot; it will present a property selection dialog similar to that of the dialog in Logic Flow endpoint editing

• String Builder Memory Slot: This slot allows you to build a string based on values in other Memory Slots; the “IncludedSlots” field is used to enter a comma-delineated list of memory slot names to use in the builder; the pattern field is a text pattern with bracketed numbers used where slot values from the comma-delineated list should be inserted, for example:

In this case {0} will be replaced with the value of slot A and {1} will be replaced with the value of slot B. If Slot A’s value is "Fred" and Slot B’s value is "Telos Alliance", the value of this new memory slot called MyBuiltSlot would be: The Name is Fred and it is located at Telos Alliance. The value of this slot will update whenever Slot A or Slot B updates. This slot can be used to build text which is then used as labels on buttons or commands to generic emulators. When the included slot list contains slots that are Sap Property Memory Slots, this memory slot type can become even more powerful.

• Time Stamp Memory Slot: This slot can be used to grab time stamps, which can be useful in displaying the last time something happened in a user panel

When you first create a time stamp memory slot, you will probably not apply a value. The pattern field can also be left blank. It can be used to specify the format of the time stamp which we will describe in more detail below. After creating the timestamp memory slot, it can be used in Logic Flows by applying an endpoint to the SetTimeStamp write-only property of the memory slot. For example:

This Logic Flow will set the memory slot to the current date and time every time the specified GPIO pin goes low.

The format of the date time stamp can be changed using the pattern field. If you edit the memory slot again you will see that the default format has been assigned to the memory slot:

Startup State Drop-down

The startup state drop-down applies to each of the memory slot types above and requires some explanation. This option allows you to determine the value of the slot when the system first starts up and before any flows are executed. It can be blank, a fixed value as defined when you create the slot, or last known. It is important to understand the last known option will attempt to store the state in the database each time the memory slot state changes. This can be more CPU- and time-intensive because of the compact flash storage within the Pathfinder Core PRO. As a result, this option should not be used in situations where the existing state of Axia devices will reset the memory slot to the correct state via the flows as the flows start-up anyway.

Logic Flows can be used to send e-mails when conditions exist in your system that require attention. For example, it is common to send e-mails to the station’s engineers when silence is detected at a transmitter site.

To send e-mails, you must first configure the e‑mail host settings under the System navigation section. If you have not configured these settings, please review the Email Settings section of the System chapter.

Once the e-mail host has been configured and test e-mails can be sent successfully, click the Email Messages link in the Navigation bar. This is where you can create e-mail messages that can be sent when specific actions take place in the system.

Adding a New Email Message

• Click the plus icon to create a new email message

• Complete the fields on the Email Message Editor

• When all fields are complete, click Apply to save your changes

Using E-mail Messages in Logic Flows

Once created, e-mail messages become available for use in Logic Flows. In the following example, we will send the AudioFailure email message whenever MyAlarm’s AlarmState becomes Silent. We accomplish this by setting the write-only property Send to the value True.

You can also change the body of the e-mail message as a Logic Flow end point. This becomes especially useful if you have several conditions that could cause an e-mail alert. For example, we could create a generic e-mail message making sure that the AutoSend on body change checkbox is engaged. Then we could create multiple Logic Flows, each of which alters the body of the message depending on the start point. For example:

Here we use two Logic Flows to send four different messages to the same e-mail recipients.

• First Flow

  • If “AlarmA” is Silent -> Set the body of the “AudioFailure” message to be “My Alarm is Silent.”

  • If “AlarmA” has audio -> Set the body of the “AudioFailure” message to be “My Alarm is fine.”

• Second Flow

  • If “AlarmB” is Silent -> Set the body of the “AudioFailure” message to be “AirChain Silent.”

  • If “AlarmB” has audio -> Set the body of the “AudioFailure” message to be “AirChain OK.”

Since we engaged the option to send the e-mail each time the body property of the e-mail changes, this is all that we need to do to handle four alarm conditions using one defined e-mail message.

A Scene is nothing more than a list of property changes. A Scene does not have to be just a route change or even include a route change. You could create a Scene that sets memory slots to specific values or that includes memory slot changes, VMix changes, fader changes, and button state changes. Any property available in the system can be a part of a Scene.

To create a new Scene or view and edit an existing Scene, click the Scenes icon in the navigation bar to open the Scenes page:

Creating Scenes

Begin by clicking the Scenes link in the left navigation pane in the Pathfinder Core Control Center. On the Scenes page, click the plus icon to create a new Scene.

Type a Name for the new Scene. To add events to your Scene, click the plus icon.

On the Import Ios dialog, select the router from the Import From drop-down list to populate the Destinations list.

Select the destinations to import, using the SHIFT key to select multiple destinations. When all destinations have been selected, click Import.

After the import is complete, the Requested Value column in the Scene Editor will reflect the source that will be taken if that Scene item is executed. By default, it will be set to the current source routed to the destination. This can be changed by highlighting an item and clicking the RequestedSource link. This will open a list of sources present on the selected router so you can select an alternate source as the value for the route point in that Scene item.

Clicking the Destination link will allow you to select a different destination for the Scene item if you selected the wrong one and need to change it.

Clicking the minus icon will delete the item from the Scene.

Once all items for this Scene are set, click Apply to save the changes and return to the Scene list, at which point the Scene will be available for use.

Property Scene Items

In addition to Route Points, any property in the system can be a Scene item. After clicking the Add button to add a new Scene item to a Scene, you will also find an Endpoints button to switch the route destination dialog to a property selection dialog.

This is the same dialog used to select an endpoint in logic flows. In the example below, we are adding a program buss assignment property on a Fusion console to the Scene.

The Ios button will return to the route selection dialog.

The Select button will select the property and import it as a Scene item into the Scene. The system will remember whether the last item imported during a given Scene editing session was a property or route point and return to the last used dialog. You can switch back and forth using the Endpoints and IOs buttons from the corresponding dialog.

After importing a property, it will have slightly different links in the Scene itself. In this case, you will see a RequestedValue link and a Property link.

Click the Property link to change the property you selected if you selected the wrong one.

By default, the value used for the Property item is set to whatever it is at the time the Scene item is created. This can be changed by clicking the RequestedValue link.

This will open a value selector. The value selector may be different depending on the type of property you are manipulating. For example, if the item is a color property, it might present a color selection dialog. If the property requires text, a text box may be presented. Or it could present a drop-down of possible values. In the case above, the program buss assignment could either be on or off, so select the option you want the Scene item to set. Note this does not change the current state of the console in the system unless the Scene is activated. At this point, you are only editing what would happen if you activated the Scene.

Modifying Scene Order

The Scene editor also has “move up” and “move down” buttons.

These are used to organize the order in which a Scene sends its messages to the equipment when activated.

The order of items in a Scene is generally irrelevant because the system does not wait for a change to complete before sending the next change message. Changes are usually sent as a block so the actual changes may not happen in the equipment in the same order in which they were sent.

Inserting Pauses

If the execution order is important it is possible to add pause items into the Scene. This will cause the Scene to pause as it iterates through the items for a defined duration, measured in milliseconds. To add a pause, click the Scene editor plus icon. From the Import Ios dialog, click Pause.

Type the Pause duration in milliseconds and click OK to add the Pause item to the Scene.

Like all items in the Scene, you may select a Pause item and use the Up and Down arrows to manipulate the order of the Scene messages and configure when pauses occur in the Scene execution.

Saving Your Scene

Once all items have been added to your Scene and have been ordered correctly, click Apply to save your changes.

Current Scene State and Troubleshooting

Once a Scene has been created, the list of Scenes will show whether the Scene is active or not in the IsActive field.

If you expect a Scene to be active and it is not, you can see what items failed to change by editing the Scene.

The Requested Value column will show the expected value for each Scene item for it to be considered active, while the Current Value column will show the current value of the Scene item.

Scenes and Logic Flows

There are several properties that may be used with Scenes in Logic Flows. When an End point is selected each Scene has an ActivateScene property that can be set to true to cause all Scene items to be executed.

As a Start point, two properties are available: IsActive and SceneState.

The IsActive property will either be true or false depending on whether all items in the Scene are currently at their requested value.

The SceneState property extends this slightly with three options: All, Some, or None. This will change depending on the Scene items’ value, whether all items have their RequestedValue, some do, or none do.

Activating Scene Changes

Scene changes may be activated using Logic Flows using the ActivateScene property. This property is write-only and is only available when editing End points. For example, we could create a Logic Flow that executes a Scene change every time a specific LCD button is pressed.

Timers allow Flows to be executed at specific times. This list shows the Timers that have been created and may be used in Logic Flows. The page shows up to date information as the Timer states changes.

Timer Types

To create a new Timer, click the Add icon on the Timers dialog to open the Timer Editor.

Three types of Timers can be created in Pathfinder Core PRO: Interval, Day of Week, and Date/Time.

Interval Timers

If you want to create a Logic Flow with a delayed action, you could use a delay directly in the Flow, or you could create an Interval Timer. An Interval Timer raises an Elapsed property after a specified number of milliseconds.

Interval Timers can also be programmed to autoreset. An autoresetting Interval Timer will set the Elapsed flag to true after the Interval, and then immediately set it back to false and restart the countdown.

Leave the Autoreset and Enabled properties as false. Type a name for this Timer and apply it.

Now we can use this Timer in Logic Flows:

For example, an Interval Timer can be used in a Logic Flow so when GPI 1 goes low, it enables the Timer. Then the Elapsed property 5-seconds later causes GPI 2 pin to be set low:

Interval Timers have three additional write-only properties:

1. Reset: If the Timer is enabled, this property will disable and then re-enable the Timer to start the countdown over. If the Timer is disabled, this will set the elapsed property to false.

2. ResetStart: Stops the Timer (if it is running) and then starts the Timer to reset the countdown.

3. ResetStop: Disables the Timer and changes the elapsed state to false.

These are available in the Logic Flows simple tree when an Interval Timer endpoint is selected in the Logic Flow. Since these are write-only properties they will not be shown when Interval Timer start points are selected – only endpoints.

All three properties accept true/false values and setting any of them to true will initiate the reset. They do not need to be set to false again afterwards as passing the true value is just a trigger to initiate the reset. The value is not retained. These properties can be thought of more as actions than traditional properties.

Day of Week Timers

If we want something to happen at a specific time every Monday, we could create a Day of Week Timer. With this type of Timer, you can specify a time and the days of the week on which the Timer should set its Elapsed property to true.

Date/Time Timers

If we want something to happen on a specific day and time, we could create a Date/Time Timer. The Timer’s Elapsed property will be set to true at that day and time.

Clicking the calendar icon will present a user-friendly calendar for configuring the date and time.

Clock Time and Fixed Time

In both the Day of Week and Date/Time Timers, it is important to understand the difference between clock time and fixed time. Within Pathfinder Core PRO, all times are stored with a UTC offset. Clock time means that the event will happen at a specific time (say 7PM) according to the clock regardless of the UTC offset. If you want an event to happen at 7PM according to what the clock shows both before and after a daylight savings shift, you should pick the clock time option.

However, if you are picking up a satellite feed and the region from which the feed originates does not shift their clock to daylight savings time, then you should select fixed time because the event will happen at a different time (according to your wall clock) before and after the daylight savings time shift. In this case, it is fixed to the time and UTC offset.

Using Timers in Flows

It is also important to understand that creating a Timer in Pathfinder Core PRO will not actually cause any changes to take place in the system. To do that, you would need to create a Logic Flow as shown above with a start point that uses the Timer’s elapsed property to then change some other property in the system. For example, if you wanted to execute a scene change every Monday at a specific time, you would create a Logic Flow that uses the Day of Week Timer shown above.

In this way, we can use Timers to cause delays, do repetitive operations (using the autoreset property of Interval Timers), or execute actions at specific days/times and/or on a recurring daily schedule.

Pathfinder Core PRO can emulate other routing systems. This can be particularly useful if you need to interface with an automation system that has not implemented any of the protocols that drive Axia routing systems.

Click the Device Emulators link in the navigation bar to display the list of device emulators currently defined in the system.

Creating a Generic Emulator

• Click the plus icon in the Device Emulators page to create a new emulator

• Type a unique Name for this emulator and select Generic Emulator from the Emulator Type drop-down list

• Complete the Connection Settings; the Generic Device Emulator is just a TCP/UDP connection that can be used to send and receive custom messages from an automation system or some other third-party system

• Type your initialization message in the Init Message field; this message will be sent when this Generic Emulator connects allowing the emulator to automatically send login or other initialization messages, including special escape characters (see the Escape Characters section later in this chapter) In the case of Listener types, this message will be sent to each client that connects to the listener. In the case of Client connection types, this message will be sent each time the client connects. Generic Device Emulators have a write-only property that can be used by Logic Flows called ToSend. This property allows you to create a flow to send any kind of data out of the Generic Emulator you wish.

• Generic Device Emulator can trigger actions based on incoming data; to define these actions, we create Watchers; each Watcher looks for information coming to the emulator port and when it sees that data, briefly sets the Watcher’s Triggered property to True To create a new Watcher, click the Add button and select the newly created Watcher from the list.

With the new Watcher selected, type a Name for this Watcher and the Value being watched for in the Name and Value fields directly below the Watcher list.

You can edit an existing Watcher by clicking on the Watcher entry in the list and updating the values in these Name and Value fields .

• When all fields are complete, click Apply to save your changes and create the Emulator

Escape Characters

Both the ToSend properties and the Watcher values support several special character strings to represent special characters:

Therefore, a Watcher that is watching for:

MyName\cr\lf

Is looking for the string “MyName” followed by a carriage return and line feed. However, in the following example, the double slashes are converted to a single literal slash for the case where you actually want to send the value “\cr\lf.”

Using Watchers in Logic Flows

The Name of the Watcher is used to identify the Watcher in the system and will appear as an object underneath the Emulator in the Logic Flows property selection tree.

In the example above, we have created a single Watcher on this device emulator named Hello, and it is watching for the value Hello. When we see the word “Hello” come into this emulator, then the Watcher’s momentary Triggered property will be set to True and then reset to False until the next time the value “Hello” is registered.

We can create a Logic Flow where the Start Point is the Triggered property of the Watcher and do anything we like in the system when we see the string “Hello” come in through the Device Emulator port.

In this Logic Flow we have defined that every time we see the string “Hello” on the Watcher in question, we will activate the scene AllTo1.

Additional Emulator Properties for Logic Flows

Additional properties related to Generic Emulators that may be used in Flows include:

• Connected – This property will be True if there are any clients connected or if the TCP client is successfully connected and False otherwise

• ConnectedCount – This property will retain the number of currently connected clients to the emulator

• ConnectionLost – This property will switch to True and then back to False when a client disconnects

• ConnectionObtained – This property will switch to True and then back to False each time a client connects

• TriggeredValue - When the Watcher input is discovered, that value will be assigned to the TriggeredValue property momentarily and then the value will be set back to blank. It is momentary in order to raise changes when the same value enters the emulator repeatedly

Watchers and Regular Expressions

Generic Device Emulator Watchers also support the use of regular expressions or Regexes. Pathfinder Code PRO uses the Microsoft .NET variation of regular expressions—an advanced language used for pattern matching in textual information.

Regular expressions parse the Watcher’s input relative to the regular expression pattern, tripping the Watcher’s Triggered property to True in case of a match. Pathfinder Code PRO Watchers make use of two flavors of regular expressions:

1. Regex.Match(<expression_pattern>)

2. Regex.IsMatch(<expression_pattern>)

To add a regular expression to a Watcher, type the RegEx statement in the Watcher Value field:

Regex.Match Method

Regex.Match evaluates Watcher input against the expression, with valid matches resulting in the Triggered property being set to True. However, because a Regex can be used to match multiple different chunks of text, it is often also useful to have the exact chunk of text that was matched available to a Logic Flow. That is where the TriggeredValue property comes in.

Typing a Value like this Regex.Match(..ll.)will match any series of five characters where the third and fourth characters are l.

Watcher inputs like Yello, Hello, Mello, hhlll, hhllh, will trip the Watcher’s Triggered property to True and allow the TriggeredValue property to pass the input value that resulted in the match.

As another example, to extract a duration from a satellite message like this:

CBS050

We could use this regular expression in the Watcher’s Value field:

Regex.Match((?<=CBS).{3})

This Regex would set the Watcher’s Triggered property to True any time it sees six characters where the first three are CBS and allow the TriggeredValue property to pass only three characters that fall after the CBS. In this example, the TriggeredValue property would equal 050. This expression makes use of the lookbehind assertion of regular expressions.

A different Watcher could then be created for a different show from the same Emulator.

Regex.Match((?<=NBC).{3})

Regex.IsMatch Method

Regex.IsMatch() performs a similar function except rather than passing the value of the match, the TriggeredValue will output True if a match exists. This makes this method largely redundant since a match will also set the Triggered property to True, but there are times when this method can be useful in Logic Flows as discussed below.

Special Characters

Carriage returns and line feeds must be considered when the incoming data is a line‑based protocol. Failing to properly account for these special characters when parsing incoming data will cause incorrect results.

If your Watcher input will include carriage returns and line feeds at the end of each message, you could use something like (.*\r\n) or ((?s).*). The latter uses single line mode.

Modifying Default Behavior

There are several options that can be used within the expression to modify the function of the pattern matcher. For example, by default the dot or period character ( . ) matches any character except the new line. If you want it to match the new line character as well, you can enable the single line option to modify the function of the wildcard within the pattern matcher:

Regex((?s).*).

The inline ?s modifies the regular expression engine to use the single line option when analyzing. These modifying options are documented here:

Regular expressions are extremely advanced and can appear to be very complicated. One joke about regular expressions is that once you solve a problem with a regular expression you now have two problems. However, they can also be awesomely powerful for the situations where they are needed.

They are part of one of the most commonly used and advanced text pattern matching and manipulation languages across all programming languages used today. However, they will also be slower and more CPU intensive than the normal matches Pathfinder Core PRO performs because they have not been optimized at compile time in the same way as the native code. This is only one reason why they should be used with caution and sparingly. Use them only when you need them and not when Pathfinder Core PRO’s inherent pattern matching is a better option. Also test thoroughly. It is quite easy to design a regular expression that you think is correct but misses certain edge cases. The regex tester listed in the links below can be very useful in this case.

Again, this is an advanced feature and incorrect use can cause unpredictable results. But it is also a very powerful tool for certain situations.

Learn more about Regular expressions using these links:

Probel General Router and General Switcher

There are two Probel routing protocols supported by Pathfinder Core PRO: Probel General Router and Probel General Switcher. The syntax of these protocols is different so it is important to consult the automation system’s manual regarding which protocol to use.

In both cases the protocol provides routing control. As a result, after selecting this protocol type, the web page will present a drop-down list with the available routers so that you can choose which router the Emulator will control.

• Click the plus icon in the Device Emulators page to create a new emulator.

• Type a unique Name for this emulator and select either Probel General Switcher or Probel General Router from the Emulator Type drop-down list.

• Complete the Connection Settings.

• Type Matrix and Level values, and select a Router from the drop-down list. When all fields are complete, click Apply to save your changes and create the Emulator.

One of the powerful features of Axia Audio mixing engines are their virtual mixers. The Element and Fusion mix engines include sixteen virtual mixers which can be used to create mixes of various audio streams. These virtual mixers can be controlled using Logic Flows to dynamically create mixes of audio content based on changes in the system. Additionally, there is a web page for managing these virtual mixers, in effect creating on-screen mixers. To access this user interface, click the Vmix Control link on the navigation bar.

When you first open this web page, the faders will be dimmed out and none of the buttons will function as you first need to define which engine and which Vmixer to control. Select the mix engine from the Select Engine drop down, and then select one of the 16 virtual mixers from the Select Virtual Mixer drop down.

The interface will update to display the state of the selected virtual mixer. You can use the drop-down lists to switch between different Vmixers.

Each Vmixer has five input channels and a master fader. The master fader is labeled as Master and has the red slider. The input channel meters display the real-time metering of the source assigned to each fader. This metering is pre-fader, showing the level of incoming audio. The meter next to the Master fader displays the level at the output of the virtual mixer and is therefore post-Master fader.

Dragging a fader’s on-screen slider up or down will adjust the VMixer channel’s gain.

Clicking the On/Off buttons will turn a fader on and off. Turning a virtual mixer fader on or off is subject to the fade up and fade down time parameters. These can be changed by clicking on the fields next to the up arrow or down arrow in the Fade Time section. Times are entered in seconds. So if you have a fade up time of 1.2 seconds, when you click the On button the audio will fade in to the level defined by the fader over the course of 1.2 seconds. Then the fader control will dynamically allow you to control the level. The same is true when turning the fader off. Clicking the off button will fade the audio out dependent on the fade down time.

Finally, clicking on the source name at the top of each fader will allow you to select a different audio source for the fader. A list of available sources will appear.

Highlight the new source and click take to select the new source for the fader. Or, click cancel to return to the mixer web page.

Vmixer Shortcuts

It is also possible to generate direct links to a particular Vmixer. This can be useful if you wish to create a shortcut on a user’s desktop that will present a specific Vmixer. In order to create such a shortcut in Windows, right click on the desktop and select new shortcut. For the location type:

Replace the 172.16.1.221 with the IP address of your Pathfinder Core PRO. Replace the 172.16.1.63 address with the address of the mix engine you wish to control. And replace the 1 at the end of the link with the virtual mixer number within the engine you wish to control. Then click next and provide a name to create the shortcut. And finally, click finish. Or, just enter the address into the address bar of the user’s browser and then add it to favorites.

When you create the link this way, the user will not see Pathfinder Core PRO’s navigation bar or the drop downs to select a different engine or Vmixer. The web page will only present the specified virtual mixer.

HTML5 User Panels

Pathfinder Core PRO allows you to create your own custom user interface that can be displayed and used in a web browser on any device. This allows you to define precisely how your users interact with your Axia system in a way that supports your organization’s workflow. Currently, Google Chrome is the recommended browser for this feature.

HTML User Panels may be used and edited from the User Panels menu item. The Panels list includes HTML5 Panels and legacy Panels created with the legacy Panel designer.

Creating a New Panel

• Click the plus icon to create a new Panel and open the new Panel in the Panel Designer.

• Click Save and type a name for your Panel to instantiate it before you begin adding components.

• After saving and giving the Panel a name, the name of the Panel should appear in the upper corner:

Setting Panel Size

Next set the size of the Panel. Click the main Panel to select it:

The property window on the right side of the Panel designer will display properties that can be modified for the selected component:

Panel dimensions can be set to a standard preset, set to a specific height or width, or autoscaled dynamically.

Selecting a Size Preset

With the main Panel selected, click in the Property window’s Size field and select from a size preset.

The size of the Panel area in the Panel Designer should change based on your selection.

Setting the Panel Height or Width

With the main Panel selected, click in the Property window’s Height or Width field and set a new height and width in pixels. Pixel values may be typed in, or you may click on the spinner control to adjust the value.

The size of the Panel area in the Panel Designer should change based on your changes.

Autoscaling

Use autoscaling if you want the components in the panel to scale to the size of the browser window as it changes. With the main Panel selected, select an option from the autoscale dropdown.

While intuitively you might believe that height_and_width is the correct choice, it rarely is. This option can cause buttons and components to be stretched in strange ways.

On the other hand, scaling based on height alone will maintain the correct aspect of the component while just scaling it up and down:

In general, if the aspect ratio of the Panel objects is important and the Panel will be displayed on a widescreen monitor, it is best to choose scaling based on height. If it is a widescreen monitor turned sideways for portrait orientation, the best option is based on width.

If aspect ratio does not matter, for example when you are working only with square or rectangular buttons, autoscaling based on height and width may be used.

Testing Autoscaling Options

After creating your Panel, save it with one of the autoscaling options. Open the Panel in a browser and change the browser size to observe the autoscaling behavior and get a feel for which option is most appropriate.

As you evaluate the different autoscaling options, after resaving with a new option you must refresh your browser for the new option to be applied.

Adding Components

To add components to your Panel, expand the HTML and/or Custom sections in the left toolbar:

Hovering over any component will show a tooltip with the name of that component. We can illustrate adding and modifying components using a simple HTML button.

Click and drag the top-left HTML Button (the tooltip will say Button) from the toolbar into the Panel. After dropping the button in your Panel, it should be highlighted with a red box indicating it is the selected component.

To resize the component, click and drag the component’s red border. The border displays just inside the actual edges of the object by design so when aligning objects you can still see the object’s actual edges.

To move the component within the Pane, click and drag the center of the component. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge the selected component in any direction. Each press of an arrow key will move the component one pixel at a time unless the grid is enabled in which case it will move by the grid amount. See the Grid topic in the Tool Bar section below for additional details.

Adjusting Properties

The property list on the right will update to include properties that may be adjusted for the currently selected component type. Clicking in a field and changing the property will make the corresponding change to the component. For example, with our button still selected, click in the Caption field and type a caption:

Expand the Style section and try adjusting the border>border-radius value or the font/text>font-size value.

As you can see there is a high degree of power to achieve exactly the desired design using the properties in the property grid.

Once you’ve achieved your design objectives, click Save to save your changes or click Cancel to return the Panel to its previous save state.

SHIFT Editing the Property List

Holding the SHIFT key while clicking in the User Panel property editor fields will bypass the usual helper dialogs and allow direct editing of the text. This can be useful for things like copying and pasting color values. SHIFT+click to highlight the text box without the helper dialog and then click again to edit the text for the property.

Tool Bar

The top Tool Bar has several tools to help with the component layout:

Cancel/Save

The Cancel and Save buttons may be used to save your work or cancel pending changes and reload from the last save point. Frequent saves while working on the design are recommended.

Cut, Copy, Paste

These are the standard Cut, Copy, and Paste tools. These actions can be performed on any currently selected components.

You can select multiple components by holding the SHIFT key while you click additional components.

Delete

Clicking the Delete button will delete the currently select components. Be careful with this function as there is no undo though you can click cancel to return to the previously saved state.

Alignment Tools

The alignment tools will only be available for use if you have multiple components selected. You can select multiple components by holding the SHIFT key while you click additional components.

To illustrate, drag three or four buttons into the Panel. Then, while holding the SHIFT or CTRL key, click each component until the red select box is around each of them:

Once you have selected more than one component, the alignment tools will become available. These tools are:

In each case the system will align to the most extreme edge. For example, with the four buttons selected in the example above, clicking Align top will align all buttons to the top edge of the button closest to the top of the Panel.

Clicking Distribute horizontally will spread the buttons evenly between the left and right buttons.

Magnet

The Magnet tool aligns and resizes items of like kind edge-to-edge. For example, create a new button and resize it. Then add a second button but leave it at the default size. If you then drag the small button so its edge meets the large button…

…the small button will immediately snap to the size of the large button and align itself to the large button’s edge.

This is extremely useful when trying to build a Panel with many same sized components lined up edge to edge. However, it can also be disconcerting when you want the components to be different sizes and/or not to line up. The Magnet tool is enabled by default but may be disabled by clicking on the tool.

Grid

If enabled, the Grid tool aligns a component’s location and size according to a grid of a specified pixel density. For example, if you enabled the grid with a pixel density of 10 pixels, you will notice that dragging components will jump by 10 pixels. This is useful when trying to evenly align components.

Page

Each Panel has an index page which is the default page that will be loaded when the Panel is first displayed, but additional Pages may be created using the Page tool. Buttons or events may then be used to switch between the pages as described in the changing pages section of this chapter.

To design a new Page, click the down arrow and select the [newpage] option.

After clicking the [newpage] option, click Save and type a name for your new page. Then you can design a new page as if it was any other Panel.

If a Panel has multiple pages, you can use this same dropdown to select the page to edit.

You can clone your work to a new page by selecting the page to be cloned and then selecting the [clonepage] drop-down item. The system will ask you for a new page name for the cloned page.

You can delete a page by selecting the page background and clicking the delete icon. The system will then ask you if you want to delete the page. You cannot delete the default index page.

Once multiple pages have been created you can use the change property along with buttons or property changes that will switch from one page to another. This is described in the Changing Pages section of this chapter.

Property Grid

You were already introduced to the property grid in the section on adjusting properties above. This section will go into some additional detail. Drag a button onto your Panel and select it so that the property grid displays the available properties of the button.

Different components may have different property sections and sub-sections as well as properties that are specific to that component, but this is an example of the property sections you will see. Expanding the sections will display additional sections and properties.

There are also some properties that you will not find in the CSS reference above because they are custom to our usage of that component. For example, in the case of the button component, caption, HwMap, and indicator are all properties that are not standard CSS properties. We will describe their usage more in the examples below.

Bind Button

Each property in the property grid has a button between the property name and the property value at the end of the property name side of the grid. This is called a bind button.

The bind button defines the properties that should be exposed to PathfinderCore PRO for use in Logic Flows. In some cases, there may be hundreds of properties for a given component, but there are only a few that you will want to dynamically change while the Panel is running. For example, once you position a button on a Panel and size it to the size you desire, it is unlikely that you will want that position to change while your end-user is using the Panel. Therefore, there is really no need for the left and top properties to be cluttering up the Logic Flow tree. Clicking the bind button for a given property will turn the button blue.

Saving the Panel will then identify to PathfinderCore PRO that this is a property that we expect to dynamically manipulate with Logic Flows and so should be tracked by PathfinderCore PRO and made available to Logic Flows.

Binding Flows

You may also notice that after enabling a property for binding that an image of a partial Logic Flow will appear at the bottom of the property grid:

This is a simple shortcut that allows you to generate a simple flow to bind values to the property without having to switch over to the Logic Flow designer. In addition, since these flows simply bind system states to Panel properties, the flows generated by this method do not count against your license count. It is an easy way to quickly add simple functionality. But it will be easier to understand with an example.

Let’s say we want the button we have dragged onto the Panel to trigger a route change. Select the button and enable the binding button on the mousedown event. We are defining what we want to happen when the button is pressed. Then double-click on the endpoint in the flow image.

This will open the normal property selection dialog used in Logic Flows:

Expand the Routers section, expand a router, and expand the destination you want to change when the button is pushed, and then click on the CurrentSourcePath Property. Then click select.

The system will automatically move to the translation dialog.

Click on the *=* item in the list and then select the True item in the left hand drop down and the source you want to route to the selected destination in the right hand drop down.

We have just defined that if the mousedown event is true, the sa_server_06 source will get routed to the TestTest destination. However, when you click Done you will get a pop-up message.

This message will only appear if you are generating flows on the mousedown or indicator properties of a button. In this case, it knows that since we are defining what we want the button to do, we probably also want some indication on the button that the requested action has been done. If we click OK, it will automatically turn the binding button on for the indicator property and open the flow definition for the indicator. In this case, it is smart enough to fill things in for us.

It is important to notice that the flow for the indicator property looks different than the one for the event.

The system also knows in which direction these flows should go. For example, with an event, the start point is not displayed in the flow because the event we have selected is the start point and the end point is what we are going to change. On the other hand, standard properties like the indicator are changed based on things that are changing in the system. So, you select what property in the system is causing the indicator to change. In that case, the partial flow shows the start point and the translation and the endpoint is the property of the Panel component we have selected. The rule of thumb is that events will display partial flows with an endpoint and other properties will display a flow with a start point. The missing part of the flow is the event or the property itself.

When we click OK in response to the message above you will notice the system will skip picking the start point. This is a special case for buttons where you are configuring the mouse down and indicator properties. Since we just defined what we want to change when mouse down is pressed, the pop-up message is asking whether we want the successful change of that route to be reflected in the indicator. So, if we click OK, the system automatically turns on the binding for indicator and fills in the start point with the destination selected, and then displays the translation settings.

You will also notice that the system is assuming you will want the indicator to be on if the selected source is routed to the destination and off if it is not.

Click Done.

You will notice that the flows are no longer gray and have turned blue to indicate they have been defined. Saving the Panel will cause the flows to be created and start working in Logic Flows. Flows created in this manner will be generated in a special folder in Logic Flows called _Panels. The flows in this folder may be monitored for troubleshooting purposes but they cannot be changed from within Logic Flows. They are only edited through the Panel designer.

To extend this example, turn on the binding for caption as well.

Now double click on the start point and select the same CurrentSourcePath property of the same destination. Now in the translation select what you want the button to say when the source is routed and what you want it to say when it is not.

Click Done and Save to save your changes. Executing the Panel should now display Routed or Not in the button’s caption depending on whether the selected source is routed to the destination.

A more useful change you can make with the caption property is to select the CurrentSourceName property of the destination in the Logic Flow property selector and use a *=* translation. You can change this by double-clicking the start point while the caption property is selected.

Now pick the currentSourceName Property instead of the CurrentSourcePath property and click select.

Change the translation to be *=*. Then click Done. Now the button’s caption will be tied to the name of whatever source is currently routed to the destination.

After saving the Panel and opening it up for use you should find that pressing the button will make the route change, the indicator will illuminate or go dark according to the back-color properties depending on whether the route is made, and the caption should display the name of the source that is routed to the destination.

By using these techniques, you can edit functionality into the Panel components in very easy and extremely powerful ways.

Complex Panel Flows

In many cases you may wish to create more complex flows than described in the examples above. For example, you may want your indicator state on a button to be the product of numerous conditions in the system. These kinds of Flows can still easily be created but must be created within the Logic Flows designer.

Simply enable the binding button for the properties these Flows need to manipulate without generating a Flow in designer. Save the Panel and then from within the Logic Flows property selector, these properties will be available for use:

Launching the Panel from a Desktop Icon (Windows)

If you are using Google Chrome, there are some command line options that will allow you to launch a Pathfinder Core PRO Panel as if it was an application. Copy and paste the following into a notepad or text editor:

When copied, this should be one line in the editor. The quotes at the beginning and end are part of the text, so do not remove them. After the word “location,” there is an HTTP link.

• Change [Username:Password]to match the credentials used in your system.

• Change [IPAddress]to match the IP address of your Pathfinder Core PRO.

• Change [ttt] to the name of the Panel you want to launch.

• Change [index] if you want to target a page other than the default index page

For example, these values…

• [Username:Password]= Admin:Admin

• [IPAddress]= 172.16.1.56

• [ttt] =YAPanel

• [index] = Its_a_New_Page

…would result in a shortcut like this:

Once you have the edits made, select the entire text again and copy it to your clipboard.

Right-click on your desktop and create a new shortcut using your edited shortcut text. Double-clicking on the shortcut should now launch the Panel as its own application.

If you always want the Panel to launch in the same place on the screen you can add another option: window.moveTo(580,240). For example:

In the future, we will investigate a way to generate the shortcut (or at least the shortcut text) automatically.

Component Reference

Each component has many available CSS properties and component events. Many of these properties can be understood after some basic study that starts with a basic internet search for CSS property descriptions.

This section will describe each component, including custom properties beyond the standard CSS style properties.

We have included default images of the components below, but it is important to note that the CSS properties can be used to make the components look much different than the examples included below. Feel free to adjust border, color, and shadowing properties to achieve the design desired.

HTML Components

Button

The Button component can control and indicate changes in the system. In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Wherever this button can be used, a Console Button could also be used. The difference is that the Console Button has a slightly more elegant look.

Label

Labels can be used to generate textual label information in the system. In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Input Box

Input boxes allow user input. In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

In addition to mousedown and mouseup events, Input Box events include:

Both change and input events raise the current entered value.

Web Page

The Web Page component is an HTML iframe which allows you to embed a web page from another site into the Panel. This component can be used to display video streams and other web page content.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

If you intend to use this as a background component with other components on top, you may need to manually adjust the z-index property of this component or the overlaid components to get them to display properly.

The Web Page component includes this event:

Especially during testing, it is important to note that some sites (notably, Google) prevent their content from being displayed in an iframe.

Image

The Image component allows you to embed an image in a page. This component can be used to create background borders around a set of components.

It is recommended to use the background-image property rather than the src property to assign an image to this component.

Before you use an image component, remember most elements also support the background-image property. For example, you can apply a background-image to the Panel itself or to buttons and labels.

Custom Components

Meters and Faders

HTML5 User Panels support two different kinds of meters (providing visualizations of Audio IOs that support metering) and two different kinds of faders (allowing gain manipulation of Audio IOs.)

Gradient Meter

This component can be tied to Audio IOs that support metering in the system. See the Setting the IO Property topic in this chapter.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

LED Meter

This component can be tied to Audio IOs that support metering in the system. See the Setting the IO Property topic in this chapter.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Fader

This component can be tied to Audio IOs that support gain manipulation. See the Setting the IO Property topic in this chapter. The Fader can also control non-audio control points. See the Setting the Control Property topic in this chapter.

The control displays the Fader value as you hover over the Fader. Fader values can be manipulated using the mouse wheel, dragging with the mouse, or touch and drag on a touch screen.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Additional Default Fader style properties:

Additional Simple Fader style properties:

Console Fader

This component can be tied to Audio IOs that support gain manipulation. See the Setting the IO Property topic in this chapter.

The control displays the Fader value as you hover over the Fader. Fader values can be manipulated using the mouse wheel.

The Console Fader is a smart fader capable of displaying different properties depending on the type of IO assigned to it.

In the example above, this Console Fader has been assigned to a Fusion console input. When loaded, the component updates the controls according to the type of IO to which it has been assigned. In this case it shows the name of the source profile, a meter obtained from the input stage of the fader (see note below), the program buss assignments, a fader which maps to the Fusion fader, A and B user buttons, Talk and Preview buttons, and ON and OFF.

This component will dynamically adjust what it displays depending on the type of IO it is associated with. Those changes will only be shown when the Panel is executed. That is when the capabilities of the assigned IO are analyzed. For example, after dragging a console fader onto the Panel and assigning IOs, when the Panel is executed you may see controls that look like:

In this case the first Fader is tied to the channel input of an Axia console. The second fader is tied to a VMIX channel input so the component changes to show the time up and down parameters. The third shows an XNode source.

Many of the properties discussed above in the Fader object have also been exposed in the Console Fader so that the color and style of the slider within the larger console fader object may be manipulated. These styles correspond directly to the styles.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Additional Default Fader style properties:

Additional Simple Fader style properties:

Setting the IO Property

Meters and Faders must be tied to an Audio IO using the component’s IO property. For example:

• Drag a Gradient Meter into a User Panel and resize it to an appropriate size

• Click the IO property to open the IO Select Source dialog box

• The link at the top of the page will display whether sources or destinations are currently being displayed. Clicking the link will toggle between the two

• Click an IO whose metering you want to be tied to the meter and click select

• You can use the Search box to narrow down the list of available sources or destinations

• The IO field will fill with the path of the selected IO

Since we are in the designer, no metering will be displayed. It will only display when the Panel is executed.

Setting the Control Property

Traditionally a Fader or a Console Fader is assigned its control point using the IO selection which presents a list of sources and destinations in the main audio router. Selecting a specific source or destination allows the Fader to function intelligently and present the correct controls to the user of the Panel.

However, when applied to console faders this functionality assumes the use of FaCH.

FaCH is the control of the physical fader based on its position in the console whereas LwCH allows control over a fader with a specific Livewire channel loaded to it wherever it resides in the console. Additionally, some consoles (Qor-based consoles such as IQ and Radius) do not have a direct correlation between the IOs exposed to the router and the faders those IOs may or may not be tied to. In these cases, the system cannot infer control from the IO property.

The control property addresses this problem by adding an override of the control portion of the component.

When the control property is used, the metering is defined by the IO property, but the controls (fader, on/off, etc) are defined by the control property. If nothing is selected in the control property, the control point is inferred by the IO property. If nothing is selected in the IO property but the control property is used, then no metering will appear.

Using the control property, Lwch options and Qor faders are now available to these components where previously they were not available. It is important to note that Lwch and Qor faders do not have directly inferable metering points, so if metering is desired it must be manually selected with the IO property in addition to the control point with the control property. It is possible that in the future we may add code to attempt to figure out a correct metering point for the assignment but for now it must be a manual decision. It is also important to note that the control property currently only displays fader objects as control point options. xNode sources and destination control points and Vmix points should be selected using the IO property. In the future, those as well as xNode mix points may be selectable via the control property as well.

To enable the control property of an existing Fader or Console Fader control:

• With the Fader or Console Fader control selected, click the control field in the Property window

• In the Select Gain Control Point dialog, click on the device to control and click Select

Controlling Numeric Properties

If the fader is a standard fader rather than a console fader, you can alternatively set it to control any numeric property in the system.

• After selecting the fader and the control field, Click the Endpoints button to change the Select Gain control Point dialog to the Property selection tree. From there you can connect to any numeric property in the tree

• If you select a non-numeric property, the system will give you a warning. Avoid using non-numeric properties with the control property. See Controlling Non‑Numeric Properties below

• Accept the default Translator properties

• Save your Panel. The Fader will now control and update based on the value of the memory slot

For this to work properly there are several other properties that can be used:

Controlling Non-Numeric Properties

Another option is not to use the control property to bind the functionality and instead to bind the displayvalue and valuechange properties directly to properties. This can be useful in situations where a translation is necessary.

For example, we could connect a Fader to a true/false or GPIO value.

• In this case we do not use the control property but would instead enable the binding on the slidervalue property and the slidervaluechanged event.

• Set the min property to 0, the max property to 1, the step property to 1, and type to linear

• Set the slidervaluechanged event to the GPO pinstate of a GPIO port

• For the translation, set 0 to Low and 1 to High

• Set the slidervalue property to the same GPO pinstate as the slidervaluechanged event

• Reverse the translation. That will make sure that if something else changes the GPIO pin that it will be updated in the fader:

For this example, you may also want to turn the metrics off since there are only two valid states.

This is probably not the best use case for this functionality, but it shows how you can use the Fader control to manipulate any value in the system either directly using the control property if it is a numeric property or via translation and the slidervalue and slidervaluechanged property and event.

Console Knob

The rotary Console Knob may be used in the same way as the Fader above. The same properties for numeric and non-numeric control as well as min, max, step, etc. properties also apply to the console knob object.

This control can also have its control property used to select a console fader or other numeric property in the system to control in the same manner as described for the fader control above. In addition, this component also shares the indicator property with button objects so that the knob color may be changed based on some indication state.

Console Button

The Console Button component can control and indicate changes in the system. This button works the same as the HTML button but has a more interesting look.

In addition to standard CSS style attributes, customizable properties include:

Qor/Iq Monitor Section

The Qor/Iq Monitor Section acts as a monitor section for Iq/Qor based consoles. There are a few points worth noting about this component:

• The meter option button is reserved for future use

• The clock and timer functionality are controlled by Pathfinder Core PRO and not the console and so will not be in sync with the console timer and countdown clock. This is because those control points are not currently available in the LwcpSs control protocol

Dragging this component onto a Panel will present a monitor section for an Iq/Qor console:

• To assign the component to a specific Iqx or Qor based console, select the component in the Panel and click the control property

• In the list of available control points, you will find one for each Iq/Qor whose type is LwcpSsRoot. Those are the only control points that may be used with this component

Router XY Matrix

This version adds a Router XY Matrix component both as a User Panel component and as an additional tab on the Router-Details page. It can be added to a Panel using the Router XY Matrix component.

After adding the component to the page, resize it and use the select a router to use with it.

• With the component selected, click the router property

• Click the desired router in the list and click Select

The component will not populate with actual router data while viewed in the Panel Designer. This means that the actual column and row header size may be inflated since the default designer example population only has ten sources and destinations. It is useful to view it in the actual executing Panel to see how it will function.

Action Properties

Events

One of the interesting things you can do with the hover and preset events is to bind the path to the IO field of meters. This allows you to create a Panel where hovering over a cross-point also shows metering for that cross-point. Note that metering does not yet support IO binding to virtual router IOs.

Style Properties

Using the XY Matrix

Once a matrix has been added to a Panel, a router assigned to it, and the Panel saved, view the Panel to see how it functions.

Since this component mirrors the functionality of the XY matrix presented on the XY tab in Routers, refer to the Routers chapter for details on how the end-user can use the routing matrix once it is deployed on an HTML5 User Panel.

Analog Clock

This component displays the current time using an analog clock style.

Analog Countdown

This component allows you to define and trigger a countdown. The clock will display the countdown value.

Custom properties include:

Currently, the timer does not automatically reset when the countdown completes. If that functionality is desired, it can be obtained by using the property bindings to hook the elapsed event to the reset state such that when the timer elapses, reset is triggered. This can be accomplished either by using the Flow in elapsed to change the reset or by using the Flow in reset to change based on the elapsed start point.

In both cases, the Panel must be saved with the binding buttons for these properties/events turned on to surface those options in the Flow property tree.

For example:

• Enable the binding buttons for both elapsed and reset have been enabled and save your Panel

• Select the reset property field and click the start point in the bottom corner

• Browse to the User Panels group, locate the digital countdown control in your specific Panel, and select the elapsed Value property

• Select True=True for the translation

• Click Done. After saving the Panel if the countdown elapses the timer should automatically reset

Digital Clock

This component displays the current time using a digital clock style.

Digital Countdown

This component allows you to define and trigger a countdown. The clock will display the countdown value.

Custom properties include:

Currently, the timer does not automatically reset when the countdown completes. If that functionality is desired, it can be obtained by using the property bindings to hook the elapsed event to the reset state such that when the timer elapses reset is triggered. This can be accomplished either by using the Flow in elapsed to change the reset or by using the Flow in reset to change based on the elapsed start point.

In both cases, the Panel must be saved with the binding buttons for these properties/events turned on to surface those options in the Flow property tree.

For example:

• Enable the binding buttons for both elapsed and reset have been enabled and save your Panel

• Select the reset property field and click the start point in the bottom corner

• Browse to the User Panels group, locate the digital countdown control in your specific Panel, and select the elapsed Value property

• Select True=True for the translation

• Click Done. After saving the Panel if the countdown elapses the timer should automatically reset

List Selector

At this point in time, the list selector component should be used primarily by advanced users that understand the API. In a future version, we will add options for simplifying the selection of list content and data. This component provides a drop-down list for selecting elements in the system. For example, it could be used as a source selector for a virtual router or a show profile selector for a console. Unfortunately, until we finish a more intuitive configuration user interface, some knowledge of the API and inner working of PathfinderCore PRO are required to configure this component. A thorough understanding of SapV2 (Appendix A) will help in the configuration of this component. Also, feel free to reach out to support for guidance.

There are 4 properties that are used together to describe the list options and another two for event and state:

• Listsearchpath: This holds a SapV2 object path and optional property value for the root from which all objects in the list will be obtained; for example:

  • Routers#0.VirtualRouter#4 SapObjectType=VirtualSource

    • This specifies that we will be filling the list with data from virtual sources in virtual router number 4

  • Devices#0.Qor#[tcp://172.16.1.59:93].LwcpInterpreter#0.LwcpRoot#0.AppControl#0 ObjectName=ShowProfile

    • This specified that we will be filling the list with data from show profiles on the Qor at 172.16.1.59

• Listsearchdepth: The number of branches below the listsearch path root to look for elements; many times, this will be 1 for one level deeper than the root selection, but it could be higher or -1 for infinite For Example:

  • Devices#0.Qor#[tcp://172.16.1.59:93].LwcpInterpreter#0.LwcpRoot#0.AppControl#0.ShowProfile#0

    • This is one branch deeper than the search path in the last example above

• ItemDisplayProperty: This is the property that will be used as the display data for each object; this is what the user sees; in both of the examples above this would likely be the name property

• Itemselectvalue: This is the property whose value will be used in the change and current value events. In the examples above it would be the Id and/or ObjectId properties

• CurrentValue: this can be used by logic flows to select the displayed value

• Change event: this can be used to make a change when a different item in the drop down is selected; the value that will be available in the translation is defined by the itemdisplayproperty

Let’s work through two examples.

List Selector Example 1

For example 1 we will use the selector to present a list of sources from a virtual router. When the user selects a different source, it will change a specific destination on that router. Make sure you have a virtual router in the system. In this case, we will use VirtualRouter 4. Set the following property values:

• Listsearchpath: Routers#0.VirtualRouter#4 SapObjectType=VirtualSource

• Listsearchdepth: 1

• Itemdisplayproperty: Name

• Itemdisplayvalue: Id

This means that we are looking for objects up to 1 level deep below the Routers#0.VirtualRouter#4 path whose SapObjectType=VirtualSource. The last part of this is important so that the selector does not also show destinations. For each source that is found the selector will create an item in the select list whose display value is taken from the name property and whose select value is taken from the id property. This will display a list of sources by name from virtual router 4 and the value used when a selection is made will be the source’s id.

Next, enable the binding on the currentvalue and change properties. For the change property select Destination 1’s current source property in the virtual router.

And use *=* for the translation. This will make sure that any time a new selection is made in the list, the number of that source will be passed to the destination’s currentsource property thereby affecting a route change.

For the currentvalue property, select destination 1’s current source again as the start point. Translation would again be *=*. This will ensure that if the destination route changes even by some other means that the drop down list will change to show the correct source.

In this way, we have created a route selector from a drop-down list.

List Selector Example 2

In example 2 we will use the selector to present a list of show profiles for a qor/iq. When the user selects a different show profile for the qor/iq, it will change the show profile. Set the following property values (modifying for your own device):

• Listsearchpath: Devices#0.Qor#[tcp://172.16.1.59:93].LwcpInterpreter#0.LwcpRoot#0.AppControl#0 ObjectName=ShowProfile

• Listsearchdepth: 1

• Itemdisplayproperty: Name

• Itemdisplayvalue: ObjectId

This means that we are looking for objects up to 1 level deep below the Devices#0.Qor#[tcp://172.16.1.59:93].LwcpInterpreter#0.LwcpRoot#0.AppControl#0 path whose SapObjectType=ShowProfile. For each show profile that is found the selector will create an item in the select list whose display value is taken from the name property and whose select value is taken from the ObjectId property. This will display a list of sources by name from Qor/Iq in question and the value used when a selection is made will be the show profile’s id.

Next enable the binding on the currentvalue and change properties. For the change property select the console’s appcontrol ShowProfId property.

And use *=* for the translation. This will make sure that any time a new selection is made in the list, the number of that show profile will be passed to the console’s showprofid property thereby affecting a show profile change.

For the currentvalue property, select showprofid property again as the start point. Again use *=* for the translation. This will ensure that if the show profile changes even by some other means, that the drop-down list will change to show the correct show profile.

In this way we have created a drop-down list for selecting a new show profile.

We realize that until more intuitive user configuration user interfaces are created, this component may be challenging. If you need to understand how to use it for a specific task, please reach out to support and realize that currently this is an advanced feature and may require some time for them to obtain the correct parameters for your task.

Hardware Mapping Buttons

HTML or Console Buttons may be mapped to physical LCD buttons in the console or rack mount button panels. Hardware mapping makes the physical button mirror the behavior of the software button. To define this:

• Click on a User Panel Button and click the HwMap fiel

• A dialog will appear listing the known hardware buttons in the system

• The Mapped To field will display a value if the button has already been hardware mapped as each hardware button can only be mapped to a single software button. Physical buttons do not have to be hardware mapped. They can also just be used directly with Logic Flows

If the button you want is not shown, make sure the LCD Panel or console is in the devices list. If not, it needs to be discovered. See the Discovery topic in Chapter 1 for more details on discovering devices.

LCD Panels must be manually discovered in devices using the add and Lwcp discovery. If a console device exists in the system but is not showing the LCD buttons, try pressing a few of the LCD buttons and then refreshing the web page.

• Select the button you want to hardware map and click Select

Button Indicator PULSE Values

PULSE0 through PULSE10000 will flash an HTML or Console Button for the specified number of milliseconds (PULSE[ms])and then return to the last requested state. If the indicator state is changed while the pulse flash is in progress the new state will be returned once the flash time is complete. PULSE0 may be used to cancel an in-progress pulse. This allows the easy binding of state (ON/OFF) conditions while allowing an additional Flow to control flashing.

For example, if we want a GPI to cause a button to flash for 5 seconds and then turn on or off depending on the state of VMIX 1, we could build a Flow like this:

This type of Flow is useful for situations where you need to flash a button as an alert but retain a known state after the flashing is complete.

With the addition of PULSE, we can achieve the same functionality with a much simpler Flow:

In this case, the button indication is tied to the VMIX state but setting Pin 1 to Low will cause a 5000ms (5-second) flash. It will then return to whatever state the VMIX is currently in even if that state has changed during the duration of the pulse.

If the button is an HTML5 button this can be made even simpler by binding the indicator to the VMIX state within the User Panel and only implementing the PULSE (flash) flow in Logic Flows.

Changing Pages

Creating additional pages is described in the page section of the toolbar documentation earlier in this chapter. In this section, we will explore how to switch between panels and pages. Switching between multiple Pages can be accomplished by using the ChangePage property. Let’s build an example set of linked pages. This example will create a map with an alarm state that can be clicked to obtain more details on the alarm from a second page.

• Create a new Panel and click Save. Name the Panel TestMap

• Click on your new Panel to select it. In the property grid, expand the style>background section and click the background-image property. A dialog will appear for selecting and uploading images

• For this example, we will upload an image of a map of Ohio; click Choose File, select your stored image, and click Upload; the image will appear in the selection list. Click on the image and click Select; the background of the Panel will now display the image of Ohio

• Drag a button into the Panel and position it next to Cleveland

• Click on your new button to select it. In the Properties grid, modify the button’s Properties:

Your Panel should now look something like this:

• Enable the binding for the indicator state of the button

• Click on the Start Point and select a SilenceAlarm AlarmState

• For the Translation, select AudioPresent as indicator OFF and Silent as ON

• Click Done; when the system asks about the mouse down action, click Cancel; in this case, the mouse down is going to change pages and has nothing to do with the property we are picking for the indicator so we will set it separately

• Turn on the binding for the Caption property

• Click the Flow’s Start Point; select the same AlarmState property and click Select

• For the Translation make Silent convert to Err and AudioPresent to OK. Click Done

• Save the Panel; at this point, if we were to execute this Panel, the button next to Cleveland should be cyan and OK if the silence alarm has audio presence, and Err and Red if it is silent

• From the Page drop down, select [NewPage]; save the new page with the name Cleveland

• Drag a new button onto the new page and set its caption to Return

• With the button still selected, enable the mouse down binding

• Click the End Point. Expand the UserPanels section of the Logic Flow property selector. Expand UserPanel#TestMap>TestMap.Cleveland section and select the ChangePage property. Click Select

• In the translation set True=TestMap.index and click Done

• Click Cancel when asked about updating the button color properties

• Save the Page. We have just defined that when we click the return button on the Cleveland page it will set the ChangePage property of the Cleveland page to TestMap.index, effectively returning to the index page

• Use the Page drop down to select the index page again

• Click the OK button to select it. Turn on the binding for the mouse down event

• Click the End Point, select the UserPanels>UserPanel#TestMap>TestMap.index ChangePage property

• In the Translation set True=TestMap.Cleveland then click Done

• Click Cancel for the binding button color question and save the Panel

• Launch the Panel; the button on the main map should switch caption and color based on the silence alarm state; clicking the OK button should take you to a new Page called Cleveland, while clicking the return button should take you back to the main map index page

You are always selecting the changepage property of the current page and defining the Page you want to move to in the button’s translation dialog.

Another interesting point is that the changepage property is also available to normal Logic Flows. For example, rather than binding this to the mousedown event, we could create a flow in Logic Flows that automatically switches the Panel page to the Cleveland Panel whenever a silence alarm occurs and back again when audio presence is restored. Additionally, the changepage property is not limited to pages within the same Panel. You could switch to a completely different Panel.

In a real use case, we would fill the Cleveland page with more information than just a return button. For example, we might create a system flow chart page with meters and buttons and silence alarm states of various parts of the chain to more easily determine where the failure occurred.

SubPanels

HTML5 Panels include a web page component which is essentially an HTML5 iframe component that can be used to embed other web pages and components (for example from a corporate page or video link) into a Panel. It can also be used to embed a different Panel into a parent Panel. For example:

• Create a new Panel. Save the Panel and name it SubPanelTest

• Drag two buttons into your new Panel

• Drag in a web page component

• Enable the binding on the src property of the web page component.

• Click the left-hand button to select it, enable the binding for both indicator and mouse down, and save the Panel.

• Select the mouse down property Flow diagram endpoint and select the iframe src property as the endpoint.

• For the translation make the mousedown true equal to:

Replacing the Panel name (shared) and page name (page1) with the name of the Panel and page you wish to display as a subPanel.

It is important to use the framemin.php page rather than the frame.php page so that the full Pathfinder Core PRO header and menu system do not appear in the subPanel.

• Click Done and allow the reverse binding to be set up so the indicator will light when the selected page is loaded in the iframe.

• Repeat the procedure for the right-hand button, referencing a different page in your Translator statement.

• Save your Panel.

When the main Panel is executed, the web page component will load with the Panels specified by your buttons as subPanels. In this way we can create shared content that can be loaded in multiple Panels as shown below:

SubPanel and shared content problems

The example above works great for many kinds of shared content. For example, we could create a Panel for each studio where one of the selection buttons loads a clock and meter subPanel, and another loads an airchain display subPanel.

The challenge comes when the shared subPanel needs to target different things depending on the parent Panel.

For example, what if the subPanel buttons in the examples above were source selectors but needed to target a different destination depending whether they were loaded in Studio 1’s parent Panel or Studio 2’s? The subPanel could be a specific and even paged set of selections common across all studios, but would need to target the fader on which ever studio the subPanel was loaded in.

The temptation to solve this problem would be to create some sort of Logic Flow that changes what happens depending on which Panel last loaded the subPanel (Studio 1, 2, etc.) However, this approach does not allow for the subPanel to be loaded in both at the same time. Also, the subPanel itself has no knowledge that it is loaded as a subcomponent of another Panel.

The only way to solve this problem is to introduce messaging internal to a given instance of a browser, allowing the subPanel to communicate with the parent Panel instead of with a specific destination and vice versa. That kind of messaging is the purpose of the Panel SetLocal and PanelMemorySlot.

Panel SetLocal

Each HTML5 Panel includes a write only property called SetLocal. Selecting the overall Panel will display this property in the property tree:

This property sends messages to set another property on the running instance of the Panel, its parent, or a subPanel. Like the PanelMemorySlots property, this property operates inside a single, specific instance of a Panel rather than upon all running instances of a given Panel.

In general, this property’s value will not be set in the Panel designer. Instead, the binding will be enabled and then can be used or bound to other items in the Panel via the Panel’s internal flows. The syntax that makes this possible is:

<target>|<elementId>|<propertyName>=<PropertyValue>

For example, you could enable the binding of this property and then when a button is pressed you can set the value of this property to:

iframe_1|MyButton|Indicator=ON

The target portion can either be:

• parent = assumes this Panel is loaded as a webbrowser (iframe) subPanel of another Panel and we wish to send a property change to the parent Panel.

• local = tries to set a property on the local instance of the Panel

• name of a web browser (iframe) element in the form = tries to set a property on an element in a Panel running in a web browser element in the existing Panel. This variation looks for an iframe in the current Panel of the correct name and then passes the property message to the web page running in that iframe.

Examples:

• parent|MyButton|Indicator=ON

  • Attempts to turn the Indicator property On for a Button named MyButton that is expected to reside on a Panel in which this Panel is running as a subPanel.

• local|MyButton|Indicator=ON

  • Attempts to turn the indicator property On for a button named My Button that is expected to reside on this instance of the Panel.

• Iframe_1|MyButton|Indicator=ON

  • Attempts to turn the indicator property On for a button named MyButton that is expected to reside on a Panel loaded in a web browser (Iframe) element called Iframe_1.

It is important to understand that SetLocal sets properties only in this instance of the browser.

If you have the Studio 1 Panel loaded on two different computers and you perform an action that uses the SetLocal property to change an element’s property, that change will only happen on that computer’s instance of the Panel unless other external bindings are also in use.

If the change is bound to a component inside the Panel it will remain inside that instance of the Panel, but if it is bound to something like a route change that is outside of the Panel it will likely happen on all. This can be seen because using this property as a binding to a component inside the Panel will not generate a Panel based Logic Flow and binding it to something outside the Panel will. The nuances of this are a bit subtle but should become clear as we work through the example below.

Panel Memory Slots

Panel Memory Slots are like normal memory slots except that they only live inside a browser instance of a Panel. They can be thought of as a javascript variable that also raises a change event inside the running instance of the Panel.

The item can be found in the custom tool section. Dragging it onto a Panel will create a dotted component. This component will be invisible when the Panel is actually executing.

Like the SetLocal property above, if this is bound using a Panel Flow to an item inside the Panel (button, iframe, etc), no flow in the larger pathfinder will be created. Instead the value will just be changed or affect change within the running instance of the Panel only. If the Flow is bound to an item outside the Panel (for example a route change of console fader state), then a Flow will be created.

The Panel Memory slot has three important properties/events in the property grid:

Shared SubPanel Example

Returning to our example above:

In this example, what if the four buttons in the SubPanel are tied to sources on destinations dependent on which studio’s parent Panel the subPanel is loaded in. To accomplish this, we are going to use three Panel Memory Slots: two in the Studio1 parent Panel, and one in the SubPanel. Our configuration might look like this:

Studio1 Panel

In addition to general Panel settings, we need to create two Panel Memory Slots: currentsource and selectsource.

Memory slot: currentsource

This memory slot will pass the currentsource value of a virtual router destination to a specific subpanel instance. This is accomplished using these bindings:

• panelmemoryslotvalue will be bound to the currentsource property of a virtual router destination using a Panel flow and a translation like this: *=*

This means whenever the currentsource property of that virtual router destination changes, the currentsource value will be assigned to this memory slot.

• panelmemoryslotchange will be bound to the setlocal property of the Studio1 Panel using a translation like this: *=iframe_1|currentsource|Panelmemoryslotvalue=*

This means whenever the currentsource value changes, it will attempt to also set the same value on whatever Panel is running in the subPanel loaded to iframe_1.

Memory slot: selectsource

This memory slot will change the route on the destination whenever its value changes.

• panelmemoryslotchange will be tied to the same virtual router destination’s current source property.

• raisetoserver needs to be set to true.

General Settings

• setlocal needs to be enabled.

Shared SubPanel – page 1

In this shared SubPanel, in addition to general Panel settings, we need to create one Panel Memory Slots: currentsource.

Memory slot: currentsource

This memory slot will receive and match the current source from the parent’s currentsource panelmemoryslotchange change event. This is accomplished using these bindings:

• panelmemoryslotvalue must be enabled.

• panelmemoryslotchange must be enabled.

*** General Settings

• setlocal needs to be enabled.

• We will bind each of the button indicators to the value of currentsource with a translation like:

  • 1=On

  • *=Off

  • Where 1 is the source whose button indicator we want to light

• When the Panel is running, this will cause the subPanel to light the correct button depending on which source number has been fed to it from the parent.

• Last we will bind the button press to the Shared Panel’s setlocal property with a translation that looks like:

  • True=parent|selectsource|panelmemoryslotvalue=1

  • Where 1 is the source whose button has been pressed.

• This will allow the button press to pass the source selected to the parent Panel’s selectsource memory slot. Which if we remember is bound via its change event to the actual destination’s currentsource.

The interesting part of the steps above is that we can now clone Panel 1 to Panel 2. In Panel 2 we change the bindings on currentsource and selectsource to a different destination for Studio2. And we make sure that the Panel selection buttons point to studio 2’s iframe rather than studio 1’s. But the shared Panel does not need any changes. It will just start working for studio 2 and studio 2’s destination. More importantly if we need to add functionality to the shared component it will work for both studios.

The key thought process that needs to be utilized is that if the shared content manipulates something specific then none of these steps are necessary. But if the shared content needs to manipulate something different depending on the parent Panel it is loaded in, then we need to pass messaging between the internal Panel and the parent to accomplish that.

This is one example of how these features may be used. It could be expanded greatly. For example, the src property of the iframe could be assigned using a setlocal so that it does not need to be updated for each studio page. Or we could add additional Panel memory slots for manipulating other destinations or even dynamically selecting the destination at the parent level.

Additionally, there are future features planned for embedded routing components that may make this specific example less necessary. However, even if we add such components there will always be situations that are custom and do not work with our preconceived components.

It should also be pointed out that in many situations it is probably simpler, easier, and more understandable to just clone. Because this is a more advanced feature it is also more advanced to understand. However, for the times when the embedded content is duplicated in too many places and needs to be periodically changed, this allows for that kind of reuse.

Legacy User Panels

Prior to Pathfinder Core PRO’s HTML 5 Panels, User Panels could be created using a variation of PanelDesigner from the original Pathfinder PRO product. As this functionality is deprecated, we would urge all users to migrate to the much more powerful HTML5 Panels.

The Panels created in the original Pathfinder PRO are called Legacy User Panels and are not interoperable with the new HTML 5 Panels. For example, you cannot open an HTML5 Panel in PathfinderPC/Mini and you cannot open a Legacy User Panel in a web browser.