Monday, November 22, 2010

New PE 1.3 Features: GUI Editor Improvements

Project Editor 1.3 contains many new time-saving improvements for the GUI Editor. See below for an outline of the new features:

Click/Drag selection rectangle - to select multiple items

Multi-Level Undo-Redo -(ctrl-z, ctrl-y, or use Edit menu, 20 levels of undo-redo)

Alignment Tools – Select multiple items, right click-Align- choose top, bottom, left, or right

Alignment Helper – When the grid is turned off, drag an item around and any time one side of the item is aligned with a peer, a highlight line will pop up

Z-Ordering – Right click -> Order to send items forward, back, to front, or to back. Also use ctrl-up, ctrl-down for forward and back in the order, or ctrl-shift-up,ctrl-shift-down to send all the way to front or back. This allows unlimited GUI item layering with transparency.

Button re-sizing – Select a button, drag sides or corners to resize

Paste item properties to other items - Example, re-size a button, then copy it, select a group of buttons, and right-click paste-size to apply new size to all selected buttons. Also, copy a label, then select other labels and paste the font, size, etc to the others.

Button press/hold for all button action types, not just IR. Example, drag a serial device’s volume control onto the press action. In the button properties, check “Repeat Action While Held”

Improved Grid snapping-snapping now based on only upper left corner, snaps while dragging, not waiting until release.

“Live” label preview- Edit a button, watch the label text changes preview on the button image, or background if you are editing a background label

Command Tags- Each button can have a selected Command Tag. You can drag entire devices onto a GUI page to populate the entire page of button actions. We will be releasing an updated version of our templates with these tags already applied, but you can add/change button tags manually.

Here’s how it works. Open a GUI page for editing. Drag/drop a device onto the background. You will be prompted for which command types you want to drop onto that page (Volume, transport, etc). Make your selections and click OK.

Command matching will be attempted in the following order:

Factory codes key numbers against command tags key number

Factory codes key names against non-tagged buttons label text (uses variations like Vol Up, Volume +, etc)

Learned codes key names against command tag names (with variations)

Learned codes key names against non-tagged button label text (with variations)

We'll be doing more training webinars in the upcoming weeks to demonstrate the new features and more. If you haven't already, visit www.bitwisecontrols.com/training.php to sign up to be invited when the next training webinar is scheduled.


New PE 1.3 Features: Updated IR library

Project Editor 1.3 provides support for our updated BC4X1, which includes an updated on-board IR library, and improved IR learning capabilities.
The updated on-board IR library includes additional manufacturers and device types. The updated list of included device types is:

- TV

- TV-DVD Combo

- TV-VCR-DVD Combo

- Projector

- Cable/Satellite STB

- Cable/Satellite-DVR STB

- Video Accessory

- Digital Media Receiver

- IPTV

- Media Center Controller

- VCR/PVR

- DVD

- Blu-Ray

- HD-DVD

- DVD/DVR Combo

- DVD/VCR Combo

- Audio Video Receiver

- HTIB (“Home Theater in a Box”)

- Amplifier

- Audio Accessory

- CD

- MP3 Docking Station

- HD Radio

- Satellite Radio

- Home Automation

See the included pack-in sheet with new BC4X1's for important information about working with the updated BC4X1 in new and existing Project Editor project files.

Project Editor 1.3 Released

BitWise Controls has released Project Editor 1.3, which includes a number of exciting new features.
This new version includes support for our updated BC4X1 hardware, which provides an updated on-board IR library and lots of improvements and time-saving features for the GUI Editor. You can obtain the new version by clicking Help->About-> Get Update in Project Editor, or by visiting our downloads page.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Project Editor Update Released

Project Editor 1.2.17 has been released. This update allows the option to use UDP communications instead of HTTP between BitWise Touch and the BC4X1 controller. Using UDP will allow GUI buttons to properly send very long learned IR commands. To use UDP mode, go to Tools->Touch Options, and make the selection, then re-upload your GUI Group to BitWise Touch.

To update to Project Editor 1.2.17, go to Help->About->Get Update, or visit www.bitwisecontrols.com/downloads.php

This requires BitWise Touch version 1.2.2 or higher.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Awesome GUI Templates Now Available!




















We've got some great new GUI templates available that really look great, and help speed up your installations.
Here's a demo video of the template files running on an iPad (There's an iPhone/iPod Touch template as well)

These templates, combined with the awesome new GUI editing features we've just released, will really help speed up your installations! Check it out:


Software Updates Released!

We've been listening to installers and adding great new features and improvements to our Project Editor software and BitWise Touch app for Apple devices! These exciting new features will help add power and value to your BitWise Controls installations.

Fantastic GUI Editor Improvements- Save time with great new features like dragging/dropping device commands, macros, and page navigation from the Project Tree to GUI Buttons! Multi-item selection and positioning (copy, drag, nudge, etc)! Copy items from one GUI Page to another! Open more than one GUI editor at a time!
GUI Template Support - Create your own GUI page and group templates, use them to save time in future installations. Or check out our new Template files for sale!.
GUI Button Sounds - Optional GUI button 'Click' sound in can be turned on or off in BitWise Touch app settings.
Web Image/IP Camera Support - Add any web-based image file, even MJPEG IP Camera streams to GUI pages!
On-Rotation GUI Page Flips - Maximize your GUI page real estate by creating both landscape and portrait versions of each GUI page. Automatically flip to the appropriate version when the device is rotated!
Custom Javascript - Programmers can dynamically alter GUI page content at runtime, or execute other custom Javascript functions from GUI buttons!

Check out our website to learn more about Project Editor and BitWise Touch.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Project Editor v1.2.11 requires all BC4X1s in a project to be running BC4 firmware v1.073 (included with the Project Editor Installer). After updating the firmware, you may be prompted to enter a "Pro Upgrade" code for any BC4X1 Pro hardware shipped before August 1, 2010. Please contact sales@bitwisecontrols.com, and include the MAC addresses of any units you need an upgrade code for. BC4X1 hardware shipped after August 1, 2010 will not require this additional step.


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Project Editor 1.2 Released

BitWise Controls Project Editor Software version 1.2 has been released. This update provides a number of exciting new features, including IP Camera support for GUI pages, on-rotation GUI page jumps for our BitWise Touch app, custom javascript support, GUI template support (including BitFusion from Blackman Signature Designs coming soon), and more.