The BitWise Controls Team Blog

New PE 1.3 Features: GUI Editor Improvements

2010-11-22T07:56:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-22T07:50:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-22T07:46:00.001-08:00

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.

Project Editor Update Released

2010-09-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Awesome GUI Templates Now Available!

2010-08-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Project Editor 1.2 Released

2010-08-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Software Update Preview

2010-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of new features and improvements on the way for our Project Editor software and BitWise Touch app. Here are a few of the new things you can look forward to.

Web Images: This will allow you to add web images to your GUI pages, including the MJPEG output from IP cameras.

GUI Group Import/Export: Now you will be able to import and export entire GUI Groups, keeping page jumps intact. This will an easy way to create and share GUI "templates".

GUI Page Jumps on iPhone/iPad Rotatation: You can now create Landscape and Portrait versions of each GUI page, and define on-rotatation page jumps to move between them.

Improved GUI Label Text Editing: Now you can add multi-line text to buttons and labels, including left/center/right alignment.

Button Sounds: A new user-definable app setting allows you to turn button sounds on and off in BitWise Touch.

Custom Javascript Support: You will be able to add custom javascript files to your GUI Groups, allowing you to dynamically alter GUI element properties (such as label text), and trigger javascript functions from GUI button actions.

These updates are coming very soon, be sure to sign up for product updates to be notified when they are released.

BitWise Touch Available Now!

2010-05-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

BitWise Touch, our new App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch is available now in the App Store.

This app lets you store and execute custom GUI files (created with our Project Editor software) right on the device, turning your "iDevice" into an amazing control point for all of your AV equipment, Lights, and more. An automated discovery and upload process makes transferring GUI files from your PC to the device extremely simple. Also, be sure to check out the new graphics files we've posted for use with Project Editor and BitWise Touch.

Free Graphics Files!

2010-05-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

We've just posted some free graphics files for use with our Project Editor software. Feel free to check them out.

Project Editor Updated

2010-05-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

Our BC4 Project Editor software has been updated.

New Features included with this update:

Added GUI "Groups", which allow you to create a Group for each user input device (iPad, tablet PC, etc)
Added GUI file transfer support for our upcoming BitWise Touch app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Added new GUI page resolution presets (Portrait and Landscape) for iPad & iPhone/iPod

To get the new version, go to our Project Editor page, or go to Help-About in Project Editor, and choose "Get Update"

Remember, you can sign up to be automatically notified of Product and Software updates.

BC4 Project Editor Updated, new Firmware Released

2010-04-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

We've added some great new features to our BC4 Project Editor Software and associated BC4 firmware. The new features are:

GUI Import/Export. This allows you to easily share GUIs between projects.
Macro Line Cut & Paste. This speeds up macro creation.
Selective Uploading. This speeds up testing in multi-BC4 projects, allowing you to upload to a single BC4, instead of ALL BC4s.
Bug Fixes. There were bound to be a few, right?
Support for new macro triggering features. This is mostly for developers (who would want to check out the "Macros" section of the latest BC4 Command Protocol documentation for more info)

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS FIRMWARE UPDATE

So, along with the Project Editor update, comes an update for the BC4 firmware. This firmware update is a little different than in the past. It will return the BC4 to its factory default settings (IP, Name, etc), and it will also require an update to the internal web pages. All of this can be done using the Firmware Updater in the Tools menu of Project Editor (make sure to update Project Editor first).

Remember, updating the BC4 firmware will return the BC4 to its defaults, which means the IP address will most likely have changed. You will want to re-scan the network (click the "Discover" button) for BC4s to find the new IP address before attempting to update the web files (click the "Update Web Pages" button).

Once the updates are complete, you can re-configure the BC4 settings via the internal web pages, or by clicking 'Apply Settings to BC4' in the BC4 properties window in Project Editor.

This will return the BC4 to the settings stored in the project file.

Did you know that you can be automatically notified of updates to BitWise products and software? It's true, click here.

Remember, you can always get help from support@bitwisecontrols.com.

HomeSeer Technologies releases HSTouch client for iPad

2010-04-05T07:24:00.001-07:00

HomeSeer Technologies (one of our many third-party integration partners) has released their new HSTouch client for Apple's iPad. HSTouch provides a great interface for all of your HomeSeer-connected devices, including the BitWise BC4X1.

Total Control Remote Edditon update released

2010-04-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

One of our integration partners, Intelligent Designs Group, has released an update to their Total Control Remote Edition app for iPhone and iPod. This app works in conjunction with the BitWise Controls BC4X1 to turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a fully featured universal remote control.

The latest update includes some useful features, including support for BC4 macros created with our new BC4 Project Editor software, "punch through" for device commands, and the ability to start at a specified device on app launch.

iTunes Link

Will the iPad be a game changer?

2010-03-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this CEPro article.

Using our BC4X1, Project Editor software and any of the great apps available from our integration partners, this combination will make a powerful and moderately priced control system.

BC4 Command Protocol 1.5 released

2010-03-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

We have posted our latest version of the BC4 Command Protocol documentation. This revision accompanies BC4 firmware revision 1.062, and adds documentation for Macro and User Variable commands. Macros and User Variables are created using our new BC4 Project Editor software, and can be accessed (along with all other BC4 functionality) by third-party systems using our Command Protocol.

Project Editor Software Released!

2010-03-22T18:43:00.001-07:00

We're proud to announce the rollout of our new Project Editor software. Check it out here.