Text Controller

1. In your schematic, double-click the Text Controller component to open the elements editor.
2. In the Controls section, click to add a new control.
3. In the Properties section, configure the new control. See Text Controller.
4. Click to open the Lua text editor.
5. Write Lua code for your defined controls. Click Save changes (yellow bar) to save your script.
6. Run (F5) or emulate (F6) your design to start the script.
7. You can add Panels to a Text Controller, by clicking on the at the top of the Controller window. After a panel is added, you can name the panels by double-clicking on Panel 1-n. The same capabilities exist for a panel that exist for the schematic page with the exception of wiring.

Note: If there are no Panels configured, then the "Controls" tab is shown.

Tip: The ‘Edit’ and ‘Add Panel’ buttons are next to the component name for easier access, even with large scripts. The ‘Close’ button stays on the right, but you can double-click the header to close it quickly.

To see an example configuration, see Example.

Tip: For additional properties not listed, refer to the Properties Panel help topic for more information.

Text Controller Properties

Double-click the Text controller component to open the elements editor, which is where you define controls for your Lua script. After defining controls, click to open the Lua text editor.

Controls

Controls

• Click to add a new control to the list, and then configure its properties.
• Click and drag the icon to re-order the list of controls.
• Select one or more control icons and drag or copy/paste them into your schematic or user control interface. (Use the Ctrl key to select multiple controls.)

Serial Port Inputs

Specify how many serial port input pins to expose, from 0 to 128. Use these pins with the SerialPorts Lua library.

Virtual Serial Port Outputs

Specify how many virtual serial port output pins to expose, from 0 to 128. Use these pins with the SerialServerPorts Lua library.

Controls Properties

General Properties

Name

Specify a name for the input.

Count

Specify the number of controls of the specified type to create.

Control Type

Category

Button

Select a Push Action:

• Momentary: When the button is clicked, it stays in its opposite state until released.
• Toggle: Allows you to turn the button on or off.
• Trigger: Sends a single command.
• State Trigger: Sends a command when conditions are met. See the State Trigger topic.

Knob

Specify a Max Value and Min Value for the specified Units:

• dB: -100 to 20
• Hz: 10 to 20000
• Float: (No limit)
• Integer: -999999999 to 99999999
• Pan: -1 to 1

  Note: The Pan range is ignored when setting the Pan value. When setting a pan control value in the Block Controller control panel, the valid range is L100 to 0 (or C) to R100. In the Blocks Editor, the valid range is -1 to 1, where -1 is the equivalent of 'L100', 0 is the equivalent of 'C', and 1 is the equivalent of 'R100'. For example, a value of -0.5 is L50, and a value of 0.5 is R50.

• Percent: 0 to 100
• Position: 0 to 1
• Seconds: (No limit)

Indicator

Specify a Type: LED, Meter, Text, Status.

Text

Specify a Type: Text Box, Combo Box, List Box

Control Pin

Expose pins for these controls: None, Input (pins on the left), Output (pins on the right), or Both.

Tip: While in the Script area, press F1 for help on the Lua scripting language.

The script editor contains these areas:

• Text editor – Write script for your configuration. You can edit the script in the Design, Emulate, or Run modes, but any errors are only detected in the Run or Emulate modes.
• Script menu – Click to start or stop the script.
• Information bar at the top of the script – Click the yellow "Save changes" bar to reload (not run) the script. Syntax errors are indicated in a red bar at top-right, as well as in the Debug Output area.
• Search bar – Click the Search bar on the right side of the page to locate or replace text in your script. As a shortcut, press F3 to find the next item.

Rules for Referencing Control Names in Script

• Control names that contain no spaces can be referenced with dotted notation. Examples: 'Button' could be referenced 'Controls.Button.Boolean'; Names with spaces: 'Big Button' = 'Controls["Big Button"].Boolean'
• For a single control (Count = 1), you can directly access the control. Example: 'MyKnob' = 'Controls.MyKnob.Value'
• If at least two controls are defined in a row (Count = 2+), you must access the controls as an array. Example: 'MyKnobs' x 3 = 'Controls.MyKnobs[1].Value', 'Controls.MyKnobs[2].Value', 'Controls.MyKnob[3].Value'
• If at least two controls are defined in a row (Count = 2+) and spaces are used in the control name, quotes must be used around the control name. Example: 'My Knobs' x 2 = 'Controls["My Knobs"][1].Value', 'Controls["My Knobs"][2].Value'

See Debug Output.

The available Control Pins depend on settings in Properties.

In this simple example, Text Controller is configured with a control button that can be used to retrieve a list of control names from any named component in the design.

Naming components

This example contains two audio components - Gain and Delay. Rename each with a custom name ("MyGain", "MyDelay"). Renaming the components with custom names allows the Named Components function to retrieve a table of control names for those components. For more information about named components in Lua, see Component.

Defining controls

Drag Text Controller onto the canvas and double-click it to open the elements editor. Add three controls with these names and properties:

• Get Controls – A trigger button that retrieves a table of control names for the specified component custom name. (Category = Button; Push Action = Trigger)
• Component Name – A text box for entering the custom name of a component. (Category = Text; Type = Text Box)
• Output – A text box to contain the returned table of control names. (Category = Text; Type = Text Box)

Adding Lua script

Click to open the Lua text editor. Add the following script, and then click Save changes.

Controls["Component Name"].EventHandler = function(ctl)
comp = Component.New(ctl.String)
end

-- Returns all controls of the component in "Component Name"

Controls["Get Controls"].EventHandler = function()
local str = " Get Controls for "..Controls["Component Name"].String.."\r"
for k,v in pairs(comp) do
str = str..k.."\r"
end
Controls.Output.String = str
end

comp = Component.New(Controls["Component Name"].String)

Running the script

1. Emulate (F6) or run (F5) the design to start the script.
2. Click the schematic page tab ("Page 1" if you didn't rename it).
3. In the Component Name text box, type the name of one of the custom control names - MyGain - and then press Enter.
4. Click Get Controls.
5. The Output text box shows the list of controls for that component name. Repeat the process for MyDelay to see how the output changes.

• Refer to Control Scripting and the Lua 5.3 Reference Manual for information about writing scripts.
• Q-SYS Training - Control 101

  Learn the basic Q-SYS third party control principles, including Lua scripting basics.

Using Components with Snapshot Controller Ramp Time

Components such as the Crossover Component or other Text Controller or Custom Controls like the Integer Knobs, and Hexadecimal Knobs will not be recalled by Snapshot if the Ramp Time is a non-zero number.

LED State Retention

In a text controller, if you use a script to set the state of an LED, then disconnect and emulate again, the LED always starts in the ‘off' status. This is normal as an LED is an indicator. Indicators such as LED, Status, Text Indicators, and Meters reset their state to the default anytime the script restarts unless they are wired to another control and can get their state from the wired logic.

UCI Layer Name Retrieval

When using a script to obtain the names of the layers on a UCI from a UCI Layer Controller component, it is recommended to avoid using underscores (“_” ) in the layer names. This ensures that the name returned matches the actual layer name, preventing any potential discrepancies.

Text Controller settings not mirrored on Backup Core

Currently, scripts are only executed on the active Core, and not on the standby Core. Additionally, read-only controls are not synchronized between the Cores.