Get_last
jjames
AMX Sustaining Engineer
Okay,
I've seen several threads regarding and posts suggesting the use of GET_LAST. I've found this technique to work wonderful (for me), so for anyone that's not familiar with it, here's how I use it (as I'm sure most of you do.)
First, an array (usually a constant) ...
Now, as coders, we want to get things done quickly, and with the least amount of lines. Let's face it - we hate typing. So, here's a little trick I picked up on. Since we'll never use that STACK_VAR again, and cannot see it in diagnostices, let's take out the declaration of the STACK_VAR and the assignment of nBTN, resulting in this.
I've seen several threads regarding and posts suggesting the use of GET_LAST. I've found this technique to work wonderful (for me), so for anyone that's not familiar with it, here's how I use it (as I'm sure most of you do.)
First, an array (usually a constant) ...
INTEGER TRANSPORT_BTNS[] = // TRANSPORT BUTTONS (71-79)
{
71, // 1 - Play
72, // 2 - Stop
73, // 3 - Pause
74, // 4 - FFWD - Next
75, // 5 - REW - Prev
76, // 6 - SFWD
77, // 7 - SREV
78, // 8 - Record
79 // 9
}
Then a button event ...
BUTTON_EVENT[dv_TP,TRANSPORT_BTNS] (* BUTTONS 71-80 *)
{
PUSH:
{
STACK_VAR INTEGER nBTN
nBTN = GET_LAST(TRANSPORT_BTNS)
SEND_COMMAND dvCABLE,"'SP',nBTN"
}
}
So what's happening here is nBTN becomes the index of which button was hit. If button 71 was hit, nBTN becomes 1, and the SEND_COMMAND would send the 1st IR for the cable box. If 72 was hit, nBTN becomes 2, and so forth.Now, as coders, we want to get things done quickly, and with the least amount of lines. Let's face it - we hate typing. So, here's a little trick I picked up on. Since we'll never use that STACK_VAR again, and cannot see it in diagnostices, let's take out the declaration of the STACK_VAR and the assignment of nBTN, resulting in this.
BUTTON_EVENT[dv_TP,TRANSPORT_BTNS] (* BUTTONS 71-80 *)
{
PUSH:
SEND_COMMAND dvCABLE,"'SP',GET_LAST(TRANSPORT_BTNS)"
}
And since we have only one "event" or "command" under push, the braces are not required, but I would assume that's not best practice.
Comments
INTEGER TRANSPORT_BTNS[] = // TRANSPORT BUTTONS (71-80) { 71, // 1 - Play 72, // 2 - Stop 73, // 3 - Pause 74, // 4 - FFWD - Next 75, // 5 - REW - Prev 76, // 6 - SFWD 77, // 7 - SREV 78, // 8 - Record [b]79, // 22 - Channel + 80 // 23 - Channel ? [/b] }But now we don?t have a one to one correlation of button index to IR code so we?ll add an array to map the desired IR code to be sent to the button that was pushed.
INTEGER TRANSPORT_MAP[] = { //IR channel codes 1, // Play 2, // Stop 3, // Pause 4, // FFWD - Next 5, // REW - Prev 6, // SFWD 7, // SREV 8, // Record [b]22, // Channel + 23 // Channel ? [/b] }Then when we do the button push we can grab the IR channel that matches the button index and if doing simple remote mimicking we can send the IR by doing something like:BUTTON_EVENT[dv_TP,TRANSPORT_BTNS] (* BUTTONS 71-80 *) { PUSH: { TO[dvCable,TRANSPORT_MAP[GET_LAST(TRANSPORT_BTNS)]] } }In a BUTTON_EVENT, GET_LAST is not valid for the HOLD only the PUSH and RELEASE - one of the bigger errors found in the DESIGN EXPRESS generated code is the GET_LAST function iterated under several BUTTON_EVENT:HOLD triggers. And the last time I checked, it also is not valid on an array of TIMELINE_EVENTs - which would be great to have implimented!
Add touch panel array.
DEV dv_TP[] = { dvTP1, // GREAT ROOM TP dvTP2, // LIVING ROOM TP dvTP3, // FLORIDA ROOM TP dvTP4, // MASTER BEDROOM TP dvTP5 // EXERCISE RM TP }Match up your cable boxes, DVDs, CD players, etc.DEV dv_CABLE[] = { dvCABLE1, // GREAT ROOM CAB BOX dvCABLE2, // LIVING ROOM CAB BOX dvCABLE3, // FLORIDA ROOM CAB BOX dvCABLE4, // MASTER BEDROOM CAB BOX dvCABLE5, // EXERCISE RM CAB BOX }And construct your button even like so ...BUTTON_EVENT[dv_TP,KEYPAD_BTNS] // 80-90 (0-10) { PUSH: { LOCAL_VAR nPANEL LOCAL_VAR nBTN nPANEL = GET_LAST(dv_TP) nBTN = GET_LAST(KEYPAD_BTNS) SWITCH(nCUR_SRC[nPANEL]) { CASE SRC_CAB: SEND_COMMAND dv_CABLE[nPANEL],"'SP',CAB_NUMBERS[nBTN]" CASE SRC_CDC: SEND_STRING dv_CDC[nPANEL],"CD_NUMBERS[nBTN],13" CASE SRC_DVD: SEND_STRING dv_DVD[nPANEL],"DVD_NUMBERS[nBTN],13" } } }And there you have it, one event to be controlled by 5 touch panels to control 5 seperate DVD players, cable boxes and CD players.I know I posted earlier by not having the nBTN = GET_LAST(WHATEVER), but with mulitple cases like this, I'll use it the "normal" way.
Regarding not being able to use GET_LAST in a HOLD event, I'll disagree with you on that. I've used them in two programs / projects so far, and they work fine. You do have to declare the variables and GET_LAST in the HOLD part, but it works fine for me.
Sorry - you don't have to declare variables. Here's a little example I whipped up really quick to show you can use them in holds. Hold the button down for at least 2 seconds and it will light up.
Here is an observed example:
An array of button channels for channel presets where a RELEASE does the recall and a PUSH/HOLD brings up the keypad (or keyboard) for editing the value. If while one touchpanel has a preset button held for editing and another touchpanel has a preset button pushed for a preset recall before the HOLD time of the first has elapsed, the GET_LAST under the first button will now point to the second button index as it was the last active value in that array. I know we are talking about fractions of seconds and the supposed low probabilities of coinciding events - and if you are just dealing with a single room/single interface not an issue - but get more than a few well used interfaces in a system and it will happen.
In your example, wouldn't a multi-demensional GET_LAST variable do the trick for that coupled with an array of touchpanels? Something like this:
nPANEL = GET_LAST(dv_TP)
nBTN[nPANEL] = GET_LAST(CHANNEL_PRESETS)