Driver implemented in: vsmGadgetServer

Content

Summary

This document provides information about the (...) protocol implementation for VSM.

Status of Driver	APPROVED
Component for Driver	GADGETSERVER
Release (Build) of Component	vsmGadgetserver 5.6.0.x (2019)
Revision of Implementation	1.0

Name/Type of 3rd Party API
Version of 3rd Party API
Additional 3rd Party information

Connection

Connection Type	UDP
Default Port	6454

Supported Features

There are two variants for the protocol, a native and a managed implementation. The native protocol displays all universes within a network and their channels. Each universe can have up to 512 channels. Each channel has a value range from 0 to 255. The device associated with a channel depends on the device configuration. So the native variant is quite abstract, but can be used for any purpose.

A universe is identified by a number, which is also configured within the device.

The managed implementation can be used to control a single device, but it uses a DDF (Device Description File) file which describes the device in detail. These files are freely available in the internet (DDF DMXC2) and use xml to describe the device. The following control types are supported:

Slider
DropDown (enumeration)
Options (enumeration)
OnOff
ColorPicker

The advantage of the managed protocol using the DDF files is, that the channels use different value ranges and are therefore very useful within custom user interfaces.

The following section lists the structure of the two protocols:

Native
- Universe 1
  - Channel 1 (Parameter with a range from 0 to 255)
  - Channel 2
  - …
- Universe 2
  - …
- …
Managed
- Device
  - Slider
    - Value (Range specified in DDF File)
  - ColorPicker
    - Red
    - Green
    - Blue
  - Option
    - Enumerated Value
  - OnOff
    - Value (True/False)
  - DropDown
    - Enumerated Value

Supported Commands

PollReply	Reports the new status of a device
Output	Requests to change the parameter of a device

Configuration Details

The protocol provides the following options:

Option	Description
Universe Identifier	Only used in the managed protocol. This option specifies the universe number the device is located in.
Channel Offset	Only used in the managed protocol. This option specifies the channel index of the device to control. This value is usually configured within the device.
Device Description File	Only used in the managed protocol. The XML file containing the device description.
Ignore Timeouts	If set to true and no universe state is received for several seconds, the local state will not be reset to the default values. If set to false, the universe data will be reset to the last known and confirmed value if a timeout occurs.
Ignore ArtDmx Packets	If set to true the universe state received from a remote device will be ignored.
Broadcast Interval	Specifies how often the local state shall be transmitted to the remote devices.

Known Issues

Often a universe does not constantly broadcast its current state. In that case, the “IgnoreArtDmxPackets” option should be set to true
This driver has been successfully tested with ELC's Node8gbx (DMX Lan, → ELC Lighting)
Compatibility with other devices does not automatically apply and requires case-by-case verification.