Demopad for Ipad & Iphone - Page 13

After setting up Roomie on an iPad with substantial success, I downloaded the app to my iPhone to give that a try. After restoring via Dropbox, the whole graphic doesn't fit on the screen. I checked to see if I got the wrong app, but see only one. What am I missing?

This is the Demopad post not Roomie.....

So it is...sorry! I've been using DemoPad as well as Roomie and jumped into the wrong thread.

Sodbuster, would you mind giving us some quick thoughts on your opinions of both?

I am looking to use different fonts for text. Is there a way to load more?

Thanks

Any Vera Z-Wave users that are also using Demopad? I finally got Demopad and Vera working together to send HTTP POST commands to control my Panasonic Bluray player. Controlling the light was easy enough too. Sending commands to a JVC RS-45 was a real trial and error process, though working now.

After checking Youtube for Demopad videos, I decided to completely redo my interface. There is an example on there that is much better than anything posted here.


I second that
Demopad is great in that you can have sliding menus to spice it up, but has a long way to go IMHO. Basic things like copying buttons across pages and reordering commands/flags are still missing, among other things.

Happy to comment, but I'm dubious that my limited experience will be very helpful.

To start with, I had a bad time setting up the WIFi2IR device because my router was not set to the required standard, but eventually it was sorted out with help from the DemoPad help desk.

I also purchased the GC-IRL device which works with iLearn to capture the IR codes from remotes. At the time, I hadn't
realized that the iTach gizmo had this capability, too. So I spent unnecessary dollars, but this device is very handy and I don't regret it.

I spent some time working with DemoPad, creating very basic pages for each component I wanted to control. Fancy graphics are beyond me, so my pages are just a series of buttons. I do like the way iLearn can save all the commands from the GC-IRL and how these commands can be dragged and dropped onto a button.

DemoPad makes it easy to create a page of commands for equipment Roomie has never heard of, for example, to open or close the curtains covering my screen. I have learned how to insert a series of commands into a virtual remote that already exists on Rommie, but I haven't yet learned how to create a new remote from scratch. I tried to plug in the curtain commands as Inputs on my AVP remote, but no luck. Curtain control is a cinch on DemoPad.

I very much like the easy method of selecting repeat "sends" in Roomie, and in setting delays between commands in a macro...fiddling with these has been essential to success. These variables are available in DemoPad as well, but not so intuitive.

One area where I still hope to gain better control is lighting. There are three sets of lights in my HT, each controlled by an X10 wall switch. Roomie does have a simple virtual remote which works withu X10, especially after setting up Activities with macros. I can select the lights I wish to turn off and on, but no luck with controlled dimming. This is true in either Roomie or DemoPad, and I'm reasonably sure this is a deficiency in the X10 system itself and not in Roomie or DemoPad.

Perhaps I should mention that all my gear is controlled using IR commands sent by the iTach wifi2ir gizmo and distributed via a Xantech block. There is an X10 receiver which translates the IR to X10 commands on the powerline in the mix as well.

I have found much useful advice on the AVS forums, and after long absences I return here when contemplating something new for the HT. I discovered these clever apps only after my Pronto failed to allow updating after a decade of faithful service, and I needed a new universal remote ( I hated the Harmony I tried a year or two ago).

So Three Cheers for AVS!!

I'm not Sodbuster and I haven't used Demopad yet BUT I have used Roomie and iRule.

I tried Roomie because I wanted a system that offers professional looking graphics already inbuilt. For me that's the hardest and most time consuming part of apps like irule and Demopad, creating the GUI.

Roomie has the inbuilt graphics but it's useless to me because you can't lay them out how you want. It lets you hide certain parts of a remote and thats it. You cant even make a page that has mixed controls on it like for example DVD transport, receiver functions and a light switch. It wont let you map any command to any button. You can only have DVD commands on the DVD remote, receiver controls on the receiver remote etc. (apart from volume). So you have to jump between pages to access the buttons you use often that belong to different remotes.

Roomie also lacks documentation so you either have to spend time doing trial and error or spend time emailing back and forth to them. They answer pretty fast but it's not a good workflow.

Maybe you tried Roomie many months ago. They've had a lot of updates and every single one of the items you just enumerated is something I've personally done in Roomie and it was pretty obvious how to do it so I don't think it's something you're going to miss. Some of those were recent features though so will assume they were not there when you tried it. You can certainly make a remote design with whatever and however many buttons you want. Those buttons can control whatever and however many components you want on the same page.

I am trying to setup my Denon 4311 to be controlled via IP by Demopad, does anyone know what port number (under device properties) it needs to be set at? To be honest this is getting pretty frustrating, the Denon works with Roomie via IP flawlessly (no need to enter port number etc.)
The manual says you should enter the port "specified by the device". I can't find that specification anywhere......

No, I am using the latest version. I would like to know how you do what you say it can do because then it would be useful. If it was "obvious" I would be doing it.

DemoPad support says port 23, but it is still not working with IP commands they provided.

Can you point to a tutorial for this? YouTube video? I agree it's not obvious that this can be done, and I would very much like to learn how.

That is correct. Port 23.

I noticed you said it works flawlessly with Roomie. Is this still running in the background?
The connection into the Denon is a Telnet connection, so only one program can connect at one time.

Make sure Roomie is not running and try again. If it still doesn't work, reboot the Denon, making sure Roomie is not running and the Denon has a static IP set. Then see if it works.

I didn't know you could have more than one app running at a time on the iPad. In any case support told me to use\\x0D as the default command suffix instead of \\x0D\\x0A, and that worked. Interesting as the DirecTV uses \\x0D\\x0A for IP control. They probably should mention this in the manual...

Hopefully the Demopad guys still read this thread.

So, unless I'm blind, I discovered that once you add link a subpage to another page you cannot remove that link. For example, if you wanted to move it to a different page, the only option is to delete the actual subpage and then recreate it elsewhere. That is WAY to much work once you've already designed buttons, assigned flags and commands, etc.

Am I missing something (hopefully)?

Working with Roomie vs. DemoPad has left me confused. Roomie requires designating which of the three IR output ports gets the command...is there something similar with DemoPad or do all three pots receive every command?

Sorry, can't help you with the Globalcache device. My system is entirely LAN/IP based; I went out of my way to avoid IR and additional devices that need it.

But, I believe you address the ports individually by number.

Sorry, I didn't mean to quote your post, but I was using an iPad and the navigation is different there and it just seemed to happen.

As to your design which avoids IR: Good plan! I would emulate you if I had the right gear or knew how, but my components aren't generally addressable on my LAN...or my skills are too primitive, which is certainly possible.

Sod,
It's in the code that you send to the GC.
Changing it from 1 to 2 to 3 designates which IR port it's going to.

Thanks, I think I did know that early in the game. At my age I need constant updating to reinforce anything new.

Edit: deleted

Still waiting for you to explain how this is possible (in Roomie).

geordie,
just go into the activities section of roomie and then choose the remote , g o into the remote and from there you can customise each button or add or delete buttons

Thanks for trying to help but you probably missed my earlier post with the full question which was

"Roomie has the inbuilt graphics but it's useless to me because you can't lay them out how you want. It lets you hide certain parts of a remote and thats it. You cant even make a page that has mixed controls on it like for example DVD transport, receiver functions and a light switch. It wont let you map any command to any button. You can only have DVD commands on the DVD remote, receiver controls on the receiver remote etc. (apart from volume). So you have to jump between pages to access the buttons you use often that belong to different remotes."

Also, just adding and deleting buttons is very restrictive compared to moving buttons.

Roomie q&a should probably go in the Roomie thread, not the demopad one.
Please go to the Roomie thread for my response.

So when is two-way feedback coming for non-Lutron devices?
All my equipment provides feedback, but I know of no way to use a portion of the data they send as the info to be displayed on dynamic buttons, i.e. volume display. As it stands now, you have to create a separate event for each reply based on its content, rather than directly USING that content and displaying it.

Also, has anybody had issues with the app crashing/freezing on an iDevice?
For example, several times now, I have had various buttons with a number of commands associated with them, and when I remove a command that has a delay in it, the button still behaves as if the delay is still there. Or, I have made changes to a button and they are not reflected when the iPad downloads the files. In both cases, the only fix has been to delete the offending button and recreate it with the EXACT same sequence of commands, at which point it behaves as expected.

I really like the results I'm getting from Demopad, when it's working. But honestly, it's a bear to work with.

DEVS: Please integrate true two-way feedback, the ability to re-order commands (instead of deleting and re-creating), copy items across pages/subpages, move a subpage from one page to another, and store predefined HTTP commands to be sent to websites.

I'm constantly having to recreate various elements from scratch with the current limitations. There should be a way to store a library of buttons with associated commands so you don't have to go through the whole creation process to test something and then do it again in the final project.

When I launched the designer yesterday it came up with a download new version message, in the message it stated that general feedback had been added.
Can't see any difference so I am not sure what they have implemented.

True 2-way feedback is coming...

The order in which commands appear in the list is not necessarily the order in which they execute - the delay parameter is NOT cumulative. That is why removing a command that has a delay has no effect on timings....

You can copy objects across pages / subpages / projects using Control-A (select all), Control-C (to copy) and Control-V (to paste after clicking the background of the target page).

Subpages are designed to be used across multiple pages, and you delete them from a page just like you delete a button - by pressing the delete key. Not sure what the issue is here, please email support@demopad.com & they will help you out.

You can store HTTP commands (GET and POST) in pre-defined commands, example command: "GET /processKey.cgi?key=menu HTTP/1.0 \\x0D\\x0A".

I cannot stress enough that users should email support@demopad.com directly for assistance - the support is free & fast (and accurate, unlike some posts/comments we've seen on various forums).

I'll try copying some elements again, I don't think I overlooked the obvious windows shortcuts, but anything is possible. I hope not though, I work in IT and am pretty proficient with computers, so that would be quite embarrassing lol.

Nothing happens when I try to delete a subpage from a page.

I understand that command timings are not cumulative. It very much matters which order they fire in when tracking 'states' though. So we need to be able to move them up or down to change scenarios. When you have 30+ commands tied to a button, it's a pain to make changes when you can't move them around.