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Tutorial: Your First Space

In about twenty minutes you take a starter project, see it run against a simulated projector, and add three things to it: a status readout in plain words, source buttons that light up to show which input is live, and a shutdown that runs itself every weeknight. No scripts, and no AV hardware.

What you will learn:

  • Opening a starter project and running it in the Simulator
  • Testing a command and reading a device’s live state
  • A variable that mirrors a device value and translates it
  • Wiring a control: what it does when touched, and what it shows
  • A scheduled trigger with a condition
  • Trying the panel as an operator, and saving your work

What You’ll Build

The Simple Projector starter has one PJLink projector, a System On macro and a System Off macro, and a Main page with the two buttons and a status LED. You add:

  • A label that reads Warming up, Ready, Cooling down or Off
  • Laptop and Wireless buttons that switch the projector’s input and light up to match it
  • A trigger that runs System Off at 10 PM on weekdays, but only if the projector is still on

Prerequisites

  • OpenAVC installed and the Programmer open in your browser. See Getting Started if you have not done that yet, including the first-run sign-in.

Step 1: Open the Starter Project

  1. Click Program in the sidebar.
  2. Under Project Library, click Simple Projector.
  3. The Open Project dialog says the running project will be replaced and backed up. Click Open.

The project name at the top of the Program view changes to Simple Projector. The starter’s driver installs with it, so the projector is ready to use.

Step 2: Start the Simulator

The projector in this project points at an address that does not exist on your network. The Simulator stands in for it.

  1. Click Simulate Devices (the play button at the bottom of the sidebar).
  2. Click Start Simulation.

The Simulator opens in a new browser tab. It shows a card for the projector with its own power control, an Input row, lamp hours and a log of every message it exchanges with OpenAVC. This is the equipment side of the conversation, and you can change things here as if you were standing at the projector.

Back in the Programmer, click Devices. The projector now shows as Online.

Step 3: Test a Command

  1. Click Projector in the device list.
  2. Click Power On at the top of the device page.

Watch Live State below it: power changes to warming, then a few seconds later to on. In the Simulator tab, the projector card now reads ON.

Every device page works this way. The row of buttons at the top runs the driver’s common commands with one click, Send Command runs any command with the parameters it needs, and Device Log shows the exact bytes sent and received. Confirm a device answers here before you build anything on top of it.

Step 4: A Status Readout in Plain Words

The projector reports warming, on, cooling and off. An operator should read Warming up or Ready. A variable can mirror the device value and translate it, with no script.

  1. Click State in the sidebar, then New Variable.
  2. Set the ID to projector_status, leave the Type as String, set the Label to Projector Status and the Default to Off. Click Create.
  3. The new variable opens on the right. Under Source, choose Bound to state key.
  4. Click Select state key to bind… and pick device.projector1.power under Device: Projector.
  5. Under Value Map, click Add mapping four times and fill in the rows:
Source valueVariable value
onReady
offOff
warmingWarming up
coolingCooling down

The Current Value at the top of the panel reads Ready while the projector is on. Change the projector’s power from the Simulator tab and it follows.

Step 5: Show It on the Panel

  1. Click UI Builder in the sidebar. The Main page shows the title, the two system buttons and the status LED.
  2. In the Elements list on the left, click Label. A new label lands on the canvas. Drag it to a clear spot below the buttons.
  3. With the label selected, scroll the Properties panel on the right to Bindings. Every control has two buckets there: Shows (what it reflects from live state) and Does (what happens when it is touched). A label only shows.
  4. Under Shows > Text, choose State Variable, click Select variable… and pick Projector Status.

The label now reads Ready. The UI Builder saves as you go; the toolbar says Saved when it has.

Step 6: Source Buttons That Light Up

A source button needs both buckets: it sends the input command, and it lights up when the projector reports that input.

The Laptop button

  1. In Elements, click Button. Under Basic, set Text to Laptop.
  2. Under Bindings > Does, click Press Action. Set the Action Type to Device Command, the Device to Projector and the Command to Set Input. For the input parameter, type hdmi1.
  3. Click Test under the parameters. The projector switches to HDMI 1; the Simulator’s log shows the command and the reply.
  4. Under Bindings > Shows > Appearance, set the Source to Projector and the State Key to input. Each key in that list shows its current value in brackets, and input reads digital1: that is how a PJLink projector names HDMI 1.
  5. For Active when value equals, pick digital1. The list offers the values the projector has reported, which is why you tested the command first.
  6. Under When active, set Background to a colour, for example #4a7d5c. Leave the inactive look as it is.

The Wireless button

Add a second Button the same way with the Text Wireless, the input parameter hdmi2, and after clicking Test, the condition digital2. Give it the same active colour.

Drag the two buttons side by side. The one whose input is live is lit. Click HDMI 1 on the projector card in the Simulator tab and watch the highlight move: the button’s look follows the projector, not the press.

Step 7: Shut Down on a Schedule

  1. Click Macros in the sidebar, then System Off.
  2. Under Triggers, click Add Trigger and choose Schedule.
  3. Set the Preset to Weekdays at… and the Time to 22 : 00. The trigger’s summary reads Weekdays at 22:00.
  4. Under Conditions, click Add Condition. Set the Key to device.projector1.power (under Device: Projector), leave the operator as Equals, and set the Value to on.

The editor evaluates the condition as you type: with the projector on it reads “ALL TRUE, trigger would fire”. At 10 PM on a weeknight, System Off runs only if the projector is still on. A projector someone already shut down is left alone.

Step 8: Try It as an Operator

  1. Back in UI Builder, click Preview in the toolbar. The canvas becomes the live panel and the button reads Stop.
  2. Press System Off. The label reads Cooling down, then Off, the LED changes, and both source buttons go dark.
  3. Press System On, wait for Ready, then press Wireless.
  4. Click Stop to go back to editing.

To see exactly what an operator sees, open http://localhost:8080/panel in another browser tab. On a tablet or phone, use the address the Dashboard’s Panel Access card shows and approve the device once when it asks; the packaged installs accept network connections out of the box, and Getting Started covers opening up an install from source.

Step 9: Keep It

  • Click Program, then Save As. Give the project a new ID such as first_space and a name of your own, so it is saved beside the starter rather than replacing it.
  • Export downloads the project as a .zip bundle with everything it needs, which is how you move a project to another machine or hand it over.

What’s Next

You have used the four things every OpenAVC space is made of: devices and their commands, state and variables, macros with triggers, and a panel whose controls do and show. The rest is depth.

  • OpenAVC Academy: the Associate course builds a complete presentation and meeting space from a blank project, one decision at a time, and ends in a certification. Foundations is the shorter introduction.
  • Tutorial: Build a Classroom with Scripts: when a macro cannot express the logic, a short Python script can.
  • Devices and Drivers: installing drivers from the community library, adding real equipment, and finding devices on the network.
  • UI Builder: every element type, themes, pages and navigation, master elements.
  • Macros and Triggers: conditional steps, waiting for a device state, and every trigger type.