Essentials architecture

Summary

PepperDash Essentials is an open-source framework for control systems, built on Crestron's Simpl# Pro framework. Essentials v3 targets .NET 8 and runs on 4-series processors and VC-4 servers. It can be configured as a standalone program capable of running a wide variety of system designs and can also be used to augment other Crestron programs.

Essentials is a collection of C# libraries that can be used in many ways. It is a 100% configuration-driven framework that can be extended to add different workflows and behaviors, either through the addition of new device-types and classes, or via a plug-in mechanism. The framework is a collection of things that are all related and interconnected, but in general do not have strong dependencies on each other.

Framework Libraries

The table below is a guide to the basic organization of code within the libraries that make up Essentials v3. Each is a project under src/ in the repository.

Library	What it contains
`PepperDash.Essentials`	The program itself: `ControlSystem`, which starts the system, loads plugins and config, builds devices, rooms and tie lines, and registers the system's console commands
`PepperDash.Essentials.Core`	`DeviceManager` and `DeviceFactory`, the config reader and writer, the plugin loader, the comm factory, feedbacks, routing, SIMPL bridging and join maps, Crestron I/O (relays, digital inputs, Versiports, IR), Fusion, system monitoring and the web API used by Essentials Dev Tools
`PepperDash.Essentials.Devices.Common`	Device types and interfaces that aren't Crestron hardware: displays, sources, set top boxes, video and audio codecs, cameras, DSPs, lighting, shades and room interfaces
`PepperDash.Essentials.MobileControl`	Mobile Control: the system controller, the Direct Server that serves the web UI and its WebSocket, touchpanel controllers and room bridges
`PepperDash.Essentials.MobileControl.Messengers`	The messengers that connect device and room interfaces to Mobile Control clients
`PepperDash.Core`	The foundation: the `Device` class and `IKeyed`, logging (Serilog), communication clients and servers (TCP, UDP, SSH, HTTP, WebSocket), Portal config merging and JSON-to-SIMPL utilities
`PepperDash.Core.Abstractions`	Interfaces over the Crestron console, environment and data store, so core code can be unit tested without a processor
Plugins	Your own device and room types, extensions of existing devices, and bridges for them to SIMPL Windows. See Plugins

The diagram below shows the references between the libraries. An arrow points from a library to the next library it references; each library also references every library below that one. All of them use the Crestron SIMPL# SDK packages. Plugins reference Essentials through the PepperDashEssentials NuGet package, which contains all of the libraries.

flowchart BT
    Abstractions["PepperDash.Core.Abstractions"]
    Core["PepperDash.Core"]
    EssCore["PepperDash.Essentials.Core"]
    Common["PepperDash.Essentials.Devices.Common"]
    Messengers["PepperDash.Essentials.MobileControl.Messengers"]
    MC["PepperDash.Essentials.MobileControl"]
    Program["PepperDash.Essentials (program)"]
    Plugins["Plugins"]

    Core --> Abstractions
    EssCore --> Core
    Common --> EssCore
    Messengers --> Common
    MC --> Messengers
    Program --> MC
    Plugins -. "PepperDashEssentials NuGet package" .-> Program

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Table of Contents

Essentials architecture

Summary

Framework Libraries