Replace a simulated device with a real one

Every device in the demo is simulated, but the room doesn't know or care. It talks to devices through standard interfaces (routing, power, volume and so on), so you can swap a simulated device for real hardware by changing its config entry. The room logic, UI and other config stay the same.

1. Find a device type

A real device's type comes from one of two places:

Built into Essentials. See supported devices. To list every type the running program can create, run gettypes:1 in the console.
A plugin. Most device support lives in plugins, such as the LG display plugin. Each plugin's README gives its type name and properties. Load the plugin's .cplz into the program's plugins folder (/user/program1/plugins/ on a 4-series processor), then restart the program.

2. Change the device entry

Keep the device's key the same, so everything that refers to it (tie lines, source lists, tech settings) still works. Change its type, and give it the properties that type needs, usually a control block with its connection details.

For example, to replace the simulated Media Player with an Apple TV controlled by IR from the processor's first IR port:

{
  "key": "source-media",
  "name": "Media Player",
  "type": "appletv",
  "properties": {
    "control": {
      "method": "ir",
      "controlPortDevKey": "processor",
      "controlPortNumber": 1,
      "irFile": "Apple_AppleTV_4th_Gen.ir"
    }
  }
},

The IR file goes in the program's IR folder (/user/program1/IR/ on a 4-series processor).

Other connection methods (serial, TCP/IP, SSH) use the same control block with different fields. See the device object in the Essentials configuration docs.

3. Check the port names

A tie line refers to a device's ports by name, and different device types name their ports differently. The demo's simulated sources have one output, anyOut; the Apple TV's is hdmiOut. Update the tie line to match:

{ "SourceKey": "source-media", "SourcePort": "hdmiOut", "DestinationKey": "matrix-router", "DestinationPort": "source-media" },

To see a device's ports once the program is running, run devprops:1 source-media and look for its input and output ports. Or open Essentials Dev Tools and select Routing: the diagram shows every device with its ports named, and draws each tie line that connects.

If a tie line names a port the device doesn't have, Essentials logs an error at startup and routes through that tie line won't work.

4. Load and check

Run progreset -p:1, then:

devlist:1: the device is listed with its new type.
In Dev Tools' Routing diagram, the device is connected to the matrix by its tie line. A device left unconnected means the tie line's port name doesn't match.
Route the source from the UI and confirm the hardware responds.

Things that change with the device

The UI shows what a device actually supports. Features that the simulated device had but the real one lacks disappear, or show as unknown: