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Directoutput Framework Beta 2


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Hi guys

 

 I've been working hard lately to put a lot of new functionality into DOF. Arngrim has helped me a lot with the preliminary testing.

 

 So, please download the new DOF version from the google drive (B2S.Server remains the same), install it (just copy it over the old installation) and play a few games. If you want you can also try to configure some of the new features. Let me know if there are any issues.

 

 Here is a list of important changes:

 

 Layer support

Effects and toys for RGBLeds and analog ouputs are now using layers to allow for more control of the resulting output. olors resp. Values in a layer do also have a alpha/transparency channel which will allow us to blend the colors/values in the layers. If  a bottom layer is blue and top is a semi transparent red, you will get some mix of both. If one of the two blinks you get changing colors.

 

The following picture might give you a clearer idea how the layer with their alpha channels work:

 

post-668-0-47403300-1379262763_thumb.png

 

This will work with any number of layers. Layers are also supported in LedControl files.

 

For analog outputs (e.g. lamps or gear motors) the behaviour is the same as explained above. Whats different is that analog output do only have one value and a alpha channel, compared to RGBLeds which have 3 values and a alpha channel. 

 

New LedControl Config options

The way how the ledcontrol file loader configures DOF has been changed completely (thats the biggest change apart from the layers). Instead of using special code to execute the effects defined in the ledcontrol file, DOF is now using native DOF effect classes.  This does also allow for easy conversion of ledcontrol config to xml configs (A converter is in the works).

 

New config options:

  • M{Duration} specifies a minimum duration for the effect (e.g. S48 M5000).
  • W{Duration} specifies a delay before the effect is triggered (e.g. S48 Red W250).
  • Color settings in ledcontrol files can now have four parts. In addition to red, green and blue, you can also specify a optional alpha value (e.g. RedTransparent=48,0,0,24). If the alpha part is missing, DOF assumes that colors ,where at least one component is not 0, have a alpha value of 255, color 0,0,0 (black) will have a alpha value of 0.
  • Instead of using named colors, the colors can now also be specified directly in the ledcontrol setting (e.g. S48 #ff0000 for fully opaque red or S38 #00ff0080 for transparent green). Note: These direct color definitions have a range of 0-255, not 0-48 like other ledcontrol settings).
  • F{Duration} is used to define fading for the values/colors of a effect (e.g. S48 Red F500). In addition it is possible to use FUDuration} and FD{Duration} to specify separate durations for fading up and down. Try things like S48 Red/S48 Blue Blink F250 for some nice changing color effect.
  • Ledcontrol settings do use layer. The first setting in a column goes into layer 1, second setting in layer 2 and so on. The default layer number can be overriden by specifying L{LayerNr} (e.g. S38 Red L3).
  • Apart from these new settings all other settings should work as they always did.

These new settings allow for many new, cool effects. Try things like S48 Red/S48 Blue Blink F250.

 

LedControl file names

To avoid confusion with the legacy ledcontrol.ini files, DOF does now support directoutputconfig.ini as the file name as well. In addition it does also support new names for the section in the files:

  • [Colors DOF] works instead of [Colors LedWiz]
  • [Config DOF] works instead of [Config outs]

These changes will allow to use config files for DOF, which cant be read by the legacy ledcontrol.vbs which makes sure that ledcontrol.vbs wont use wrong files by mistake.

 

Deegor will update the config tool soon to use the new names.

 

The old filenames (ledcontrol.ini) and section names do still work as well.

 

Cabinet config file

The serialization process for output controllers has changed. It is not necessary anymore the specify the outputs in the cabinet.xml. If DOF exports a cabinet files it will also ommit the outputs.

I hope this makes creating cabinet config files a bit easier.

 

As before, if you only use ledwiz units you dont need a cabinet config file. Autodetection will detect and configure the ledwiz units automatically.

 

Documentation 

Do to the new effects, toys, layer support and changes in the cabinet config file save process the docu is now really outdated for these areas. I working on the update, but that is will take a little while (Will not be able to do a lot of DOF work for the next 2.5 weeks).

 

Com object

You will probably not need this now, but the com object allows to embed DOF into almost any scripting language you can imagine. This means that there is now a easy interface to integrate DOF into almost any application.

There is also a small exe to register the com object.

 

 More

There are also loads of changes behind the scenes. More error handling, extended timer functionality and much more.

 

All the best

 

Swisslizard / Tom

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