Moshe Katz Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 Please include any manuals, tips, hex, etc etc. I have never made a driver in my life and don't even know where to start. Here is the direct site link to the video wall processor for reference: https://en.colorlightinside.com/product/special///1699 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew H Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 You'll probably have to get the serial commands from the manufacturer. Without those, you won't be able to do much. You'll also need access to Composer to upload and test your driver. As far as making the driver once you have those, get familiar with the Control4 driver SDK (https://github.com/snap-one/docs-driverworks). They also have some sample drivers in that repo to help you get going. Control4 has a tool for writing and building drivers which can be useful for learning the basics, but is not a great tool for actual development. @Rexabyte has a tool for Visual Studio Code that might help you get up and going, but a Control4 C4Z driver is just a zip file with a different file extension (see https://snap-one.github.io/docs-driverworks-fundamentals/#understanding-c4z-drivers). I'd recommend getting familiar with the sample drivers and the sdk linked above to get a feel for how Control4 communicates to its drivers and how the drivers communicate with other devices. Once you get familiar with those, feel free to message me with more specific questions or make a post in the "Driver Dev" section of this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshe Katz Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 that was super confusing, anything more specific with one pdf with all of the steps with pictures because I have absolutely no idea how to do any of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 35 minutes ago, Moshe Katz said: that was super confusing, anything more specific with one pdf with all of the steps with pictures because I have absolutely no idea how to do any of that no, you won't find a 1 page step by step guide for making a serial driver... Andrew H 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshe Katz Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 well... how do i atleast get hex codes and stuff, i dont even know the device type to choose from the first option which is annoying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew luecke Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, Moshe Katz said: well... how do i atleast get hex codes and stuff, i dont even know the device type to choose from the first option which is annoying G'day, Honestly, it sounds like you may require more prerequisite knowledge required to develop a driver (a lot of background knowledge is required, especially for things like lighting drivers). There is no easy 1-page pdf (especially since you'd definitely want 2-way). To put things into perspective, before I worked for Chowmain, I spent weeks learning to write a CBUS lighting driver, and it still wasn't completed (and this was with a lot of previous reverse engineering / development background). In fact, when i started working here, we mostly scrapped the majority of the code too (and it turned out, I was further from completion than I thought). And, a lot of small things I would have missed without Alan's insight and mentoring. All of our lighting drivers we've written recently are thousands of lines of code (Shelly is probably our biggest, and the whole driver is well-over 10000 lines of code, although, not all the code is related to lighting, but a lot of it is) My recommendation would be to contact the manufacturer, and get them to contact us for a quote honestly https://chowmain.software/for-manufacturers/request-quote . Otherwise, keep in mind, a lighting driver takes months to develop in full sometimes. These days we can finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshe Katz Posted April 16 Author Share Posted April 16 oof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew luecke Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, Moshe Katz said: oof RS232 Matrix switches are generally easier. But, if you want to do it properly, its not a quick job depending on the protocol. But either way, you must be a partner or integrator to develop the drivers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Maybe I can find a one page guide on how to do your job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 3 hours ago, msgreenf said: Maybe I can find a one page guide on how to do your job? Here's mine, it's a few lines only really. Find out what client means by nothing's working. Fix the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 On a serious note, OP I have to agree with Andrew: it sounds like you may be over your head to begin with. It's not clear, but I assume you don't have access to ComposerPro and the DevTools. Without it you will never succeed, and getting that depends on Control4/Snap - not from whatever anyone on here can really tell you. From there, the fact that you're asking where to get the control hex codes for the device you're making a driver for indicates that you have the whole though process backwards. Those codes are provided by the device company: Control4 doesn't just make up codes at random for a device. And yes, if you think creating a two-way RS232 driver is a single (or two, three) page PDF explanation, then yes - find someone to do it for you. NOW if you are indeed a C4 dealer with Pro access, and all you're looking to do is a simple one-way serial control driver: well as along as you can get the codes from the manufacturer (note, Decimal, Hexadecimal and Ascii are all supported in writing a driver), as well as Baud rate, parity etc needed on their end, then the Composer built-in driver wizard makes it pretty simple to create a serial driver and the online user guide has plenty of info if you're willing to dig into it. I'll look over the idea that you wouldn't know what driver type to use and wanting to create a driver because videowall is a bit of an odd one, but it's going to be AVswitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshe Katz Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 Honestly i'm a 12 year old trying to make a quick buck for someone at my dad's work who wants to see if im up for the challenge. My dad has composer which will make it easier... please help me, also my dad knows everything about composer and c4 except drivers and making drivers so if that helps maybe just maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryanjackson Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Good on you. I think first youll have to reach out to the company to get the 232 commands as i dont see them posted on thier site. Is it a video wall your trying todo or a video matrix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control4Savant Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 1 hour ago, Moshe Katz said: Honestly i'm a 12 year old trying to make a quick buck for someone at my dad's work who wants to see if im up for the challenge. My dad has composer which will make it easier... please help me, also my dad knows everything about composer and c4 except drivers and making drivers so if that helps maybe just maybe If your dad has composer pro and doesnt know about drivers or making them, not only does he not know everything about C4, he probably knows very little. This isnt a project for you. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 That's like saying because you have a car you should know how to build one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 Trying to make a pizza from a picture you saw. It’s just bread, cheese and tomatoe sauce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshe Katz Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 he knows about drivers and how to use them but he doesn't know how to create them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew H Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 From your posts, I think you may not be up for the challenge since you seem unwilling to do the work and learning required. There are a few replies in this thread trying to help you, but nobody is going to do the work for you (for free), and, as mentioned, the process isn't so simple to be contained in a single PDF or guide, assuming you want a 2-way driver. You will also have a very challenging time trying to create a driver if you haven't first learned how Control4 works and have some understanding of how it interfaces with 3rd party devices. If you'd like to learn to build drivers, have your dad teach you that first and then dig into the resources I posted earlier. If you have more specific questions from there, I'd be happy to help via message or post in the Driver Dev section of this forum. For now, Andrew Luecke has given you your best option: On 4/15/2024 at 6:41 PM, Andrew luecke said: My recommendation would be to contact the manufacturer, and get them to contact us for a quote honestly https://chowmain.software/for-manufacturers/request-quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 17 hours ago, Moshe Katz said: Honestly i'm a 12 year old trying to make a quick buck for someone at my dad's work who wants to see if im up for the challenge. My dad has composer which will make it easier... please help me, also my dad knows everything about composer and c4 except drivers and making drivers so if that helps maybe just maybe Then got get a paper route. This isnt for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control4Savant Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 2 hours ago, Moshe Katz said: he knows about drivers and how to use them but he doesn't know how to create them. If that were true, you wouldnt be on a end user forum being overwhelmed by some pretty standard industry information. Please dont take it personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 start by learning what an API is, then learn any language to understand the concepts of programming, then come back to Control4 API Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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