Premise Image on Lighting panels
- Thread starter Waynedb
- Start date
Motorola Premise
We'll, I don't have an answer for you, but it's nice to see something completely different in the Premise interface
Thanks, I got tired of all the flat looking interfaces I had tried making in the past. I just started making the backgrounds and buttons in Photoshop CS2 last night.
I hate the way the GUI is setup in Premise, I don't know how to make a theme load a full alternate set of butons, I have also had to change settings that break other themes so I can't easily switch back to another theme now. I know that it is possible to make really nice GUI with flash and everything if you don't use the built in browser, I don't have a clue how to do that either.
I really hope there is a way to put the lighting controls on a image so I can get more of a 3D look.
samgreco
Active Member
I went through the exact same thing. I "broke" a lot of other stuff to get the interface to look the way I wanted. I've never shared it because it's impossible to package it with it breaking the other person's setup.
This is mine. Although the nav buttons have now been moved to the bottom where they belong
This is mine. Although the nav buttons have now been moved to the bottom where they belong
Nice Theme, didn't you post one like that in the Xlobby forum before?
I don't even remember half of the settings I changed now, I guess if I screw it up I can just reload it and start over and try something different.
I found a tutorial on modifying themes at the old Motorola forums but it was way too basic. It would also be nice if we could easily change the native size of the GUI to something besides 800x600. I would also like to cut down on the number of clicks required to perform an action, If I have say lights in a room, I would like to be able to click on that room and have the light controls available without having to click on something else to get to them.
I don't even remember half of the settings I changed now, I guess if I screw it up I can just reload it and start over and try something different.
I found a tutorial on modifying themes at the old Motorola forums but it was way too basic. It would also be nice if we could easily change the native size of the GUI to something besides 800x600. I would also like to cut down on the number of clicks required to perform an action, If I have say lights in a room, I would like to be able to click on that room and have the light controls available without having to click on something else to get to them.
123
Senior Member
Nice job! As Sam said, it's nice to see some new themes. Premise's UI can be re-skinned but not many people have tackled it.
Not sure where the light control's component's are defined, but I'll root around in AutomationBrowser and see what I can find.
Regarding alternate UI's, checkout Damon's Jukebox application. It is developed entirely in JavaScript and uses Minibroker to communicate with Premise objects. It doesn't auto-scale like AutomationBrowser and maintains a fixed size.
There's a document I had posted here some time ago, that shows how an experienced Premise user altered the UI while retaining the use of AutomationBrowser. The revised UI is not "sexy" but it demonstrates that significant modifications are possible. I've stared at the tiny screenshots of Builder, trying to find some clues to the technique he used. I think he managed to get AutomationBrowser to render objects starting from a specified node in Premise's object tree, as opposed to the Home node. He states in his document that he did not want the UI to mimic his home's physical layout but to render the objects in the order he chose. He had a good grasp of AutomationBrowser and I'd love to pick his brains. I believe his name is Giddy (could be a nickname) and some of the screenshots indicate "CrizaHousehold" ... unfortunately, googling Giddy Criza didn't help me track him down.
I guess you already know that if you click on a room and then click "Show All Lights", it'll display all lights in the room (and all lights in sub-rooms). I suppose you want to eliminate the 2nd click ... hmmm, not sure how to create a "shortcut" to that.
Nice job! As Sam said, it's nice to see some new themes. Premise's UI can be re-skinned but not many people have tackled it.
Not sure where the light control's component's are defined, but I'll root around in AutomationBrowser and see what I can find.
Regarding alternate UI's, checkout Damon's Jukebox application. It is developed entirely in JavaScript and uses Minibroker to communicate with Premise objects. It doesn't auto-scale like AutomationBrowser and maintains a fixed size.
There's a document I had posted here some time ago, that shows how an experienced Premise user altered the UI while retaining the use of AutomationBrowser. The revised UI is not "sexy" but it demonstrates that significant modifications are possible. I've stared at the tiny screenshots of Builder, trying to find some clues to the technique he used. I think he managed to get AutomationBrowser to render objects starting from a specified node in Premise's object tree, as opposed to the Home node. He states in his document that he did not want the UI to mimic his home's physical layout but to render the objects in the order he chose. He had a good grasp of AutomationBrowser and I'd love to pick his brains. I believe his name is Giddy (could be a nickname) and some of the screenshots indicate "CrizaHousehold" ... unfortunately, googling Giddy Criza didn't help me track him down.
I guess you already know that if you click on a room and then click "Show All Lights", it'll display all lights in the room (and all lights in sub-rooms). I suppose you want to eliminate the 2nd click ... hmmm, not sure how to create a "shortcut" to that.
Thanks, I will check out your link. I have installed Jukebox in the past to look at it, if I remember correctly it is only 1024x768.
I know zero about java or the minibroker, I am not trying to do anything other then moving stuff around and put nicer bitmaps on them. I don't think many of the guys that know this program inside and out like Damon, post here. I think you and John are just about holding this program together by yourselves now.
As for the lighting example, yes I want to be able to turn the light on with one click as soon as I am in that room.
123
Senior Member
I haven't looked at the code very closely but I think the code to render a light switch is here:
Modules > AutomationBrowser > Lighting > Globalscripts > Global > RenderLight
Around line 55, it defines an HTML TABLE whose cells include the DIM/BRIGHT buttons and the other goodies that comprise a dimmer. It also uses special style commands ("filterrogidXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow") to render a shadow effect. I don't think they provide an option to use an image for the dimmer's background but they simply define a color for the table cell. However, because the HTML code is visible, and can be modified, nothing prevents you from adding a background image to the appropriate table cell.
NOTE: I haven't tweaked any of the code in RenderLight so I'm not 100% sure it is the right place to modify the dimmer's appearance ... but it sure seems like it is.
ADDENDUM
Looks like RenderLight controls some but not all of a dimmer's appearance. I'll keep looking ...
Modules > AutomationBrowser > Lighting > Globalscripts > Global > RenderLight
Around line 55, it defines an HTML TABLE whose cells include the DIM/BRIGHT buttons and the other goodies that comprise a dimmer. It also uses special style commands ("filter
rogidXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow") to render a shadow effect. I don't think they provide an option to use an image for the dimmer's background but they simply define a color for the table cell. However, because the HTML code is visible, and can be modified, nothing prevents you from adding a background image to the appropriate table cell.NOTE: I haven't tweaked any of the code in RenderLight so I'm not 100% sure it is the right place to modify the dimmer's appearance ... but it sure seems like it is.
ADDENDUM
Looks like RenderLight controls some but not all of a dimmer's appearance. I'll keep looking ...
Thanks for the help.
I thought I would post another background I made just in case anybody else might want to use them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Added LCD panel that can be pasted on a background instead of the VFD style.
medi player panel.
I thought I would post another background I made just in case anybody else might want to use them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Added LCD panel that can be pasted on a background instead of the VFD style.
medi player panel.
123
Senior Member
Here's one way to get the job done:
Go to line 39 in RenderLight and comment it out:
'Output = Output & PanelColor
add the following line:
Output = Output & "transparent;"
Now the dimmer's background will be transparent.
Add the next line:
Output = Output & "background-image:url(/images/brushedmetal.gif);"
The last line will give the dimmer's background a brushed metal look.
This is a brute-force technique because, regardless of the Theme, dimmers will always have the same background image. A more elegant way is to add "BackgroundImage" as a property of the Lighting plugin and modify AutomationBrowser to adjust the background image based on the current Theme (i.e. like the way it handles color schemes). I'll look into this later this week; it'll be a very handy visual enhancement.
BTW, if you omit the last line, the dimmer's background will be transparent and that's an interesting look as well.
Go to line 39 in RenderLight and comment it out:
'Output = Output & PanelColor
add the following line:
Output = Output & "transparent;"
Now the dimmer's background will be transparent.
Add the next line:
Output = Output & "background-image:url(/images/brushedmetal.gif);"
The last line will give the dimmer's background a brushed metal look.
This is a brute-force technique because, regardless of the Theme, dimmers will always have the same background image. A more elegant way is to add "BackgroundImage" as a property of the Lighting plugin and modify AutomationBrowser to adjust the background image based on the current Theme (i.e. like the way it handles color schemes). I'll look into this later this week; it'll be a very handy visual enhancement.
BTW, if you omit the last line, the dimmer's background will be transparent and that's an interesting look as well.
123
Senior Member
You're most welcome! AutomationBrowser is a huge, undocumented beast and probably the largest module ever built. l've spent a little bit of time studying how it works, mostly through 'cause and effect" (i.e. change some code and see what effect it has in Premise Browser) but that's a slow way to learn. However, all of the VBscript source-code is exposed, and it uses standard HTML and CSS, so it can be modified and adapted to suit one's needs. The tricky part is finding where to change it.
123
Senior Member
I'm intrigued; that's a significantly different arrangement of UI controls compared to the stock version. I believe there's at least one theme that has the Nav Bar on the bottom but I've never seen the other controls relocated.
Can you explain what you modified to get that look, specifically:
"Task Items" occupy all of the left-hand side
"Current Options" appear on the right-hand side
"Navigation Bar" is on the bottom
I assume that the "Admin Options" would appear below the "Current Options" on the right-hand side?
Can you explain what you modified to get that look, specifically:
"Task Items" occupy all of the left-hand side
"Current Options" appear on the right-hand side
"Navigation Bar" is on the bottom
I assume that the "Admin Options" would appear below the "Current Options" on the right-hand side?
