ComfortClient Questions

[tech07]

Hi
I am trying ComfortClient for and have questions

When starting a new configuration, the Configuration menu is not allowed until logged on. I think it is better to allow configuration to select the cclx file because this will have the network settings so no need to find the network settings to enter in order to log on

after doing UCM Logon. the Comfiguration is allowed by there is  a message
\"You must log out and disconnect before changing the cclx files\"
But I have not set the cclx file  yet

After ucm log off, I have to do the same setting of Network IP again but still the same message \"You must log out and disconnect before changing the cclx files\" is seen, so I am stuck here

I think there may be an old setting that I set up some time ago, but I cannot connect to the old setting as the IP address is invalid

I cant see why there is Connect and UCM Logon as separate buttons
If there is connection but not log in, you cant communicate with Comfort.
Why not connect and log in at the same time like Comfigurator?

The Keypad emulation box if not checked allows that onscreen numeric keypad to enter numbers in other fields, but is this necessary, as you can easily  use the computer keyboard. easier if the keypad emulation is permanently on, because disarming the system by keypad is the most important

Thats all until I can seelect my new cclx file

[tech07]

I am playing with the Sample which comes with Comfortclient
I managed to change the cclx file with this sample, I dont know how that worked


I am trying the floorplan editor, and selected my cclx file again
I though I would use the same floorplan or modify the controls
There was an exception
Unhandled exception
Could not find a part of the path ...\\Logs\\FloorplanEfitor.2012.10.27.log

The 2nd time I tried it, it was accepted and can go to floorplan editor

In floorplan editor, I see for the active objects like lights, there are 2 objects overlaid, an inactive black object with Object state off, and an active object. Can you select 2 images, active and inactive depending on the state, like they do it in KT03? That would save time in designing the images

[tech07]

It looks like for my 1st problem, not being able to change the cclx file, when ComfortClient is opened the last cclx file is expected, and when it cannot connect to the cclx file because it is not in the same folder or the IP addess has changed then the cclx file cannot be changed

How is a diferent Comfort cleint configuration created like the sample file? I cannot see any menu for saving a configuration


Also IP addresses like test.dyndns.org do not seem to work in the IP address

[juwi_uk]

Hi Tech07,

Rather than reply to your 3 posts separately let me try and address all of your questions in one reply if I can.

When starting a new configuration, the Configuration menu is not allowed until logged on. I think it is better to allow configuration to select the cclx file because this will have the network settings so no need to find the network settings to enter in order to log on

Yes this is by design, I didn\'t want to allow people to have access to configuration until they had at least authenticated with the system for the first time. Once you are logged in you can go to OPTIONS and set the persist configuration menus to true. The CCLX file used is saved in the ComfortClient configuration file and the connection settings are read from this unless you tick the relevant checkboxes on the connection tab to override specific entries.

after doing UCM Logon. the Comfiguration is allowed by there is a message
\"You must log out and disconnect before changing the cclx files\"
But I have not set the cclx file yet

Yes I don\'t allow you to change the CCLX file while logged in. Changing the CCLX file obviously forces a new set of settings to be read from that file which may be totally different to those from the previous file. Those settings are going to be referenced in floorplans etc. Hence why care should be taken that floorplans and CCLX are matched with regards to design. \"You have not set the CCLX yet\"; but you did when you first started the ComfortClient so there is always a CCLX active, its\' just whether it\'s the right one! I think here you just need to go into OPTIONS and set persist configuration menus to true. Open the ComfortClient.config file in notepad and you can see setting saved in there too.

After ucm log off, I have to do the same setting of Network IP again but still the same message \"You must log out and disconnect before changing the cclx files\" is seen, so I am stuck here

Not sure what you mean here. The IP settings etc will always be what is set in the active CCLX file unless you tick the checkboxes next to the settings concerned on the connection tab which allows you to then override then. Then they are the values stored in the ComfortClientConfig.xml file rather than CCLX values.

I cant see why there is Connect and UCM Logon as separate buttons
If there is connection but not log in, you cant communicate with Comfort.
Why not connect and log in at the same time like Comfigurator?

Good point. This is historical (dating back to the very first release) and it is going probably in the next release as Ingo and I already have this on our ToDo list.

The Keypad emulation box if not checked allows that onscreen numeric keypad to enter numbers in other fields, but is this necessary, as you can easily use the computer keyboard. easier if the keypad emulation is permanently on, because disarming the system by keypad is the most important

And for those that have a touch screen monitor on the wall and no keypad?

I am playing with the Sample which comes with Comfortclient
I managed to change the cclx file with this sample, I dont know how that worked

Look at the startup arguments you can call for ComfortClient. By default ComfortClient looks for a config file of the same name (ComfortClientConfig.xml). You can override this though with the switches. So just create a start menu or desktop shortcut to ComfortClient and then specify a new name. The reason you cant see how I do in the \"Sample\" shortcut is because this is a system (installer) created shortcut and windows hides the arguments.

I am trying the floorplan editor, and selected my cclx file again
I though I would use the same floorplan or modify the controls
There was an exception
Unhandled exception
Could not find a part of the path ...LogsFloorplanEfitor.2012.10.27.log

The latter first. OK that sounds like a bug that I\'ll need to fix. Maybe you can supply exact steps to recreate. Again by design the floorplan editor is purposely designed so that it doesn\'t have to use the same CCLX. In fact the editor can be started outside of the ComfortClient (it didn\'t used to be in versions up to around a year ago) so that people can create floorplans offline; installers for example who design the floorplans offsite and don\'t need to setup ComfortClient config until later. BTW I see \"...FloorplanEfitor...\" I presume this is your mistype rather than a copy/paste of the real error? I\'m assuming here that the logs folder isn\'t created at the time it tries to write the message but will check.

In floorplan editor, I see for the active objects like lights, there are 2 objects overlaid, an inactive black object with Object state off, and an active object. Can you select 2 images, active and inactive depending on the state, like they do it in KT03? That would save time in designing the images

Not yet but it\'s on the Enhancement Requests list and will come. I will allow both ways to design. BTW are you sure you aren\'t Ingo in disguise here as I can hear his words now on this one...!

It looks like for my 1st problem, not being able to change the cclx file, when ComfortClient is opened the last cclx file is expected, and when it cannot connect to the cclx file because it is not in the same folder or the IP addess has changed then the cclx file cannot be changed

Not sure I follow. Why would the CCLX not be in the same file as when you setup? That sounds like user error as I can be chasing around on the disk trying to second guess what CCLX file you think I would need to be using; I have to rely on the path you give! I purposely allow for the config to be kept somewhere different to the main ComfortClient folder for security reasons as easier to lock down file access rights etc.

How is a diferent Comfort cleint configuration created like the sample file? I cannot see any menu for saving a configuration

See previously for the comments on startup switches/arguments. No Config save is necessary as it does on exit or automatically every x mins depending on the setting in OPTIONS.

Also IP addresses like test.dyndns.org do not seem to work in the IP address

By default the UCM IP address from the CCLX file is used. Tick the override at the end of the line for the \"Comfort (UCM)\" IP/Port and you can put whatever you like including the dns name you are wanting.

Thank you for your feedback; much appreciated and I wish more people would take the time to feedback. Keep the questions and ideas for improvements coming.

Regards

Julian

[juwi_uk]

Hi

An update on this after a bit of initial investigation.

‘I am trying the floorplan editor, and selected my cclx file again
I though I would use the same floorplan or modify the controls

I\'m assuming here you started up the FloorplanEditor.exe before you opened it from within ComfortClient. If you had done the latter first you would have set an initial CCLX file for FloorplanEditor. When a floorplan is opened from the ComfortClient menu the CCLX file that is used by ComfortClient is passed to the Editor as well as the floorplan so this does setup for you. If you didn\'t then the Editor is asking for the first time as basically you are opening a blank worksheet. Hey Excel asks you for your user name when you first start it so why should this not also assume the one you are logged in as!?!

At the moment I don\'t \"lock\" a floorplan to a particular CCLX file as then this allows people to have multiple CCLX variants that can be used against a floorplan config if care is taken during design stages. We could change the code such that a collection of CCLX\'s could be added in the floorplan config file but I fear this may add some over complexity.

I\'m amenable though if that\'s what people want.

I was assuming though in 95% of scenarios most people just have a single CCLX file in their setups.

Regards

Julian

Regards

Julian

[tech07]

Thanks for the answers
Setting Persist Configuration Menus to Enabled did allow me to change the cclx file
I am not sure what this means, and why it would set to Disabled means
My original cclx file was moved to another location because of housekeeping
When it happens it causes the porblen I had, ie when logged out it asked me to connect, and when connected it asked me to log out. So is there a good reason for the Persist menu to prevent this? Or when the cclx file cannot be found, the program should allow the cclx file to be browsed

Changing the CCLX file when not connected is logical
But the user having to connect first before doing configuration is not so ideal.
Sometimes people want to see how the software works before they have a system connected
And the cclx file has the saved connection settings so we do not have to enter the IP addresss in network


The keypad emulation checkbox - It is true that this is good  for  wall mount touchscreen but windows based touchscreen is not a viable option now - cannot compere with ipad and androd tablets
For the new windows 8, maybe, but that should give an onscreen keyboard like ipad and android, not reply on the comfortclient keypad. More important to make it convenient for actual users. Even Wizcomfort which was design for windows PC taouchscreen have given up that idea now. Will you make Comfortclient for the touch-based windows 8 application, that may be very useful if Windows 8 is popular

I will try the other things

[tech07]

Before I was opening Flloorplan editor from the sample file
Now I have started Floorplan editor by itelsef for the 1st time
Try to select an image from a file
but this message appeared
If press Quit an exception also comes up

The folder in the exception message is where I was selecting the image
It looks like the editor expected the image from another place?

[juwi_uk]

I could look to make the Persist Configuration Menus initial setting set during install (on same page as Install Samples checkbox) so you can decide if you want it on/off as initial state.

At the moment you can add the keyword manually to the client config file immediately after install if you wanted.

1. Open ComfortClientConfig.xml (it\'s in configs folder)
2. Insert <Authentication PersistConfigurationMenu=\"True\" /> within the <Configuration> section ie

<Configuration>
....more stuff
<Authentication PersistConfigurationMenu=\"True\" />
....more stuff
</Configuration>

Julian

[juwi_uk]

OK that\'s strange why it should be trying to write the log file here. I\'ll investigate. Thanks for spotting.

Julian

[tech07]

Look at the startup arguments you can call for ComfortClient. By default ComfortClient looks for a config file of the same name (ComfortClientConfig.xml). You can override this though with the switches. So just create a start menu or desktop shortcut to ComfortClient and then specify a new name. The reason you cant see how I do in the \"Sample\" shortcut is because this is a system (installer) created shortcut and windows hides the arguments.

I think it is a good idea to allow file > save  menu for different configs which makes it easy than command line.
Installers may use this for the customers so they need to use many configs
I am interested un Comfortclient because it has floorplan layout
CWM has been discontinued and Wizcomfort do not have this feature, so ComfortClient is the only software that can do this now