Initial value of radio button

[J V]

Hello,

I have a radiobutton in my config. In the radio button, a number of fields are defined.

There is a Virtual Text Input connected to a State Block, which has state values. The AQ of the State Block is connected to the Als input of the radio button. Yet the user interface shows a hyphen (-) regardless of the value of text input and the state value. After I use the radio button (e.g. after a reboot), it does seem to follow the text input. Why does it not follow it initially and is there a way to force it to follow it from the start of the system?

Jörg

[duncan]

the als input updates the radio button when its value changes - probably at startup the value isnt changed hence it gets ignored. once you have new changes then it should work

try putting an analog memory between aq of the state block and the als as well, and trigger this with a switch on delay from the 'start pulse' - that way after a short time the current value should be transferred at startup to the radio block

[J V]

Ah, I didn't think that it would need an initial change. I think the state input on a KNX button block does not need an initial change to set the state and assumed the radio button was similar.
Thanks!
(I won't be able to try it soon, so won't be able to confirm it fast but it is very likely that that solves it)

[J V]

Just to quickly confirm that this indeed seems to work. Thanks!

Not sure yet if I will add it everywhere: it would add a bit of overhead to the configuration and it is only an issue only when the miniserver restarts. I could assume that if it is in operation long enough, all radio buttons will have been used and their values should be synchronized, but of course that is never certain. So I'll probably add it in a dead moment or so.

[J V]

One more thing...

I suspect I have a similar issue with a +/- pushbutton: https://www.loxone.com/enen/kb/push-button-plus-minus/

A virtual input holds a value. I connect this to the input P of a +/- pushbutton so it can be changed using the pushbutton; the analog value AQ is then transmitted to the device, which in turn updates the virutal input.

My problem is: if the device changes the value, the value of the virtual input changes, but it does not update the value shown in the pushbutton. I had the idea of passing the value to the input D and then triggering Reset when the value changes.

Is there a simple construction for implementing a trigger when a value changes? On another page, I use several memory flags and if constructions to determine when a value changes and whether it change because a virtual input changed, or because of a change on the UI. So that can be done but it is cumbersome. Is there an easier way that I'm missing?

Thanks,

Jörg

[duncan]

no you arent missing anything - whats missing is a 'on change' block within loxconfig - you end up having to construct your own workaround

ive got a similar setup which works fine though:

a virtual input from LMS /musicserver4lox volume goes to a pushbutton P, and the output drives the virtual output which changes the volume of the LMS zone
updates in loxone change the volume and the displayed volume, and changes using LMS remote control update loxones values

[J V]

Thanks!
Interestingly, I'm also using it to make a volume control for a Squeezebox, where I would like the volume level to be displayed on the -/+ pushbutton. It is a small detail (a up/down button without value would work just as well), but it looks more finished if the number shows on the Loxone UI (especially as the volume level on the Squeezebox is not shown when it is changed via CLI). I suspect that rather than trying to detect a change, it is also possible to do some regular polling to get the current value, but I prefer not to use polling at all.

The other place where I used it was to synchronize the operation mode of my knx thermostats with a radio button that allows me to select the operation mode. I wanted that both are synchronized and show the same operation mode, regardless of whether it was changed on the thermostat or using the radio button.

[duncan]

im using musicserver4.ox, it has an inbuilt module to update some lox virtual inputs for volume, now playing and mode - so no polling from loxone

if you havnt already seen it, look in the german forum section.

it basically runs lms on ubuntu, can use lms hardware, and uses cheap usb sound cards to create multi channel players
ive run it on a dell laptop having moved from lms under windows - it still picks up my music and playlists from itunes, has all the same functionality, but my 2 x usb sound cards give me 16 downmixed channels for ceiling speakers, or 8 stereo channels, or any mix. - i have 8 mono channels (downmixed from stereo) running into a 6 stereo channel amp (12 mono channels for 12 single ceiling zones) and 8 external logitech players (radios, boom, duets) all running perfectly, with easy status/volume/now playing updates into loxone for internal and external players

[J V]

I saw the musicserver4.ox, but my German is a bit limited and I was not sure it would add much for me.

I run a standard LMS on Windows (on my living room pc), in combination with 1 boom and several SB3s. As it suffices for my apartment, I did not need more zones as could be supplied by the other server, so decided to stick with standard LMS. To have my LMS communicate with the Miniserver, I use EventGhost, a windows only program that runs on the same pc. Data from LMS is sent using the xAP protocol. Data that can be directly interpreted by the Loxone is interpreted (volume level, playing status), other data (such as titles or times) are interpreted by EventGhost, which in turn sends the string to a virtual text input on the miniserver. Commands from the miniserver are sent either directly to the LMS or to a http input on EventGhost. The pc is also connected via a serial port to my receiver, giving EventGhost the possibility of controlling and polling it. This allows me to e.g. set the source of the receiver from the Loxone interface, change the volume or any setting or even see settings on the loxone interface.

[duncan]

then your pushbutton setup should work as expected - how often does eventghost push out the messages? perhaps the rate of update isnt sufficient?

[J V]

The volume level is directly decoded from the xAP message, using a virtual udp input on the Loxone side, no need for EventGhost. Those xap messages are sent by LMS I think every second during playback. When I run a liveview, I see that the value of the udp input changes when I change the volume using the Squeezebox remote, but the value in the pushbutton is not updated. I have the virtual udp input connected to the P input of the +/- pushbutton, but the latter does not get updated. Hence my idea of connecting the udp input to the D of the pushbutton and triggering a reset.
Now I'm actually wondering if there may be some other issue why the connection to the P input does not update the value, perhaps a type conversion or so? In the udp input, I read the volume as a \iLevel=\i\v.

[duncan]

ive just checked mine:
virtual input range 0 to 100, its configured as a slider with a step size of 2
push button +/- 0 to 100, but step size 5 but it isnt used anyway cos we arent using the + or - buttons
virtual output back to loxone, directly drives the player with aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 mixer volume <v>\r

[J V]

Thanks for the info. At the moment, I'm away from my system but I should be able to verify it in the weekend. I'll report back.

[J V]

Stupid firewall... :-)
I reinstalled my system, but the port necessary for XAP (3639) to work was still blocked by the firewall... Just letting it through solved the issue. EventGhost, which is running on the same computer did not seem to have an issue with that. I found out when I noticed the UDP monitor was not receiving anything.

Thanks again!

[J V]

ive just checked mine:
virtual input range 0 to 100, its configured as a slider with a step size of 2
push button +/- 0 to 100, but step size 5 but it isnt used anyway cos we arent using the + or - buttons
virtual output back to loxone, directly drives the player with aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 mixer volume <v>\r

Ok... I still have an issue... when I use the remote of the squeezebox to set the volume, I can see that there are xap packets (sent by lms) telling me that the volume is fluctuating between some values, in my case it went 39, 40, 41, 40, 39, 40, 41, ... etc. The squeezebox also did not keep the volume as set using the remote. So I must have some feedback loop somewhere... The only difference I see with yours is that I have a stepsize of 1 in the pushbutton, but changing it to 5 makes no difference. It only seems to start when I keep pressing the volume button on the remote; it seems almost like it cannot cope with the fast changes.