TCP feedback

[Sindre Hovland]

Hi!

Love your products!
I'm currently installing a new Blustream AVoIP system in our church, and I'm trying to implement it with our Kiosc Touch.
Per now I'm able to send TCP tags to the blustream ACM210, which causes the receivers to change sources, like "OUT001FR002\r\n",
What I would like is to create a matrix page for controlling the transmitters/receivers and turing them on and off.
What I can not understand is how to make the Kiosc (on my iPad) and the Kiosc Touch give me visual feedback on the state of the componenets, e.g. on/off/channel1/channel2 etc.
I've tried searching all manuals and youtube videos I can find with no luck.

Can someone point me in the right direction in how this is accomplished?
What I'm not shure about is how the tags should be typed to respond to the feedback from the ACM210, should I use buttons/indicators/checkboxes for this, and if the ACM210 is actually giving a feedback, or if this needs to be done in some other way. We have a KioscTouch1 and a CueCore2. If needed, i guess we could use the CueCore to operate between our acm210 and Kiosc applications, but that seems a bit unnecessary.
The ACM210 API commans can be downloaded here, if that is helpful.
https://www.blustream.co.uk/Attachment/DownloadFile?downloadId=421

Thanks,
Sindre

[Jorge Solano]

Hello Sindre,

Thank you, and glad to hear you're enjoying the products

What you want to do should be possible in principle. Kiosc can use incoming TCP data as feedback for elements such as buttons, indicators and labels. The main question here is what the ACM210 actually sends back.

The API shows commands such as `OUT 001 STATUS` and `STATUS`, but it is not clear what the exact returned message looks like, or whether the ACM210 sends updates automatically when a route changes.

Could you test this with a TCP/Telnet tool such as Packet Sender or PuTTY and send:

`OUT 001 STATUS`

and:

`STATUS`

Please send me the exact response you receive. Also, if possible, leave the connection open and change a route from the ACM210 web interface to see if it sends any feedback automatically.

For testing in Kiosc, I would start with one simple output and use a button for the command and a separate Indicator for the confirmed feedback. This way the GUI shows the actual ACM210 state rather than only what was pressed locally.

If the ACM210 returns a simple predictable message, it may be possible to keep this directly between Kiosc and the ACM210. If it returns a larger status report that needs parsing, then some additional logic may be required. I would not involve the CueCore2 yet until we know the exact ACM210 response.

Could you also let me know the Kiosc version running on the iPad and the software/firmware version of the KioscTouch1? Then we can check the feedback behaviour on both platforms.

Hope this helps!

[Sindre Hovland]

Hi, and thank you for quick answering!

It seems like my reply is blocked by the spam-filter, so I'll attach the TCP return codes as a txt-file.

I hope this info would be helpful

Thanks,
Sindre

[Jorge Solano]

Hello Sindre,

Thanks, this is very helpful

The capture confirms that the ACM210 is providing feedback. In particular, when the route changes from the ACM web interface, the open Telnet session receives messages such as:

OUT 1 FR 1
[SUCCESS]Set output 001 from input 001.

So the ACM can report changes over an established connection. The difficulty is that its feedback is a Telnet-style response and the STATUS command returns a larger formatted block, rather than the simple tag/value feedback that Kiosc can use directly.

I would like to do two small tests before adding anything else to the system.

First, create a simple Kiosc page with one Indicator or Label with a TCP tag. Then use Packet Sender to connect directly to the Kiosc IP on TCP port 7000 and send the corresponding feedback message. This will confirm that the Kiosc feedback side itself is working correctly.

Second, with the ACM210 still configured as the TCP target in Kiosc, send one of your normal routing commands and check whether Kiosc reacts at all to the returned `[SUCCESS]Set output...` message. I cannot guarantee this will work, since Kiosc normally receives external feedback on its own TCP input port, but it is worth testing.

If the first test works but the second does not, then we have a clear answer: Kiosc feedback is working, but the ACM210 Telnet feedback is not directly compatible with it. In that case, the reliable solution would be a small intermediary that parses the ACM status and sends simple feedback messages to both the KioscTouch and the iPad.

For now I would leave the CueCore2 out of the equation, as it would not simplify parsing these multiline Telnet responses.

The 1.17.21 versus 1.17.22 Kiosc version difference is also unlikely to be the main issue here.

Hope this helps!

[Sindre Hovland]

Thank you for good advices!

I'm currently stuck in the first test. I cannot get an Indicator on the Kiosc touch to light up from PacketSender.
It might be that this is where the error is. I'm not quite sure how to format theese TCP tags. I'm currently trying to send:
"test\r" as a ASCII text to the Kiosc's ip address with port 7000, and the indicators tag is "test/r". The kiosc has the TCP input port set to 7000, and I've saved it as a file on the kiosc.
I know there is a connection, as a can edit the Kiosc touch with the editor on my pc. I'm not quite shure how the format should be neither in the packetsender nor the kiosk touch tcp tag. I'm not able to find anything i the documentation, but that might maybe be because the TCP function was implemented in a later firmware upgrade.

If I know for sure how to format theese tags, that might help me quite much

[Jorge Solano]

Hello Sindre,

I found the missing piece 
Your test is very close, but the TCP feedback syntax is slightly different.

For the Indicator, set the TCP tag in Kiosc simply to:

test

No `/r` or `\r` should be included in the tag.

Then send this from Packet Sender as TCP ASCII to the KioscTouch IP on port 7000:

test=on

That should switch the Indicator on. Then try:

test=off

to switch it off.

You can also use `test=1` and `test=0`.

The important part is that incoming TCP feedback uses the format `tag=value`. The `\r` is only relevant when sending commands to equipment that requires a carriage return, such as your ACM210. It is not part of the Kiosc feedback tag.

As another simple check, you can create a Text element with TCP tag `status` and send:

status=Hello

The text should change to "Hello".

If these tests work, then we know the Kiosc feedback side is working correctly and the remaining challenge is converting the ACM210 return messages into this simpler `tag=value` format.

Hope this helps!