node-red-contrib-xkeys_intensity

This is another in a collection of Node-RED nodes which enable access to X-keys physical devices using the Dynamic Control Data Protocol (DCDP).

Dedicated Node-RED nodes for each X-key event of interest (button, jog, joystick, etc.) will communicate, using MQTT, with a lightweight DCDP server, whose sole purpose is to mediate access to any physically attached X-keys devices.

This xkeys_intensity node configures the maximum intensity to which backlights of attached devices may be set.

Installation

This node requires dcdp-server version 0.1.1 to be running. Please follow the instructions at the dcdp-server development repository to install it or, to upgrade an existing installation, see the dcdp-server upgrade instructions.

The node-red-contrib-xkeys_intensity node itself is best installed from Node-RED's Palette manager. Go to the Palette manager's Install tab and search for node-red-contrib-xkeys_intensity; then Install it once found. If not found, press the Refresh module list button (two semicircular arrows) and search again.

When installed, a new xk Intensity node will be found in the palette tab in the dedicated Xkeys category.

Usage

The node's configuration editor can be used to set a value to which the intensity or brightness of any hue set by the xkeys_backlight node is limited. A setting of 0 produces the minimum intensity while a setting of 255 produces the maximum. In addition, the usual configurable settings to target specific devices by their PID and/or UID are available.

This node is also able to be activated by preceding nodes in a flow connected the node's input. Such preceding nodes must include, at least, an intensity field in its msg.payload. If the msg.payload also includes the optional pid_list, pid or uid fields, they override the xkeys_intensity node's configured settings.

    {"intensity": [blue_intensity,red_intensity]}
or
    {"intensity": [blue_intensity,red_intensity], product_id: PID, unit_id: UID}

An example flow is provided in the examples directory to demonstrate possible usage of the xkeys_intensity node.

In this example, a Backlight node's builtin toggle switch is used to turn on all backlights of any attached X-keys device. Once it is turned on, two methods are available to now modify the intensity the backlights:

• the first method is to set the intensity by use of the Intensity node's own configuration editor. The new intensity setting takes effect when the node's button is pressed, altering the brightness of all backlights activated by the Backlight node.
• the two Inject nodes demonstrate how other nodes in a flow may control the Intensity node. When activated, the node labeled Intensity high sets the red & blue intensity values to 255 (the maximum), while the node labelled Intensity low sets both intensity values to 5 (the minimum is 0).

Authors and acknowledgment

Many thanks to P.I. Engineering for financial support and donation of several X-keys devices for development and testing.

License

MIT