Description:

This driver supports a number of Extron switches (not matrices) in the SW* family, which is an older line now but still commonly used. It is known to work with the following models:

SW 2 AR MX
SW 4 AR MX
SW 4 AR MX HV
SW 6 AR MX
SW 6 AR MX HV

Though it is not actually required for configuration purposes, as a convenience this device has a dedicated client side driver for direct control under the administrative interface. Here is a screen shot. It adapts itself to the number of inputs available on the model it finds.

The driver allows you to control almost of the things you can control from the Extron front panel. It doesn't allow you to set the auto-sequence time delay, but otherwise should provide complete control.

This driver's server side component is CML based. The server driver classes for this device are in the MEng.System.CQC.Drivers.ExtronVSW scope.

Quirks and Limitations:

The Extron switchers do not have any sort of 'soft power' mode. If you power it off, its dead and it cannot be turned on via software. So you'll probably want to just leave it on all the time.

When setting different function modes, the unit will sometimes stop responding long enough for CQC to temporarily think it has powered off or been unplugged. It will catch back up within a couple seconds, but you may see the client go into its "I've lost contact" mode for just a second when you do this.

Connection Details

The Extron switchers use a serial connection. It requires a 9-pin straight through cable. The serial port parameters are fixed, so you are not given a chance to configure them, you just get to choose the serial port. The parameters are 9600 baud, 8 bits, one stop bit, no parity, no flow control. This is slow, but the protocol is quite light, consisting most of 2 byte values for each packet, so this doesn't seem to be an issue.

Driver Fields

This section lists the fields that the driver makes available, their types, minimum and maximum values, etc...

Name	Type	R/W	Description/Limits
FuncMode	String	R/W	Indicates the input selection mode. It is an enumerated string and be one of the values "FrontPanel", "AutoSwitch", or "AutoSeq". In modes other than FrontPanel, any attempt to select an input will be rejected.
InputCount	Card	R	Returns the number of inputs supported by this particular switcher. Different models support from 2 to 6 inputs.
InputNumber	Card	R/W	Set or read the current input number. If not in Front Panel mode, it will be zero to indicate that manual selection is disabled. This value will otherwise be at most 1 to 6, but the actual legal high value depends on the model and can be gotten via the InputCount field. Writing a value beyond the input count will return an error.
SoftwareVer	String	R	Indicates the software version that the switcher is currently running, in the form "1.23", i.e. a major version followed by a decimal and a two digit minor version.