Virtual Resources

Virtual Resources

Virtual resources are an abstraction that lets you define buttons for systems that do not implement these directly.

Also, BeoLiving App currently uses virtual buttons for displaying scene buttons. It does not yet support displaying all available resources on each zone.

Virtual resources have no functionality by themselves; you must define macros to link user actions on a virtual resource, with actual events and commands on the systems. See the example below.

Future releases of BeoLiving Intelligence will also support virtual thermostats.

End user experience

Virtual resources can appear as a single functional entity on user interfaces, hiding the fact that internally the resource is implemented by putting together a set of macros for all the needed actions on the button.

Addressing

Virtual resources have an address which is a unique number. This number is used by external controllers and applications to identify this resource.

Example: KNX button

You have a KNX system, which communicates with BeoLiving Intelligence via changes to group addresses.

There is a boolean group address 1/2/3 which acts on the ceiling fan, and you want to show it as a button on the user interfaces.

The steps are:

  1. Create a virtual resource of type button, called Fan, with address 1.
  2. Create a KNX resource of type boolean on group address 1/2/3, and call it KnxFan.
  3. Create a macro called Fan ON with event Fan PRESS, and command Set KnxFan to 1.
  4. Create another macro called Fan OFF with event Fan RELEASE, and command Set KnxFan to 0.

Now you have a button that looks and behaves like a button on the user interfaces, but internally acts on a boolean KNX group address.

Example: LUTRON Shades

You have LUTRON buttons that can raise, lower and stop a shade, let’s call them RaiseBtn, LowerBtn and StopBtn respectively. It is possible to create a Virtual Shade and use it to trigger the PRESS command of the LUTRON buttons.

The steps are:

  1. Create a virtual resource of type Shade, called MyShade.
  2. Create a macro called Raise Shade with event MyShade RAISE_REQUIRED, and command RaiseBtn PRESS.
  3. Create a macro called Lower Shade with event MyShade LOWER_REQUIRED, and command LowerBtn PRESS.
  4. Create a macro called Stop Shade with event MyShade STOP_REQUIRED, and command StopBtn PRESS.

Now you have a resource that looks like a shade in the user interfaces, but acts triggering the Lutron buttons.

Example: Virtual Dimmers

Whenever the SET command is executed on a Virtual Dimmer, the SET_REQUIRED event will be fired with the same LEVEL value of the SET command (the level of the dimmer will not change). You can use the SET_REQUIRED event to trigger the commands you need to set the value of your dimmer, for example executing PRESS command on some button. Then you can set the level of the virtual dimmer using the SET_VIRTUAL command which takes a LEVEL value.

The steps are:

  1. Create a Virtual Dimmer called MyVirtualDimmer
  2. Create a macro called Set Virtual Dimmer with event MyVirtualDimmer SET_REQUIRED and the following command: ```lua function(event, engine) —- – Do what you have to do to set the level —-

— Set the Virtual Dimmer level engine.fire(event.area()..”/”..event.zone()..”/DIMMER/”..event.name()..”/SET_VIRTUAL?LEVEL=”..event.get(“LEVEL”)) end ```