Tag Archive: tools

Connecting to JNIORs through their command line is a useful way to configure them. While there is a command line available in the JNIOR Web Pages, you can also open a command line connection to the JNIOR using the Support Tool. 

Opening the Command Line

There are two ways to open a JNIOR’s command line from the Support Tool. One way is by right-clicking a JNIOR in the Beacon tab and going to Tools->Open Telnet. The other way is by going up to the Tools tab and selecting the Command Line option there.

Once selected, the JNIOR Command Line should open in a separate window. Here you can establish a command-line connection two ways, either with a TCP or Serial connection. 

NOTE: If you’ve opened the command line by right-clicking a JNIOR in the Beacon tab, the command line will automatically create a TCP connection to the JNIOR you’ve selected on port 23. You’ll need to disconnect the command line first if you want to change the type of connection.

TCP Command Line

To open a TCP command line connection to the JNIOR, you’ll click Connect and select TCP/IP. A separate dialog will then open, requiring you to enter the IP, a port number, and if the connection should be secure or not. If a port number is not entered, port 23 will be used by default. Selecting secure will determine if the connection is encrypted or not. Once the connection information is entered, you should have a command line connection to the JNIOR.

Serial Command Line

To open a Serial command line connection to the JNIOR, you’ll to make sure you have a Serial cable connected between the JNIOR’s RS-232 COM serial port and your PC (You can use a Serial-to-USB cable for this). Once a serial cable connection has been made, you’ll click Connect and select Serial. If you correctly connected your JNIOR serially to your Computer, a COM option should be available. Selecting that and then hitting any key should prompt the boot dialog, and you should now have a command line connection to the JNIOR.

NOTE: You cannot make a Serial command line connection to the JNIOR if you have it’s boot dialog disabled. Here is how to enable/disable the RS-232 COM port boot dialog.

For information on what type of command line commands you can run, here is a post with command line examples.

When trying to communicate with the JNIOR, one of the main ways to do so is using the JNIOR Protocol. With that said, you may want to try sending messages to the JNIOR protocol directory from an external device. Inside the JNIOR Support Tool is the Hex String Sender device, which shows you how to create JNIOR Protocol commands and test them.

On the top left of the JNIOR Support Tool under Tools->Advanced is where you can access the Hex String Sender Tool. This tool opens in a separate, smaller dialog box. When you select from one of the pre-defined commands available, and enter some additional information for the options of the command, the Hex String Sender generates how that command would need to be sent to the JNIOR Protocol in Hex to work. You can then use the generated Hex command to send from your other device to the JNIOR Protocol of a JNIOR to execute that command. 

At the bottom, you may enter the IP of a JNIOR to test if the commands being generated work with it. Once a command is selected and an IP is entered, clicking the test button will execute that command on the specified JNIOR. Using this, you should now be able to create and test JNIOR Protocol commands for JNIORs.

For example, you can set the duration of the output pulses.

When creating Macros to use with the Cinema application, you may want to test some of them out before creating them all. The Macro Name Sender is a tool within the JNIOR Support Tool that allows you to execute macros using a JNIOR Protocol connection. Below is how to find and use the Macro Name Sender Tool.

NOTE: In order to use the Macro Name Sender Tool, you need to create macros and publish them to a JNIOR first.

There are two ways to open the Macro Name Sender in the JNIOR Support Tool. You can either open the Macro Name Sender by opening the Tools tab at the top and selecting Macro Execution, or you can right click a JNIOR and select Tools->Macro Execution. Once done, the Macro Name Sender Tool should be open.

In order to use the Macro Name Sender, you first need to enter the information of the JNIOR you are trying to test macros on. Entering the JNIOR’s IP, Username, Password and then clicking Connect will establish the JNIOR Protocol connection to the JNIOR. Once connected, all you need to do is enter the name of the Macro at the top and click Send. If the Macro exists and has been published to the JNIOR, it should execute. Now you can easily test macros published to a JNIOR through the JNIOR Support Tool.