Now we will create our first command in Sconi Center. Requirement is that the Sconi is present and that Sconi Center confirms this with the message 'device ready'.

Sconi found

If you start the program first time you will find a group in the left part of the window, called tree structure, with the name 'global group'. In course of time after you have created a large number of commands you will notice that it´s very useful to divide the commands into groups. Therefore Sconi Center creates this group automatically on startup. The name 'global' indicates that this group is not ment for a specific program but contains general commands.

First group

Steps to create a new command

1. First press a button on your remote control, which you want to assign a command to. In the state window of Sconi Center the corresponding button code will be shown. In the example it is the code 'F4'. Now enter a name for this button in the 'RC Button Name' field and press the 'Add' button next to it.
In the tree structure you will see a new entry. To make a small test if it really works just press the button on the remote control again. The entry will light up in red now and you can see that it works as expected!
2. So far the button is recognized but it has no function. Now we will assign the function 'move mouse up' to this button. Select the tab 'Mouse' on the property sheet in the lower right corner. In the drop-down list there are all functions for mouse emulation offered by Sconi Center. Select the entry 'up' please. By pressing the 'Add' button this function will be added to the button defined before. In the tree structure you see these entries now:

Mouse up action

Let´s test it again. Press the button on the remote control. As if by magic the mouse pointer begins moving upwards. The speed and velocity can be adjusted with the slide bars on the mouse tab.

That´s it actually. It´s quite simple to create a command in Sconi Center. The procedure is repeated now for the buttons to move the mouse left, right and downwards.

• Prof-Tip: Sconi Center is made that way, that the programming process is most effective and quick. To avoid changing between keyboard, mouse and remote control, you can first create a number of RC buttons in the tree structure. Just set the mouse cursor in the 'RC Button Name' field and enter the names of the buttons one after another. After each name press return. Maybe you are asked if you want to let the code field blank. Just confirm this with YES please. This way you can create a number of entries in the tree structure very very fast! The corresponding IR code is assigned later with the edit button.

You can completely move the mouse with the remote control at this point. For a real mouse emulation something is missing of course: the mouse buttons. First we create the command for the left click:

1. Many remote controls have an OK button within or near by the cursor buttons. We will use this OK button now. But before you click on 'Add' please check the option 'Slow' on the left side of the 'Add' button. What is it good for? Remote controls send commands very quickly. Even if you would touch a button as short as possible you would at least send 3-4 times the code. This would cause problems of course, at least a double click would be generated.
For commands which require to be executed slowly there is the slow-option. This option enables a delay time before the command is repeated. Only after a longer continual press the command is executed again. It works just like the keyboard of your PC. The keys are repeated only after a delay time. This delay can be adjusted in the options of Sconi Center.
2. Now the action 'left click' is chosen from the drop down list on the mouse tab and we are able to perform a left mouse click with the remote control. But there are still some functions missing like double click, right click, or even dragging to be able to move a window.

To keep the number of buttons used for mouse control as small as possible, Sconi Center offers a smart option. In the mouse drop down list you find the entry 'change click mode'. With this action you can change the click action performed by the button with the 'left click' function in this order:

• Left click -> double click -> single right click-> drag (continuous left click) -> and back

So if you select double click, a press on the button for the left click will now execute a double click. A click on the 'change click mode' button will reset the click mode to normal left click, because if you have used the left click button, another click on the 'change click mode' button will always reset the click mode. So it´s not necessary to click through all modes to get back. This way all mouse actions can be done with 2 buttons on the remote control. The Sconi Center on-screen-display will keep you informed about the currently active mode.

• Prof-Tip: You don´t need to give each RC button defined in Sconi Center a name manually. If the option 'Auto Name RC Buttons' is selected in the options, Sconi Center will automatically assign a name to a button when its action has been selected. In most cases it is sufficient to use the action name as a button name, because you probably know which button is used to increase volume for example.

Finally we use this feature when creating two more commands to control the system volume.

1. Please clear the field 'RC Button Name' if it´s not empty yet. Now press 2 times on the 'Add' button. You will notice two new entries in the tree structure without names. They are shown a little lighter than the other entries. This signals that no code has been assigned yet.

Undefined buttons

2. Now select the first of these entries, press a button on your remote control and click on 'Edit' in Sconi Center. This assigns the code to this command!

3. Finally an action has to be selected. In this case we want to increase system volume. Select the entry 'Line up' from the property sheet tab 'Sound' and press on 'Add'. The same procedure is done for the second button which will decrease the volume. As you can see in the tree structure both buttons have been named automatically with the names 'Sound: Line Up' and 'Sound: Line Down'.

Mouse and volume control

This part of the tutorial is finished here. You can now control the mouse completely by the remote control. Also the volume can be increased and decreased remotely. This is visualised by Sconi Center with the on-screen display by the way. In the next part of the tutorial, which comes shortly, we will focus on program-specific groups. These are groups of commands which are used to control a specific program.

On-screen display

Stay tuned! :-)