Command Line Quirk

Vista software Vista 3 Betas
1

I’m using a Stream Deck with a Text macro to do this but it works the same if it is via Command Line.

I want Group 8 to do a Medium Intensity Chase (Effect 8). So on Command Line I type g8e8 (ENTER) and it works perfectly. But if I type g8 (ENTER) so that I select the group and then decide to type e8 (Enter) an error appears saying “Cannot apply effect template 8 to empty selection”. So basically if I use the Command Line to select a group, I then cannot use the Command Line to apply an effect or preset to that group. That makes using a device like Streamdeck or X-Keys not possible for selecting groups and firing effects because the selecting a group and selecting the effect are two different commands.

The odd thing is I can use Command Line to select the group and then click with my mouse (or via touchscreen) to fire the effect/preset and it works properly. Also if I use a mouse to select the group and then use Command Line I can fire the effect/preset. I can program the Streamdeck to not add an enter command which allows me to string items together, but I’m afraid this will limit me in other ways. I just thought it was weird that I cannot use Command Line to select a group and then use Command Line on a second entry to tell the selected group what to do.

2

As a general rule consoles should not make assumptions as to what you want them to do.
In this case you are assuming that the console knows that you always want to apply the FX to your previous fixture selection, but this isnt always the case. For example you may wish to type a completely different command string, for example, FX 501 Label Enter. For this to work, as soon as you type E for FX, Vista drops the previous selection so that everything else works moving forwards.

There is a simple solution though. In your effects commands strings type @E(number) Enter.
By using the AT command Vista knows to use the previous fixture selection.

Hope this helps.

1 Like
3

That helped a lot. Thanks!