Best Practices Guide
Extron TouchLink™
Touchpanel Configuration
TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
Contents
INTRODUCTION .................................................. 3
GETTING STARTED
1. Know Your AV System............................................ 4
2. Upgrade Your Firmware........................................... 4
3. Upgrade Your Software ........................................... 5
4. Update Your Device Drivers ........................................5
CONFIGURATION
5. Initial Setup .................................................... 6
6. Save Unused Pages and Pop-ups in GUI Configurator ................... 6
7. Include Location in Your Naming Convention........................... 7
8. Use Master Pages............................................... 7
9. Use Modal Pop-up Pages ......................................... 8
10. Be Consistent With Button Placement................................ 8
11. Use Contrasting Colors With Your Text and Backgrounds .................9
12. Use Alignment Tools .............................................9
13. Use the Copy Properties Tool ...................................... 9
14. ID Management................................................ 10
15. Time Delay Requirements ........................................ 10
16. Use Feedback ................................................. 11
17. Use Front Panel Lock – Executive Mode ............................. 11
18. Use Side Buttons Appropriately .................................... 11
19. Button Naming For Global Viewer .................................. 11
TESTING AND TROUBLESHOOTING
20. Test with Global Viewer .......................................... 11
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
INTRODUCTION
TouchLink is the first fully configuration-based touchpanel. When combined
with an Extron IP Link® Control Processor, TouchLink has the power to handle
the control needs of single display rooms, dual display rooms, divisible rooms,
multi-image systems, and video conference suites.
To deploy TouchLink Touchpanels, Global Configurator - GC and GUI
Configurator - GUIC software are required. These software products are used
to configure your AV control system and set up your TouchLink Touchpanel
interface.
This document is a collection of best practices designed to ensure a quick
and successful installation of your Extron TouchLink Touchpanel-based control
system.
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
Ext
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GETTING STARTED
The first step in setting-up your TouchLink Control System
1. Know Your AV System
Become familiar with the components of your AV system. This knowledge is necessary to determine the pages, pop-ups,
and buttons that should be a part of the graphical user interface on your TouchLink Touchpanels.
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Single Display - System Design Drawing
2. Upgrade Your Firmware
Your TouchLink or IP Link products may benefit from periodic firmware updates that enable new features and capabilities.
Firmware can be found on the Extron website at: http://www.extron.com/firmware. Please read all applicable release
notes before upgrading firmware. For detailed instructions, and to verify your current firmware version, refer to the
Firmware Upload FAQ Guide. Upgrades from some older firmware versions call for a device reset and for re-uploading
of your original Global Configurator and/or GUI Configurator project files.
Firmware Loader
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
3. Upgrade Your Software
TouchLink Touchpanels use GUI Configurator V1.0 and Global Configurator V3.0 or later for setup. Current versions of
GUI Configurator and Global Configurator can be downloaded from the Extron website at: http://www.extron.com/
TouchLink. Keeping the most recent versions of software will help ensure you fully utilize your control systems. Please
review Release Notes before updating software.
Downloading TouchLink Software
4. Update Your Device Drivers
The latest Extron device drivers can be downloaded from: http://www.extron.com/download/driverfilter.aspx. All driver
files should be placed in the “Driver2” folder on your computer. This folder’s location can vary, but can easily be located
from within the Global Configurator program. In Global Configurator under “Help” is the “About GC3” dialog box. Simply
click on “Help” - “About GC3” - and click on the link that reads, “Open the driver folder.”
Downloading Device Drivers
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
CONFIGURATION
To configure your TouchLink Control System, start with Global Configurator for initial set-up. Next, use GUI Configurator
to configure graphical elements – your pages and pop-ups. Lastly, go back to Global Configurator to configure additional
features.
Start with Global Configurator
5. Initial Setup
In Global Configurator, select your IP Link control processor and add drivers for your devices. Check the Communication
Sheets for each device to verify your commands. This helps determine which buttons are needed in your graphical user
interface, or GUI. Drivers for commonly used devices like digital signal processors and video conference units come with
specific instructions.
Accessing the Driver Communication Sheet from GC
Switch to GUI Configurator
6. Save Unused Pages and Pop-ups in GUI Configurator
After selecting your template in GUI Configurator, do not delete unwanted pages and pop-ups. Instead, de-link them from
your buttons. These pages and pop-ups may become useful when updating your system in the future.
Removing Doc Cam button and saving Doc Cam popup
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
7. Include Location in Your Naming Convention
Pages and pop-ups should be named after the location and device they control. For example, if you have two DVD
players and need one pop-up for each, rather than naming the pop-ups DVD 1 and DVD 2, it is clearer to name them
DVD-Classroom101 and DVD-Classroom102. Adding location information to your naming conventions makes it easier to
differentiate and assign page flip commands to your buttons.
Naming Convention in GUI Configurator
8. Use Master Pages
Items common to most pages and pop-ups in your control system should be placed on a Master Page and Master Popup, respectively. For example, if there is only one volume control needed in a system, it is a good practice to place it on
the Master Page.
Master Page
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
9. Use Modal Pop-up Pages
Modal pop-up pages block operations until another, pre-determined task is completed. For example, a modal pop-up
page could block access to the touchscreen while the controller is performing the auto-image function.
10. Be Consistent With Button Placement
Be consistent in your placement of buttons from page to page. For example, if your DVD page has the Rewind, Play, and
Fast-Forward buttons at the top of the page, place these same buttons at the top of the VCR page as well.
DVD Popup
VCR Popup
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
11. Use Contrasting Colors With Your Text and Backgrounds
To ensure text is legible, use a text color that highly contrasts with the background color. Please reference our GUI
Design Guide for more information on this topic, as well as general GUI design guidelines.
12. Use Alignment Tools
From GUI Configurator, use the alignment tools to position buttons on your pages. Doing so guarantees that your buttons
are placed in precisely the same spot on every page, eliminating the problem of buttons that appear to “jump” when
navigating between pages.
Alignment Tools
13. Use the Copy Properties Tool
The “Copy Properties” tool will copy only the properties of one object to another. For example, to keep your buttons of
consistent size, the “Copy Properties” tool can be used to copy and paste the button size only – leaving other attributes
untouched.
Copying Object Properties
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
14. ID Management
Use caution when assigning IDs to your buttons. The “Where Used” window in GUI Configurator is a useful tool for
tracking and managing the button IDs. Additionally, the “Show Control Info” option under the “Window” menu indicates
which ID is currently assigned to each button.
Enabling Where Used Window
Enabling Show Control Info opton
To export the completed GUI project and import that project to
Global Configurator, please refer to the How Do I...? document.
15. Time Delay Requirements
Any control that requires time delay must be configured from Global Configurator. For example, “System ON” button
needs a time delay to allow the projector to warm up. Leave this button un-configured in GUI Configurator and configure it
from within Global Configurator.
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
16. Use Feedback
Utilize feedback when configuring your control system. For example, configure your “Display Mute” button to flash when
the projector is powered on but video information is muted. This eliminates confusion over the powered state of the
projector.
Setting up Feedback
17. Use Front Panel Lock – Executive Mode
Locking devices with front panel control, also referred to as “Executive Mode,” helps prevent your devices from getting out
of sync with your TouchLink Touchpanel control system.
18. Use Side Buttons Appropriately
Side buttons on TouchLink Touchpanels come labeled for control of room elements like lights and screens. It is not
recommended to configure side buttons to control media, sources, or displays, as these features are best kept to the
center panel where modal pop-up pages can be used to block access as needed. This set-up also allows operators’
control of side button features, such as turning on or off lights, or control of a screen, without the need to power on their
projector.
19. Button Naming For Global Viewer
Naming conventions set in Global Configurator are seen in Global Viewer. Therefore, use local naming conventions for
your buttons when configuring them from Global Configurator.
TESTING AND TROUBLESHOOTING
After completing configuration of your TouchLink Control System – use
GlobalViewer to test and troubleshoot.
20. Test with Global Viewer
Use Global Viewer to verify a connection with each device controlled by your TouchLink Touchpanel system. Devices
which support feedback will have a viewable status.
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TouchLink™ Touchpanel Best Practices
Extron Electronics, headquartered in Anaheim, CA, is a leading manufacturer of professional AV system integration products. Extron products are used to integrate
video and audio into presentation systems in a wide variety of locations, including classrooms and auditoriums in schools and colleges, corporate board rooms,
houses of worship, command-and-control centers, sports stadiums, airports, broadcast studios, restaurants, malls, and museums.
For additional information, please call an Extron Customer Support Representative:
Extron USA
800.633.9876 (inside USA and Canada only) or 714.491.1500
Extron Europe
+800.3987.6673 (inside Europe only) or +31.33.453.4040
Extron Asia
+800.7339.8766 or +65.6383.4400
Extron Japan
+81.3.3511.7655
www.extron.com
© 2011 Extron Electronics. All rights reserved. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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