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With the Serial Link device you may control most routing switchers, projectors, shutters or other device parameters that are remote controllable via the common RS 232 and 422 serial protocols. Even though, the device's name is Serial Link, you do not necessarily need the hardware device itself. The Serial Link device was often used to send TCP/IP commands; since version 6.1.1 Pandoras Box offers the dedicated "TCP Device" for that.

To add a "Serial Link Device" to your project, open the Device Types tab and drag the "Serial_Link" to the Device Tree.

Select the device in the tree to load it's properties into the Inspector tab. If you would like to send commands to the Serial Link hardware, check the option "Use Serial Link header". If you would like to send commands to another TCP device with a built-in TCP Server, untick this option (but again, using the TCP device is a simpler workflow).

Now, type in the right IP address of the device and its connection port and click the button "Apply IP and Port". The red exclamation mark on the Serial Link device in the Device Tree disappears which means that you are connected.

As the connection is now established, the commands can be send. Simply add the serial command according to the device's syntax as a key to the timeline. In detail this means to open the parameter "COM" and insert a key frame by right-clicking on the according time whenever you want to send commands. Then select the created key frame and edit it in the Inspector. Enter the command in the "Data" field. Please refer to the user manual of the projector to get the specific commands you want to send. If your device demands to send a special character like a "carriage return" or "start of text" send your entire message "As Hex" and write everything including that special character using hexadecimal values. You may find a list with ASCII characters and the according hex code in the Widget Designer chapter. The next chapter about the "TCP Device" shows some more examples.

As soon as the nowpointer reaches the key frame the command is send via the TCP connection. In that way any serial ASCII or hex string can be stored and copied to any point in the timeline.