Receive TCP Messages from Watchout

levranido

Hey Everyone!

So I am trying to receive TCP stings sent from watchout.

Is it possible? I can't seem to understand how to set it up..

I set a TCP stream with the address of the watchout computer and the port I'm sending on.

But when sending the string from Watchout, I get an error that it cant be sent. (while I am sending TCP to other devices OK)

Anyone?

Thanks!

DusX

I have never tried this. So I don't have a quick answer for you. Sorry. Perhaps @mark is available to point you in the right direction?

SSlezas

It is possible. I have done it successfully. I mainly use TCP strings out of Izzy to control projectors, but I have set it up in the opposite direction before; mainly just as a way to trouble shoot my projector control systems. TCP strings have always been super finicky in my experience. Your commands have to be PRECISELY as explained in the manual or your receiving device will not listen. All punctuation, spaces, line breaks, etc must be EXACTLY as described. I have not done Watchout to Izzy before specifically, but I would go back to the manuals and double check that you've gotten all the syntax exactly right.

If that still doesn't help, send me some more info on your patch. I can dig up my old patches and see what I did to get it working.

Good luck!

levranido

Thanks SSlezas! I think due to a lack of time to try and figure it out, I might just go with sending serial out of Watchout instead. It's not the most elegant solution for what I'm trying to do, but it will work faster :-) Thank you for your help!

levranido

So - Serial was a bit of a problem as well, since I am using 2 projectors, and I have a main and a backup display computer from Watchout, Splitting and dealing with Serial was also a mess.

BUT - I FOUND A SOLUTION and I wanted to share it here in case someone needs this in the future.

The Solution was to send UDP commands out of Watchout formatted as OSC messages - and reading them in Isadora.

Example:

I send the following message to 127.0.0.1:

$2f$69$73$61$64$6f$72$61$2f$31$00$00$2c$73$00$00$74$65$73$74$00$00$00$00

This sends the text "test" to channel 1 in Isadora on the same computer. (make sure you configure the port correctly in both Isadora and Watchout)

I simply did this using different channels and reading different channels with OSC listeners to trigger shutters.

The structure of the UDP message (from http://opensoundcontrol.org/) is: An OSC message consists of an OSC Address Pattern followed by an OSC Type Tag String followed by zero or more OSC Arguments. (always in byte multiples of 4)

In our case - the type was string, and the argument was the string. for the string the format is: A sequence of non-null ASCII characters followed by a null.

So - the message above:

$2f$69$73$61$64$6f$72$61$2f$31= \isadora\1 (Address)

$00$00 = 2 nulls to make a multiple of 4

$2c$73 = ,s (OSC Type Tag String)

$00$00 = 2 nulls to make a multiple of 4

$74$65$73$74$00 = test + Null

$00$00$00 = 3 nulls to make a multiple of 4

And that's it - works like a charme! now I can finally trigger things FROM Watchout :-)

For more information about sending other OSC messages (Binary etc..) check out http://opensoundcontrol.org

Thank you!!

Ido.

DusX

Nice solution!