Key Articles
Stardraw.com bestows Double Honor on Comm-Tec
 Following
record-breaking sales performances, Stardraw.com is delighted to award its Master European distributor with two separate awards. German communications technology distributor, COMM-TEC, has earned the double recognition of both Distributor of the Year 2008 and Most Improved Distributor of the Year 2008. Both awards were presented at the recent ISE show in Amsterdam.
Based near Stuttgart, Germany, with offices in throughout Europe, COMM-TEC is the leading pro-AV distribution organization in Europe with an impressive portfolio of brands. They cover all AV market sectors from audio, lighting, video, presentation technology, signal management and show and event control right down to racks and bespoke equipment housing. COMM-TEC is the exclusive distribution channel for all Stardraw products throughout continental Europe, including Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Turkey.
According to Stardraw.com marketing director Rob Robinson, COMM-TEC’s success with Stardraw is due in large part to their AVIT brand concept; AVIT is a complete system solution that centres on communication over IP and includes all hardware and software, from touchscreens to device interfaces and everything in between. At the heart of each AVIT system is the award-winning software, Stardraw Control, which provides systems logic and control intelligence. “COMM-TEC is a company that specializes in providing solutions, not just products, and AVIT is the incarnation of that philosophy,” noted Robinson. “The success they have enjoyed over the last year validates their choice of Stardraw Control as the right platform on which to provide the next generation of control solutions, and confirms our own choice of COMM-TEC as the right distribution partner for us in Europe.”
Carsten Steinecker, COMM-TEC’s Director of Business Development, agrees. “Stardraw Control has proved to be the ideal software solution around which to build our AVIT systems. Thanks to its open architecture, we can easily integrate new products into our systems as we bring them into our portfolio. We look forward to many more years of successful partnership.”
New Updates for Stardraw Control
 In March, a number of enhancements
to the Stardraw Control platform were published representing some significant improvements and additions to core functionality as well as some
tweaks to existing features. We continue to invite comments and suggestions from all users, and thank those who have helped to make Stardraw Control
an even better application.
New! TCP/IP Server - This important new feature allows creation of a TCP/IP server that means that any client, written in any language,
running on any operating system, can communicate with any Stardraw Control generated executable, and vice versa. You can set and retrieve properties,
fire and catch events and effectively extend the functionality of the Stardraw Control platform to any third party UI running on any device, so long
as, one way or another, it can attach to a TCP/IP network. To view a movie giving details of the TCP//IP server functionality
click here
Improved Server Performance - We've spent
a great deal of time improving the performance of the generated server executable. In particular, we have reduced the number of
client/server round trips that are required to execute an action, leading to improved efficiency and responsiveness as well as dramatically
reducing the memory requirements of the server.
New! Server Side Events - It is now possible to catch events at the server, independent of any client executable. This means that Actions
can be initiated without any clients running. You can bring up the Actions dialog from within the Topology View by clicking on the Actions toolbar button:
use this dialog to catch any device event, and then create actions to set properties and call methods of any device. For example, when
a contact closure changes, an IR code could be sent out, without the need for any client executables to be running.
Improvement in Setting Values - A new interface has been implemented to improve the way in which values are set. A new window is instantiated
from within the Actions dialog when a value is to be selected from a fixed number of choices, for example if you are selecting a color, a font, a boolean
value (TRUE or FALSE), or any other variable from a finite or predefined list.
New! Autosave - Modifications to projects are now automatically saved every ten minutes, and autorecovery files created. If for any reason Stardraw Control
closes unexpectedly, e.g. because of hard disk failure, the next time it is run it will ask whether the user wishes to load autorecover files.
In-place Editing of Actions - In the Actions dialog you can now just doubleclick on an action to edit that action as text; very useful
for making small changes or correcting errors.
New! Managing Variables - A new interface has been added to aid management of variables. In the Actions Dialog, choose Add Action->Variables->Manage
Variables and a new dialog is available to view, add, delete and edit variables.
If you have any comments on existing functionality, or suggestions for new features, please visit the Stardraw Control Features Request forum
Stardraw.com Offers Free Custom Device Driver
 Until
April 30th 2009 Stardraw.com is offering to write one custom device driver for anyone buying a new license of Stardraw
Control 2007 or Stardraw Control 2007 Developer Edition.
Commenting on the initiative CEO David Snipp explained, "As an open-architecture,
universal control platform, the great thing about Stardraw Control
is that anyone can create their own drivers. The source for
existing drivers is readily accessible, which means that you can cut
and paste to create new ones with very little effort. However,
we recognize that many users do not have the time or inclination to
'cut code', so we thought it would be a great idea to offer our
services so that users can get the drivers they want on demand."
"This is a win-win," he continued, "because our users get the
specific drivers they need with no outlay in cash or time, and the
Stardraw Control platform itself benefits from a raft of newly
supported devices which represent the products that people need to
control in the real world."
New users purchasing Stardraw Control 2007, full or Developer
Editions, can request the creation of a driver for the product of
their choice. There is no limit on the complexity of the
driver, which can be uni-directional, i.e. issuing commands only, or
bi-directional, i.e. offering command and monitoring functionality,
but there are some logical conditions:
- The device must be remotely-controllable and communicate
over an existing, supported transport protocol (e.g. TCP/IP,
RS232, KNX/EIB, SNMP, Ethersound, Cobranet etc)
- The device command protocol must be open, documented and
supported.
- The driver will contain all standard command/monitoring
functions but may not contain esoteric and/or configuration
functionality since it is intended for control of the use,
not the configuration, of that device.
- The offer is limited to one driver per new license of Stardraw
Control 2007 or Stardraw Control 2007 Developer Edition.
- Full terms and conditions are available on request from
Stardraw.com and authorized Stardraw Control resellers.
Discount on FlexTheme UI Templates
 Until May 31st, User Interface templates by Guiwerx, the leading UI designer,
will be available for purchase at a special, time-limited 30% discount. These
templates offer the quickest and easiest way to create truly stunning control
UIs.
The FlexTheme templates are available in 800x480, 800x600 and
1024x768 pixel resolutions and each features 25 interchangeable
themed backgrounds built right into the template; your client can
choose the look they want with an easy to use theme select page. You
can easily create specialty source pages using the comprehensive
button library: each button image includes a default and pressed
state and all images are in PNG format that supports Alpha
transparency. Each template includes pre-programmed touch panel
navigation and source pages.
A one-time purchase of any Stardraw Control Template allows you
to use that template and any of the images it contains again and
again in as many projects as you want. They're the most time- and
cost-effective way to build a library of flexible, customizable
graphics resources for all your UI requirements.
For full details, previews, and to download sample Stardraw
Control applications that use these templates, just follow the link
below.
New Training Dates
 European
Master Distributor COMM-TEC is offering a program of training courses
to be held at their Uhingen, Germany headquarters. Courses are available both for design/documentation
applications and control applications.
|
Course
|
Language |
Date
|
Cost
|
|
Stardraw AV
|
German
|
June 23rd
|
€300
|
|
Stardraw Control Basics
|
German
|
June 25th
|
€300
|
|
Stardraw Control Advanced
|
German
|
June 26th
|
€300
|
To reserve your seat please
email stardraw@comm-tec.de. For more details click on the link below.
Upcoming Events
 |
Show: |
InfoComm |
Venue: |
OCCC, Orlando, FL, USA |
Dates: |
June 17-19 |
Booth: |
#5778 |
|
 |
Show: |
CEDIA UK |
Venue: |
Excel, London, England |
Dates: |
June 23-25 |
Booth: |
J10 |
|
 |
Show: |
CEDIA |
Venue: |
Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, USA |
Dates: |
September 10-13 |
Booth: |
6829 |
Symbols Updates
In March the following libraries were updated
in one or more of Stardraw's design/documentation
applications (Stardraw Audio 2007, Stardraw AV 2007 and Stardraw AV Lite 2007). Click
on a manufacturer name to see full details of that library.
To update your Offline Libraries, select Options | Synchronize Offline Libraries in
your Stardraw application.
|
