Thinklogical Router - ASCII-API - Manual (Page 4)

Overview
Unless stated otherwise, references to a VxRouter also apply to a MxRouter and a HdxRouter.
This document describes the command set used to control Thinklogical's VxRouter series of matrix switches. The commands
are all ASCII based and are terminated with either a linefeed character or a carriage-return / linefeed pair. Port numbers are all
4 digits in length and filled with leading zeros (Example: port 12 is encoded as 0012).
The VxRouter commands are based on the command set used by our DCS product line. Some DCS commands were removed
because they did not apply to the VxRouter system. New commands were added to accommodate features in the VxRouters
that were not in the DCS.
This release of API version 4.x marks a radical departure in the procedure used to make or break connections. Previously, the
VxRouter was treated as having 'N' number of bidirectional ports. When a connection command was received, in most cases
two connection paths were created. One path allowed information to flow from a transmitter to a receiver, and the second path
allowed information to flow from the receiver to the transmitter. The second path was sometimes referred to as the 'low speed
channel' or the 'back-channel'.
Automatic path creation required only one connection command to create two connection paths. The software took care of
maintaining the second path. The drawback from this feature is that none of the ports used by the second path were available
for any other use. This could lead to half or more of the ports on a VxRouter being unusable.
The API commands have been modified in this version of the interface (Version 4.x). These commands give the user complete
control over every input and output port of the VxRouter switch matrix. The drawback is the need to issue two commands to
connect or disconnect bidirectional data instead of one command. You still need only one command to connect or disconnect
video data.
The ability to make any possible connection means that it is now possible to have one keyboard/mouse connected to multiple
CPU’s. The user can be watching the video from, and interacting with, CPU A while simultaneously sending keystrokes to
CPU’s A, B, C, D,...
HDX switch support.
The HDX series of switches uses the same API as the VxRouters. Because the HDX implements synchronized switching, a
method to cause a sync'd switch event to occur was needed. The HDX API will synchronize switching when it receives a line
feed (LF) at the end of a switch command. These switch commands are: Connect, Disconnect, XPUT and Macro.
MX switch support.
The MX series of switches uses the same API as the VxRouters. The one difference is the XMAXCARDS command. It returns
the actual maximum number of I/O cards allowed, not one-half the total. Refer to the XMAXCARDS section on page 11.
Unless otherwise indicated, references to VxRouters also apply to the HDX and MX models.
XOPTIONS command.
The new command XOPTIONS can be used to determine which command options are available in the api.
Jun 12, 2014 Router ASCII API: V4.5-1 3/33