Facility Control

We have 5 PTZ cameras and from time to time we have an issue during a live broadcast that causes problems. While I've designed the custom control panel that we use to visually help the video director know which camera is on program, we still have occasions where, because we're trying to keep our shots moving, we inadvertently click a preset on a live shot. Here's what the panel looks like:

ANSWERED. (by me!)

I'm beginning to think that lately, each time I post and folks see who the OP is that they intentionally do not respond even if they have an answer! :-)

Turns out I could not find a way to DISABLE a panel control or widget BUT I found a way to not be able to use it conditionally. Anyway-after running through several of the tutorial videos that Ben Gautien created (he really does some neat stuff), I stumbled upon my own answer so if this issue is something that others want to employ or need in a panel, here's how to do it.. In one of his videos (WP110 Locking Panel Components), he made a panel to control three cameras and added a button to lock controls of the cameras together so that when you executed a command on the left one, it did the same on the two to the right. Then he added a canvas over the top of the two right cameras on the panel so that the user could not make adjustments on those two right panels when they are locked together. Bingo! All I wanted to do was disable the shotbox widget on each of my cameras anytime that the camera was in program. Turned out to be fairly simple: just add a canvas over the top of the shotbox and add a task to the tally widget of that camera (see my panel below) that reveals that canvas when the camera is on air or hides it when the camera is in preview or off-air. I made the canvas black and added 50% transparency so that when is shows, it appears that the shotbox is grayed out and because the canvas is on top, you can't "click through" it to accidentally fire a preset while the camera is live. Then I added that same process and code to each of the cameras on my panel and viola, it works exactly the way I wanted it to.

The only drawbacks, if there really are any, is that when I launch Dashboard, it comes up with ALL of my cameras having that canvas revealed so it looks as though you can't get at any of the shotboxes. As part of our power-up procedure, all we need to do is hit each camera on the program bus of our switcher control surface and it releases each one. The other minor issue is that when making shot adjustments:positioning, focus, iris, etc. and then saving the shot as a preset, we do it while the camera is in preview since we can't get to the shotbox if the camera is in program.

Hope that all makes sense. No more accidents of inadvertently selecting a new preset while a camera is on air! Yea!  

Thanks for posting back to the community Steve.

Yes, the canvas over the control you wish to block is the most common way to block access to a part (or all of) a panel.  You can control the default visibility with the visible attribute for any control inside of an <abs/>.  It's also fairly common for people to put in overrides to hide the canvas on-demand by clicking a button or typing a password (which might help your 'preset' issue).  

Original Message:
Sent: 03-07-2024 10:54
From: Steve Witwicki
Subject: Dashboard: Disable Widget

ANSWERED. (by me!)

I'm beginning to think that lately, each time I post and folks see who the OP is that they intentionally do not respond even if they have an answer! :-)

Turns out I could not find a way to DISABLE a panel control or widget BUT I found a way to not be able to use it conditionally. Anyway-after running through several of the tutorial videos that Ben Gautien created (he really does some neat stuff), I stumbled upon my own answer so if this issue is something that others want to employ or need in a panel, here's how to do it.. In one of his videos (WP110 Locking Panel Components), he made a panel to control three cameras and added a button to lock controls of the cameras together so that when you executed a command on the left one, it did the same on the two to the right. Then he added a canvas over the top of the two right cameras on the panel so that the user could not make adjustments on those two right panels when they are locked together. Bingo! All I wanted to do was disable the shotbox widget on each of my cameras anytime that the camera was in program. Turned out to be fairly simple: just add a canvas over the top of the shotbox and add a task to the tally widget of that camera (see my panel below) that reveals that canvas when the camera is on air or hides it when the camera is in preview or off-air. I made the canvas black and added 50% transparency so that when is shows, it appears that the shotbox is grayed out and because the canvas is on top, you can't "click through" it to accidentally fire a preset while the camera is live. Then I added that same process and code to each of the cameras on my panel and viola, it works exactly the way I wanted it to.

The only drawbacks, if there really are any, is that when I launch Dashboard, it comes up with ALL of my cameras having that canvas revealed so it looks as though you can't get at any of the shotboxes. As part of our power-up procedure, all we need to do is hit each camera on the program bus of our switcher control surface and it releases each one. The other minor issue is that when making shot adjustments:positioning, focus, iris, etc. and then saving the shot as a preset, we do it while the camera is in preview since we can't get to the shotbox if the camera is in program.

Hope that all makes sense. No more accidents of inadvertently selecting a new preset while a camera is on air! Yea!  

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Steve Witwicki
Video Technical Director
Light of Christ Church
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