Phidget Control Panel

Getting Started with the Phidget Control Panel

The Phidget Control Panel is a powerful tool that will help you develop your Phidgets applications. With the Phidget Control Panel, you can see any/all Phidgets that are attached to your machine (or a remote machine), update your Phidget's firmware, manage a Phidget Network Server, and more!

The Phidget Control Panel is only available for Windows and macOS operating systems.

Windows

If you haven't already, follow the getting started with Windows section on the Windows OS page. There you will install the Phidget libraries and learn how to open the Phidget Control Panel.

Phidgets tab

After opening the Phidget Control Panel, you should see something like this:

The Phidgets tab will list all Phidgets (and associated objects) that are connected to your machine, as well as the following information:

Serial number: allows you to differentiate between similar Phidgets.
Channel: allows you to differentiate between similar objects on a Phidget.
Version number: corresponds to the firmware version your Phidget is running.

To add/remove information from the Phidget Control Panel, right-click on one of the column headers:

Every Phidget has an example program, double-click on a Phidget to run the program:

The screenshot above shows the example application for the 1024 - PhidgetRFID Read-Write. These examples are intended for demonstration and debugging purposes; you'll eventually want to write your own program using our code samples for your preferred programming language.

For a quick way to get to the product page for your Phidget, select it and click on the blue book in the bottom left:

Setting a label

Right-click on a Phidget to set a label. See using a label for more information about how to use labels with Phidgets.

Updating Firmware

If a Phidget shows up in red on the list in the Phidgets tab, it means the firmware is out of date:

Controlpanel windows firmwareupgrade.png

Double click on the Phidget to be given an option to apply the update:

Controlpanel windows firmwareupgrade click.png

Logging

The Phidget Control Panel keeps a log file of all errors, warnings, and other information related to its operation. This information can be useful if you're having problems with your Phidgets, but you're not sure what's going wrong. To enable logging, first navigate to File -> Options...

Next, check the box beside Enable Logging. From the Level drop-down menu, you can select how detailed you want the output to be:

Windows Control Panel Network Server Setup

Info: default/recommended setting. Will log general information such as errors, attach/detach events, etc.
Error/Warning: will only log error messages/warning messages. Useful for keeping log files small in size.
Debug: for use with Debug version of library.
Critical: will only log critical messages (e.g. if program crashes)
Verbose: will log everything. Not recommended for normal use.

To view the log files, click on Logs in the bottom right corner of the Phidget Control Panel. You can also find it by navigating to the following location:

C:/ProgramData/Phidgets/logs

There is a separate log file for each example, as well as the Network Server, to make it easier to find messages that are relevant to the part you're debugging.

Network Server Tab

To get started, click on the Network Server tab:

Settings

Startup Type: determines when the Phidget Network Server will start.
- Automatic: the Phidget Network Server will start automatically when Windows boots.
- Manual: the Phidget Network Server will start only when you click the Start button at the bottom of the Window, or, if another service starts it.
- Disabled: mode means the Phidget Network Server will stay off, regardless of what tries to start it.

Phidget Server Settings

Enabled: enable the Phidget server. When you enable the Phidget Server, other computers on the network will be able to access the Phidgets that are connected to your computer.
Publish: enable/disable mDNS. See the connecting to a Phidget Network Server for more information.
Server Name: your server name will allow you to identify your Phidget Server from others on the network.
Password (optional): prevent unauthorized computers on the network from accessing the Phidgets connected to your computer by setting a password.
Log Level: defaults to Info. See logging section above for more information.
Port: The port used by the Phidget Network Server (defaults to 5661).

Webserver Settings

Enabled: enable the Webserver. The Webserver allows you to host a webpage that will have access to Phidgets through languages like JavaScript.
Docroot: specifies the docroot path. This is where your webpage files will live and any/all additional libraries.
Port: The port used by the Webserver (defaults to 8989).

Dictionaries Settings

Enable User Dictionaries: in order to create/use a Phidget Dictionary with the Phidget Control Panel, make sure this setting is enabled.
Enable Monitoring/control Dictionary: by enabling this setting, you can view incoming/outgoing traffic related to your Phidget Network Server. Here is an example:

Controlpanel windows servermonitoring.png

Adding a Phidget Dictionary

Phidget Dictionaries are an extremely powerful tool when working with Phidgets. See the Phidget Dictionary page for more information.

Creating a Phidget Dictionary is quick and easy with the Phidget Control Panel. First specify a serial number for your Dictionary, and then give it a name (if you don't specify a serial number, a default will be provided).

Next, click on the Config... button. Here you can create a key-value pair for your Dictionary:

Controlpanel windows createdictionary.png

After you create your key-value pair, make sure your Dictionary is enabled and then start your Phidget Network Server (or Restart, if it is already running). Navigate to the Phidgets tab and you will see your new Dictionary:

You can now access the Phidget Dictionary from any machine on the network.

PhidgetSBC Tab

The last tab is the PhidgetSBCs tab, which displays the complete list of any PhidgetSBCs connected to the network:

Just like the Phidgets tab, you can right-click on any of the column headers for view options:

Phidgetsbc windowscontrolpanel showmore.PNG

You can also double-click on a Phidget SBC to bring up the Phidget SBC Web Interface. The SBC Web Interface is covered in detail in the User Guide for your SBC.

macOS

If you haven't already, follow the getting started with macOS section on the macOS page. There you will install the Phidget libraries and learn how to open the Phidget Control Panel.

Phidgets Tab

After opening the Phidget Control Panel, you should see something like this:

The Phidgets tab will list all Phidgets (and associated objects) that are connected to your machine, as well as the following information:

Serial number: allows you to differentiate between similar Phidgets.
Channel: allows you to differentiate between similar objects on a Phidget.
Version number: corresponds to the firmware version your Phidget is running.

Every Phidget has an example program, double-click on a Phidget to run the program:

The screenshot above shows the example application for the 1024 - PhidgetRFID Read-Write. These examples are intended for demonstration and debugging purposes.