Device Drivers

PIXILAB Blocks comes with a plug-in architecture for controlling most devices equipped with a network, serial data or IR remote control port. New device drivers are written by PIXILAB and by our partners.

A curated set of device drivers is available from PIXILAB's github page.

The open plug-in architechure allows anyone with sufficient software development experience to develop device drivers that can work as an integral part of Blocks, accessible from panels, tasks and custom scripts in a high-level manner.

Here's a video series to get you up to speed on device drivers in general and how to make them.

Here's what you'll need:

• Familiarity with JavaScript and TypeScript development, which is similar to (but not identical to) Node.js development.
• A Mac, Window or Linux computer you can use for development purposes, with its own Blocks license.
• Access to the target device, controllable using network or serial (RS232/RS485) data communication.
• Adequate documentation of the control protocol of the target device.

Further documentation to get you started:

• Development tools and code
• Basic concepts
• Example walk-through
• Troubleshooting a driver
• Controlling devices with RS232/RS485 serial data
• Controlling Devices through IR