TouchControl Server for Windows Release Notes
Version 12.7
Usability enhancements & bug fixes.
Version 12.5 - 12.6
Easily integrate with IFTTT Webhooks service via HTTP Request buttons.
Easily generate IFTTT Webhooks service requests in TC via HTTP Request buttons using either the Webhooks 3-value method or using a JSON payload. See the IFTTT Webhooks documentation for information about those two Webhooks service features. To enable this feature in TouchControl, access TC Server Settings - Preferences, and check the "Enable IFTTT Webhooks in HTTP Request buttons" option, and enter/paste your personal Webhooks key (found in IFTTT) in the provided "Key" field. Then, when configuring HTTP Request buttons in TC Server, check the "IFTTT" option in the upper right to display the Webhooks trigger field, and select the Values or JSON payload type to display the appropriate fields. Note that when using the IFTTT Webhooks option, the button's selected host IP address (configured in TC Server Interface Manager) must contain "maker.ifttt.com", and the port must be 443 (Webhooks requests use the HTTPS protocol). Again, see the IFTTT web site for full documentation on the Webhooks service.
Bug fixes.
Version 12.3 - 12.4
Gesture Pad updates:
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Separate single/double tap actions.
Double-Tap has been added as an additional, distinct gesture available for Gesture Pads, so you can now add separate actions for single- and double-tap gestures, and both single- and double-tap gestures may be set as two-stage actions as well. Please note, if you currently use the Double-tap feature of the "Tap" gesture, please re-configure your gesture pad to use the new Double Tap gesture instead.
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New swipe "Hold To Repeat" feature
Up/down/left/right swipe gestures on a Gesture Pad can now optionally be configured for "Hold to repeat". This feature allows you to swipe in a given direction, and when you pause the swipe but leave your finger on the screen, the Gesture Pad will continue to send the commands for the current swipe direction without further swipe movement required. Lifting your finger off the screen, or continuing the swipe motion will cancel the repeating commands. Each distinct swipe direction may be independently configured as hold to repeat. Repeated commands are sent at the rate defined by the Gesture Pad's "Repeat interval" setting.
These features require TouchControl v12.3.
Bug fixes.
Version 12.2
Activity-level shadows and haptics.
Turning on Button Shadows option and/or the Sound & Vibration vibration/haptics option (for devices that support haptics) in Settings in TouchControl on your iOS device will enable those features for all activities in your configuration. If, however, you would like to enable shadows or haptics for specific activities, but not for all of them, you can now turn on shadows and haptics at the activity level in the Activity Configuration settings in TouchControl Server when designing your activities. Simply select the Shadows and/or Haptics settings on the server when designing your activities, and turn OFF the Button Shadows and Sound & Vibration Haptics options in TouchControl on your device. Leave those options ON in settings on your device if you wish to use them for all activities regardless of the setting in the server designer.
Support for server restart from device.
To force a restart of your TC Server app from TouchControl on your device, open Settings in TouchControl, tap on the "Server" entry under "Network Settings", then tap on the pencil (edit) icon in the upper right to open the "Edit Servers" screen. Tap the "Restart" button for any server listed that you would like to restart. This will ONLY restart the TouchControl Server APP on the PC - it will not restart the PC itself. Be aware that any unsaved data or changes in your TC Server will be lost if you proceed with the restart (you will receive a warning before the restart is actually triggered). This feature requires TouchControl for iOS version 12.2.
Bug fixes.
Version 12 - 12.1
Support for the "Colors" home screen theme.
Using the "Theme" option within settings in TouchControl for iOS, you can now change the home screen theme to "Colors". Colors are set at the Location level, and are selected on the TouchControl Server main screen after selecting a location from the drop-down list. First, turn on location colors by enabling the "Show location color selector" option in server settings/preferences. Then select a color for a selected location by clicking the color button to the right of the location drop down. This color will then be used for the location and all activity buttons for that location when using the "Colors" theme in the client app.
Bug fixes.
Version 11.4 - 11.5.4
Allow negative slider values.
You can now set negative values for a slider button's minimum value, maximum value, and starting value.
Bug fixes.
Version 11.3
Enables sending HTTP Request button commands direct from watch to destination device.
You can now configure HTTP Request buttons to send their commands directly from the TouchControl Apple Watch app to the destination/controlled device, rather than sending through TouchControl on the iOS device. To enable this feature, right-click on any HTTP Request button on an activity configured for Apple Watch in the TouchControl Server layout designer, and select/enable the "Watch HTTP Direct" option. Then refresh the config to your device.
Version 11.2
Enables custom transitions for link buttons executed from macros or gesture pads.
When executing link buttons using custom transitions from macros or gesture pads, those custom transitions will execute properly (previously link button custom transitions were ignored when executed from those button types). Requires TouchControl iOS app version 11.2.
Bug fixes.
Version 11.0 - 11.1
New activity sharing feature.
TouchControl activities can now be shared among TouchControl users. Simply use the existing "Export configuration - Activities..." option on the server's Tools menu, and then select "Share this activity" when prompted after the export process has completed. Shared activities will be uploaded to the touchapptech.com web site where other users can download them and import into their configurations. Shared activity files can be imported info TouchControl Server using the "Import Configuration..." option on the Tools menu. Please see the Sharing page for more information.
New device sharing feature.
TouchControl device configurations can now be shared among TouchControl users. Simply right-click on any device in the "Available Devices" list in TouchControl Server and select "Share...". Shared devices will be uploaded to the touchapptech.com web site where other users can download them and import into their configurations. Shared device files can be imported info TouchControl Server using the "Import Configuration..." option on the Tools menu. Please see the Sharing page for more information.
Set custom button background colors.
You can now set a custom background color for any hot-spot button (button with no image), in addition to the built-in set of color choices already available.
Bug fixes.
Version 10.5.2
Support for HTTP Request buttons with password-only basic authentication
If you have a device or service that you control with HTTP Request buttons that requires only a password for authentication (no user ID), you can set only a password in the Authentication section of the HTTP Request interface host in TouchControl Server's Interface Manager, leaving the user ID blank. Or, if using the HTTPAuth button property, you can set only a password by setting the property value to ":mypassword" (that's a colon followed by the desired password - basically leaving the user ID blank which would normally precede the colon).
Version 10.5 - 10.5.1
Automatically adjust activities for iPhone and iPad safe areas
You can now tell TouchControl to automatically adjust the top and bottom margins of your activities to layout within the "safe area" on full-screen iPhone and iPad devices, if desired. This allows you to design your activity layouts with buttons at the top and bottom edges, but when selecting the "Safe area" setting in the activity config options, Touch control will automatically adjust the layout so that the top is below the front-facing camera assembly (the "notch") and the bottom is above the "home bar". This will also help avoid the rounded corners of these devices. The activity background image will continue to extend to the screen's top and bottom edges for a finished look. If you'd rather take advantage of this space on the device screen, then leave the "Safe area" option unselected, which is the default. This feature requires TouchControl for iOS version 10.5.1.
Bug fixes
Version 10.4 - 10.4.3
HTTP Request button authentication config
You can now specify basic authentication (ID & password) settings in Interface Manager for any HTTP Request interface. This allows you to specify authentication for all buttons that use a given interface in one place. Previously, authentication settings were required for each individual HTTP Request button by setting the HTTPAuth property separately on each button. That feature is still available for individual buttons, but the new Interface Manager feature streamlines the process when all buttons that use a given HTTP Request interface need the same authentication settings. You can also use the HTTPAuth property on any given button to override the authentication setting specified in that button's interface host.
In addition, the HTTP authentication settings (ID & password) are now encrypted within the config XML files for security purposes. And when exporting your configuration, the ID & password both for buttons using the HTTPAuth property, and for interfaces that specify authentication settings, are replaced with "xxxx", so that you can safely share a config export with someone else without sharing your authentication settings.
Bug fixes
Version 10.2.2 - 10.3
Bug fixes
Version 10 - 10.1
Support for Siri Shortcuts
TouchControl now integrates with Siri. See this page for more information.
Bug fixes
Version 9.5.11
New Gesture Pad Double-Tap feature
You can now set a gesture pad's Tap gesture to require a double-tap instead. This can be useful if you have a gesture pad that had multiple gestures defined, and you find that it registers a tap when attempting to swipe, or it registers random taps when just resting your finger on the screen.
Bug fixes & stability improvements
Version 9.5.8
New Auto-Exec on Appear Button Setting
You can now set a button to auto-execute whenever an activity appears. This includes immediately after the initial load (and after any auto-exec on load button executes), as well as any time you navigate away from an activity via a link button, and then return to the activity via normal back navigation or a [back] link button. This is useful if there is a command or script that you want to execute any time an activity appears. Prior to this feature, you would need to turn off the "retain history" setting on your link buttons and always use link buttons (vs. back navigation) whenever navigating from one activity to another to force the auto-exec on load to fire each time an activity appeared. You can now retain history (the default) on your link buttons and use normal forward and back navigation and always be ensured that your on-appear buttons will execute when the activity appears. If using this feature, make sure that you include in an auto-exec on load button only a command or code that you want to execute once in the lifetime of an activity, and put any command or code that is okay to run multiple times in your on-appear button. As previously, the same button can be set as on-load, on-resume, on-exit, and on-appear (or any combination of those) if you wish.
Note that an on-appear button will not execute when the app is resumed from the background and the activity is already the visible activity. Use the existing auto-exec on resume button for this purpose.
Bug fixes & stability improvements
Version 9.5.4 - 9.5.6
New "Zoom to Width" feature
In addition to the "Scale to fit" feature, you can now configure activities to "Zoom to Width" in the server designer, which causes activities to scale to the width of the device they are running on, and proportionately scales the height as well, which effectively "zooms" the activity to the size of the device (based on device width). Your activity background image will always fill the entire screen, and the activity may scroll vertically if the zoom process results in an activity that is taller than the device's screen. This is useful when using the same activities on multiple devices with different screen dimensions.
Bug fixes & stability improvements
Version 9.5.1 - 9.5.3
New button import feature
Generate new buttons in TouchControl from information contained an a text file. See the Button Import documentation in the Server Tools section of the instructions for more information.
Bug fixes
Version 9.5
Added support for TextFont and TextAlign properties for button types that display text
Use the new TextFont and TextAlign built-in properties for all button types that display text to set custom fonts, sizes, and control alignment of text displayed within the button. Any iOS font can be used (here's one site that lists them). See "Built-In Button Properties" in the instructions for more information.
Allow setting text size and text color for spinner buttons
Uses normal right-click text options in layout designer.
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Version 9.4
Style spinner buttons (text color, background color/image)
Spinner buttons can now be styled (background color/image, text color) using the normal styling menu options after adding a spinner button to an activity layout.
New "Global Watcher" feature
“Global Watchers” allow buttons, labels, sliders and spinners to automatically update their displayed text, images or values based on the current value of _global variables set by any of your scripts. See TouchControl instructions for more information.
Bug fixes
Version 9.3.11
Update to "Migrate Activity Buttons" macro handling
When using the "Migrate Activity Buttons" feature under the Tools menu of TouchControl Server, selecting the "Update device macros" option will update the macros only in the device selected under the "With buttons from device" option with the new device name. Previously the option updated ALL macros in the entire configuration.
Fix _setCommand() bug.
Version 9.3.9
Allow "?" in HTTP POST button path
When configuring HTTP Request buttons using the "GET" method, the server does not allow a "?" to be embedded in the button's "Path" field, as the server builds the URL from the "Path" and "Query" fields, inserting the "?" as needed. When configuring a "POST" button, the query field does not exist (and is normally not needed with a POST request). However, some devices require both a query parameter and a POST body, so the server now allows you to embed the "?" and the query parameters in the "Path" field when configuration HTTP POST buttons.
Fix potential crash when adding button properties.
Version 9.3.8
Support for new CornerRadius button property
When designing a layout, the button property dialog (right-click button and choose "Properties...") now contains a new "CornerRadius" property that will allow you to set the rounded corner radius (in pixels) of hot-spot buttons. If you enable the "Rounded corners" option for a hot-spot button, setting the "CornerRadius" property will round the button's corners to the value you specify (rather than the built-in 8px rounding that occurs without setting the "CornerRadius" property). When setting this property, simply enter a numeric value for the number of pixels you would like to use for the corner radius (do not include a decimal or "px"). Alternately, you may enter the value "round", which will automatically calculate the number of pixels needed to round the corners based on the smaller of the button's width or height (resulting in a perfectly round button for proportionally square buttons). The corner radius will be visible when rendered on the iOS device, but will not be visible within the server designer layout. Corner radius is not available for buttons that use a background image.
This feature is useful for hot-spot buttons that you have set a background color or translucency for. Rounding the corners of transparent hot-spot buttons is possible, but provides no added visual effect.
Remove "Offline Config" menu options
This feature was sunset in version 9.6 of TouchControl for iOS.
Version 9.3.6
Enable translucent buttons
When adding a hot-spot button to a layout, select Image -> Set Background Color -> Translucent Dark, Light, or ExtraLight. The buttons will display with varying shades of blue in the layout designer, but will display varying levels of translucency when rendered in the iOS app. Requires TouchControl for iOS version 9.5 or higher.
Other bug fixes, updates and improvements
Version 9.3.3
Press "P" key to see properties
While designing activities in the layout designer, press the "P" key while hovering over buttons on the layout to quickly view any properties that assigned to each button.
Other fixes, updates and improvements
Version 9.3.1
Button selection
Fixes an issue where the wrong button would get selected in the buttons list when clicking on a button on the layout, if the buttons list was re-sorted by clicking a column header.
Other general updates and improvements
Version 9.3
Supports iOS app version 9.3 with updates to support new Mac server
A new Mac TouchControl Server is now available, which required updates to the TouchControl iOS App (version 9.3). This release of the Windows server includes updates to support required changes in the 9.3 iOS app release.
Other general updates and improvements