Summary of updates in version 2.2.1:

• WiFi remote control server bugs fixed
• Windows 7 Bluetooth remote control issues resolved
• Remote profile designer updates
• Minor bug fixes

Summary of updates in PC version 2.2.0:

• WiFi Remote Control now supported (requires Vectir WiFi mobile software)
• Configuration editing issues resolved
• Updates for compatibility with latest mobile software
• Minor bug fixes

Summary of updates in mobile Bluetooth Remote Control version 2.1.1:

• Auto-Connect and Suspend settings
• New server connection screen to replace log screen
• Minor bug fixes

Mobile WiFi Remote Control 1.0.1 – Initial release.

Touch Screen Bluetooth Remote Control compatibility effectively turns a mobile phone into an interactive virtual remote control. PC applications can be controlled by pressing virtual buttons, media player or master volume can be adjusted with slider controls and playlists or songs can be browsed and selected from touch screen compliant menus.

The Vectir Remote Desktop feature has also been updated for touch screen compatibility. The mouse pointer can be controlled directly from the phones display while viewing the desktop. Mouse click, keyboard, zoom and navigations commands are all supported.

Remote profiles for Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, PowerPoint, System, Windows Media Center and XBMC have been developed for touch screen compatibility. They are included in the Vectir PC software for new installations. Existing users can download them from the Remote Profiles page. The Remote Profile Designer has also been updated to include touch screen controls.

The development phone for touch screen compatibility was a Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia running Windows Mobile 6.1. Any other touch screen mobile phone that supports Bluetooth and Java should also work.

Visit the Download page for the Vectir PC and mobile software complete with touch screen compatibility.

Summary of updates in PC version 2.1.0:

• Full mobile touch screen compatibility (requires mobile v2.1.0)
• Desktop profile navigation updates
• Remote profile designer updates (color picker dialog, touch screen controls, bug fixes)
• Minor bug fixes

Summary of updates in mobile version 2.1.0:

• Full touch screen compatibility
• Bluetooth connection enhancements
• Minor bug fixes

Summary of updates in version 2.0.2:

• Critical bug fix for remote desktop mode
• Microsoft Bluetooth stack stability updates
• iTunes updates
• WMP updates
• Minor bug fixes

1. Install or locate Profile Template

To help you get started, we have created a profile template that can be customised for the application you wish to control. If this was included with your Vectir install, it will be found in the Keyboard macro profiles group of your phones group in the Configuration panel. It’s name will include the text “Profile Template”. If the template is missing, you can download it from the Remote Profiles Download Page.

2. Setup Keyboard Macros

Drag the Keyboard macro command from the Setup panel into the Key Commands group of the Profile Template. Alternatively, you can use the “Add selected item to configuration” button under Setup Options. If you’re using IR Remote control, you can add the command to your own custom group.

The Keyboard command setup dialog should now be displayed. Enable the options for “Launch application if not running” and “Always focus application window”. See below:

The next step is to locate the process name of the application you wish to control. Click the Find Process Name button to launch the Find Application Process dialog:

Select the process name of the application you wish to control. Your application will need to be running before the process name will show up. In this example and for the remainder of the article, we will be controlling Windows Media Player. After you have selected the correct application process name, click the OK button. The process name should now be visible in the process name text box on the Keyboard command setup dialog.

Now its time to record the keyboard macro keystrokes. This is a simple three step process:

1. Click the Record button
2. Enter the keystrokes on your keyboard just as you would for the application
3. Click the Stop Recording button

The keystrokes you entered should now be visible in the text box beneath the Record button. In the following example, Ctrl+P has been recorded. This is the keyboard shortcut for the Windows Media Player Play/Pause command.

The keyboard macro is now successfully recorded. Click the OK button to close the Keyboard Command setup dialog and save your macro command. It should be visible in the Key Commands group of the Profile Template. Select the command then press F2 and rename it to match the application function that it controls. In the following example, the keyboard macro command has been renamed for the WMP Play/Pause command.

You have now successfully setup the keyboard macro command! Repeat all instructions under step 2 for any other keyboard shortcuts you need to control in your application.

3. Customise the Remote Profile Design

This step describes how to customise the remote profile design for the application you wish to control.

The first thing to do is rename the profile template for the application you wish to control. Click the profile template, press F2 and enter an appropriate name. In the following example, the profile template has been renamed to “WMP Keyboard Control”.

Now right click on the profile and select Edit from the context menu. This will load the remote profile designer.

Rename the profile title by clicking on the text box that says “Profile Title”, locate the Text property in the Properties window and replace the existing text with the correct name for the profile. When you press Enter, the text box will update to show the text you entered.

You will also need to rename the command text boxes for the keyboard macro commands you setup. For example, replace “Command 1 = Key name” with “Play/Pause = Select” where Select is the name of the phone key that will control the Play/Pause command. The phone keys will be mapped to each command in step 4 below.

The following example shows a profile edited for Windows Media Player:

Click the Save and Close button when you have finished.

4. Map Phone or Remote Control Keys to the Macro Commands

The final step is to map keys from your mobile phone or remote control to the macro commands you have just setup. This process is described in the
How to Map Custom Keys to Commands tutorial. You can skip step 1 since the commands are already setup.

1. Add Command

The first step is to add the command you wish to control to the Configuration panel from the Setup panel. These panels are found in the main window of the Vectir application. If you are controlling Vectir from your mobile phone, commands have to be added to the Key Commands group of a remote profile.

In the following example, the Windows Media Player Play/Pause command has been added to the Key Commands group of a remote profile called WMP.

2. Add Event

The next step is to add an event to the command. This step lets you specify the key on your mobile phone or remote control that will run the command.

If you are controlling Vectir from your mobile phone, connect to Vectir and load the profile that holds the command you are setting up.

In the configuration panel, click on the required command to select it:

Load the Event Setup dialog by clicking the Add Event button on the main toolbar. This is the button with a lightening bolt and a plus sign:

The following dialog will now be displayed:

Press the button on your remote control or phone that you would like to run the command. The Event Setup dialog will close and the new event will be visible under the command. Rename the event to match the button that you pressed.

In the example above, the 5 key was pressed. The Windows Media Player Play/Pause command is now active and will run when the 5 key is pressed.

• Keyboard modifiers (Alt, Shift, Ctrl) updated to include up and down conditions. Left Alt now detected correctly. Right Alt still not working.
• ‘Find Process Name’ feature added to Keyboard command setup
• iTunes, Winamp and Windows Media Player plugins all updated to include max playlist items setting. This can speed up profile download times and prevent potential comms timeout.
• iTunes bug with long track names in playlists fixed
• Minor bug fixes

Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi remote control for Vectir will provide all of the functionality of the existing Bluetooth solution but with greater range and speed. The Bluetooth on most mobile phones works up to 10 meters but WiFi will extend this up to 45 meters indoors (802.11b or 802.11g protocols). The other advantage that Wi-Fi provides over Bluetooth is a higher data throughput. Bluetooth with EDR provides a data rate of up to 3Mbit/s whereas WiFi provides a typical throughput of 5Mbit/s (802.11b) to 22Mbit/s (802.11g). This will benefit Vectir users with a faster refresh rate for the remote desktop feature and faster remote profile download times. To use the Vectir Wi-Fi remote control solution, you will of course require a mobile phone that supports Wi-Fi.

Touch Screen
Although the Vectir mobile software already runs on many touchscreen phones, control is limited and usually relies on the On Screen Virtual Keyboard. Full Touch Screen support will provide virtual buttons and eliminate the requirement to use the virtual keyboard. The following list summarises the touch screen updates that will be developed for Vectir:

• Button controls will be added to the Remote Profile Designer
• The Vectir wireless protocol will be updated to handle button controls
• The mobile java software will be updated to handle virtual buttons when Remote Profiles are loaded
• The mobile java software will be updated to handle touch screen events when Remote Profile menus are open

If you are interested in Wi-Fi and/or Touch Screen support for Vectir and would like to be notified when beta versions are available, please email Vectir support at the email address provided on the support page.

Now is a good time to say a big thank you to all of the users who did such a great job with the beta testing. Its difficult to keep track of everyone who helped with the beta testing but here is a quick list of the main contributors (in no particular order):

• Francois – Great help with bug fixing, new ideas and features since the early days of Vectir version 1.
• George – The ultimate beta tester armed with multiple PCs, operating systems and phones
• Max – The first user to test Vectir 2.0 and provide early feedback
• Peter – Great help with finding bugs and suggesting new features
• Simon – Helped to track down Winamp bugs that had lingered for months
• Berislav – Good work with useability feedback and helping to finally squash the elusive PowerPoint bug
• Viktor – Made many useful suggestions and helped resolve a number of bugs
• Tim – Great work with Blackberry and iTunes debugging and feedback
• Dan – Even though his phone isn’t compatible with Vectir, Dan helped to track down a number of Vectir startup bugs
• Yegor – Helped to track down and fix the shutdown crash bug

If I forgot to mention your name, rest assured that your efforts were well appreciated.

Now that Vectir 2.0 stable has been released, its back to work with updates and new features. Touch screen and wifi development will start soon. But first of all the keyboard plugin needs updating for improved modifier key handling. Make sure you have the auto-update feature enabled so Vectir can notify you of the latest changes.