Using Event Maps

What is an event?

In Slink-e terminology, an  "event" is a text based message from the Slink-e Server which describes the occurence of a keypress on an IR remote, a S-Link command, a program message, an error, or many other possible things of interest. Once properly defined using a device file, your TV remote control can produce an event like

tv:power

every time you hit the power button on a remote. Similarly, a program like CDJ can tell you that is has stopped playing a playlist with the event

cdjr:playlist_stop (see the CDJ commands and responses page for a full description of these messages)

What is an event map?

Events would not be useful by themselves unless you could perform some action based on their content. An event map performs this function by allowing you to execute an arbitrary sequence of commands in response to an event (like a macro). An event map is contained in a text file and can be automatically loaded into CDJ at startup using the View | Options | Maps tab. The syntax of event maps are as follows

# comment - you can put a # sign anywhere and the rest of the line will become a comment.

device:command -"device:command" refers to the name of the event. This must match the text of the incoming event exactly for the map to take action
{ - open bracket designates the beginning of the action text (these brackets work like the C language and can be anywhere on a line
actiondev1:command1 - action commands you want to execute
# comment2 - you can put comments anywhere!
actiondev2:command3 actiondev4:command4 - action commands you want to execute - note that you can have more than one on a line.
} - close bracket - ends the action sequence

device2:command2 { } -null actions are OK

For further examples, see the maps.txt file in the CDJ directory

What can I do with an event map?

You can set up an event map to control CDJ from a remote, have CDJ control your other equipment, or even interface remotes and equipment which have nothing to do with CDJ.   Some possible uses of event maps which are easy to implement include:

In order to use events maps in CDJ, you need to take the following steps: