The U-Config Configuration utility

This utility is used for the following:

• Assigning a board number (1-8) if you have multiple boards.
• Configuring each pin of the board as the correct device type, ie keyboard, gamepad, analog, quadrature mouse, power.
• Configuring each pin with the correct keycode, button number, axis or other parameter
• Assigning macros
• Configuring analog axis scale factor and offset
• Loading and saving configurations
• Initiating a firmware upgrade
• Downloading a configuration "on the fly" using a command-line task

The graphical picture of the board shows the way in which the pins are divided into sections, each being one 9-pin connector (plus key). Pin 1 is the key and pin2 is ground. The utility interacts with the board in real time, every time a change is made. The configuration is stored in flash ROM on the board so it remains after power off/on. When the utility is run, it reads the configuration from the connected board(s) and displays it.
You can also store the entire configuration as a file for later downloading on-the-fly for multiple configurations.

Function of each GUI feature:

GENERAL tab (main window)

PIN drop down
This displays the selected pin you are configuring. You can select pins from here or from the main graphic.

NICKNAME
You can type text in here which will remind you of which device this pin is connected to. The test is saved with the configuration (on the PC only) and is not sent to the board.

FUNCTION area
Here you configure the selected pin as the required device type and assign values to it.You can select one of the radio buttons to define the pin as the following:

Switch (which includes keyboard key, gamepad button and mouse buttons)

Quadrature Mouse (includes trackballs, optical steering wheels etc)

Analog (Gamepad type control)

LED output (includes U-HID and PC Controlled)

+5 Volts out (max 30 ma)

Ground.

APPLY
This button applies the changes you have made to the pin.

GRAPHIC AREA
You can click on any pin on the graphic to start configuration of this pin. Additionally, if you click on the pin types listed in the center of the PCB, this will show which pins are allowed to be configured as this type of control.You will notice that certain pins on P7 are fixed. These are high-current power/ground pins and are hard-wired and cannot be changed.Each 10-pin connector area has one hard-wired ground pin.

CALIBRATION tab
This tab allows you to set scale factor and offset for each analog input. The default values give a full-scale travel with the cross-hair centered at mid-position of the pot. It may be necessary to experiment with these settings and you can observe the result by opening Control Panel, Game Controllers in Windows, and clicking on the came controller device to display the calibration screen.

In addition the Calibration tab also contains the setting for Quadrature Button press time (U-HID Only). This is the length of time (actually the number of USB packets) which the game controller button is pressed for when using Quadrature Buttons. This is a global setting.

On the BlueHID board, Power Saving mode configuration is set here. Refer to the BlueHID manual for full details of power saving features.

Disconnect Timeout

The slider defines how many seconds of no-activity elapse before the board disconnects the Bluetooth link. Or you can opt to have the board never disconnect but this will consume more battery power

Wake Any Pin button
After disconnection, the board will wake and re-connect if activity is detected on any pin which is defined as a switch.

Wake J2-6 Only Button
When this is selected, the board will only wake when activity is detected on pin J2-6. In this mode (Stop Mode) the board is in maximum power-saving state.
Self-Test LED The self-test on-board LED can be disabled. This is recommended after testing is complete, to conserve power.

Detail Configuration Example (Switch)

The screenshot above shows this configuration.
We will look at how a switch is connected and configured.
Firstly, the switch is connected with one terminal routing to the appropriate pin and the other to a ground pin.
Then, select the pin by clicking on it in the graphic area.
Select the "Switch" radio button in the Function area.
You now need to select what type of control this will be, whether a mouse button, keyboard key or gamepad button. Lets select keyboard key.
In the Primary drop-down, all possible keyboard keys will be available, plus macros. Macros are defined separately, see later.
Select which keyboard key you need. Note that the U-HID sends key scan codes, just like a keyboard. It does not send characters so has no concept of upper/lower case. An upper-case character is two keys (ie shift and the character key). There is no need to assign a secondary code unless you wish to use the shift feature or other special functions, see later.
Then, you need to tell the board how and when to send the keycode you have chosen. This is done with the Down and Up Action drop downs. These can be selected as follows:

Clear
This removes the keycode associated with this pin from the buffer, so it is no longer sent
Normal Primary
This sends (and holds) the primary keycode you selected above, to the PC. If the U-HID Shift button is pressed, it will send the secondary code instead.
Normal Secondary
This sends (and holds) the secondary keycode but you have not assigned one at this point so no action.
Pulse Primary
This sends a short pulse, simulating the key being pressed then released, even though it might still be physically closed (eg a toggle switch left closed)
Pulse Secondary
This is the same as above but pulses the secondary code.
Toggle
This is not explicitly an option, but is the result of setting both the Down and Up actions to Normal Primary. This will cause the selected keycode to alternately be sent or not sent on alternate button presses.
Flip-Flop
This is not explicitly an option but is the result of setting Down action to Secondary and Up action to Primary. This will cause the primary or secondary key to be sent on alternate button presses.
See-Saw
This is not explicitly an option but is the result of setting Down action to Primary and Up action to Secondary. This will cause the primary key to be sent on press and secondary on release. Normal or Pulse mode can be used.

The most common usage of keyboard keys is to set Down Action to Normal Primary and Up Action to Clear.

Important Note about keyboard keycodes: On USB keyboards (and therefore the U-HID) the auto-repeat of the keyboard is done in Windows. So if you assign any keycode to be pressed permanently (which can occur in many configurations) you will get an endless string of characters in your application. For this reason, many of the advanced combinations should only be used with gamepad buttons, which do not have a problem being held in the pressed position.
You should also avoid defining any keyboard keys from being "pressed" by default as this will cause boot failures (stuck key) and may cause unexpected problems in the Windows GUI.

Other switch types:

Mouse Button
You can select left, middle, right and left double-click from the drop-down.

Gamepad Button
These are numbered 1-32 as shown in "Control Panel, Game Controllers".

Quadrature Mouse Selection

This selection always uses two pins. When you assign the pin as this device type, the opposite pin will also automatically be assigned.
You can select X, Y or Z (wheel) axis.
Trackballs use two axes (4 pins).

Quadrature Button Selection

This selection uses two pins. When you assign the pin as this device type, the opposite pin will also automatically be assigned.
You can select one of 8 pairs of game controller buttons which will be pressed repeatedly when the encoder is turned. Note you can configure the "press" time on the Calibration tab.

Analog Axis

These are numbered 1-8. You can view analog axes using Control Panel, Game Controllers.
The first two axes are displayed as X and Y.

LED

There are two types of LED.

U-HID controlled (switch)

This type of LED is switched on when the switch allocated to it is sending its keycode or button (which might not necessarily mean the switch is physically closed, depending on how the switch pin is configured).
In the drop-down, you can select which switch (referenced by its pin) controls this LED.

PC Controlled LED

This type of LED is switched on/off by a PC application. These are numbered 1-16.

Other Functions

FILE menu

Open, Save

These selections allow loading/saving of .HID configuration files, so you can have multiple saved configurations.

Import/Export

You can import and export configurations to a CSV or XML file so you can edit them outside of the application or generate using a different application.

Assign ID

This is an important first step when you are using more than one board. You will need to connect ONE board, and assign it as number 2 or higher. Once all boards are assigned with different IDs, they can all be connected to their own USB ports. You can check which board is which by opening Control Panel, Game Controllers. The board ID# is displayed a the top of each Game Controller window.

Firmware Upgrade

This initiates a firmware upgrade. The board assumes a different USB ID and a driver will be installed. Details will be included with firmware.

VIEW menu

There is only one option, "View U-HID Shift Option". This is normally hidden in the main area to avoid clutter.
This is only used when assigning a pin to be a U-HID shift key.
The shift option allocates a key (or keys) which, when held, cause other pressed keys to send their secondary instead of primary keycodes. This over-rides the Primary/Secondary Action defined for keys.