The iDM3 main window
Part 1 — Understand the system.
You do not need to memorise this chapter. Read it once so the tutorials make sense, then come back when you cannot find something.
The layout
iDM3 uses a ribbon, the same style as Microsoft Office. There are three separate places things live, and beginners often confuse them:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [☰] Project │ Controls │ Functions │ Managers ← RIBBON TABS │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [Set] [Device manager] [Add floor] [Edit] [Delete] ← ribbon buttons│
│ for the selected tab │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ │
│ THE WORKSPACE — your floor plan and devices │
│ │
│ │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Design │ Groups │ Function │ Simulation ← WORKSPACE TABS │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Information console — timestamped events Connected │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
[☰] = the application menu button, top-left. File operations live here.
Application menu [☰]
Opening, saving, and uploading projects; program-wide settings
Ribbon tabs
Tools — grouped by what you are doing
Workspace tabs
Modes — how the workspace behaves and what you can click
Information console
A running log of what iDM3 just did
The distinction that matters: ribbon tabs change the buttons; workspace tabs change the workspace. They are independent of each other.
The application menu [☰]
Click the button in the top-left corner. Everything to do with the project as a file is here.
New Project
An empty project
New project from default template
A new project based on the factory default
New project from user default template
A new project based on your saved default
Open
Open an existing .elp file
Save
Save to the same file
Save as
Save under a new name
Export IMM
Export for the iNELS Multimedia / visualisation system
Load from central unit
Download the project currently running on the CU
Save to central unit
Upload your project to the CU and make it live
Download Unit Firmware
Fetch unit firmware
CU configuration
Network, time, cloud and MQTT settings on the CU
Modules
Optional program modules
Settings
Program settings — language, connection, appearance
Prefernces
Project resource counts and limits
About
Version and registration
Close iDM3
Exit
The menu also lists Recent projects for quick reopening.
Save and Save to central unit are two different things. Save writes the
.elpon your PC. Save to central unit uploads it to the CU. Saving on your PC changes nothing in the building until you upload. This trips up almost every new user once.
Note the spelling. The menu really does read "Prefernces" in this version. It is a typo in the software, not in this manual.
The ribbon tabs
Project
Everything about the project as a whole.
Informations
Set — project name, version, author · Device manager — add and address units · Save as default
Floors
Add floor · Edit floor · Delete floor
(uploading)
Load from central unit · Save to central unit · Compile error
Device manager is the button you will use most in the early stages — it is where units get added (Chapter 16).
Compile error lights up when iDM3 cannot turn your project into something the CU can run. Click it to see what is wrong. See Chapter 30.
Controls
Not buttons — a gallery of control icons that you drag onto the floor plan. This is how devices get onto your plans in the first place.
Right-click the Controls tab header to choose which category of controls the gallery shows.
Controls is only available on the Design and Groups workspace tabs. Switch the workspace to Function or Simulation and the Controls tab greys out — there is nothing to place in those modes. If the tab looks dead, check which workspace tab you are on.
Functions
Where you create the rules. This is the tab you will live in.
Add connection
Toggle on, then click an actor and a consumer to create a wire
Use selected macro
When ticked, new wires get the selected macro applied
Wire manager
Every wire in the project, in one list
Function manager
Reusable user-defined functions
Macro manager
Saved bundles of functions
Function block manager
Function-block templates
"Add connection" is how you make a wire. It is a toggle: click it, then click the actor, then click the consumer. It stays on until you click it again.
Managers
Six buttons, and this is the complete list in version 3.5.3:
Where are the other managers? Older documentation mentions a Program manager, Alarm manager, Message manager, Periodic action manager, User manager and Heat cool program manager as separate buttons. They are not separate buttons in 3.5.3. Those features moved inside System manager — time programs live on its System programs tab, heating on its Heat/Cool areas tab, and so on. If you are following older material and cannot find a button, this is why.
The workspace tabs
These four change what the workspace is.
Design
Lay out the building — floor plans, and devices placed on them
Groups
Build and see groups of consumers
Function
See and edit the wires — the rules
Simulation
Try the logic without hardware
Simulation deserves a mention now: it lets you click a button on the plan and watch what your rules do, with no central unit and no wiring. It will not catch every problem, but it catches logic mistakes cheaply. See Chapter 26.
Floors
Above the workspace you will find one tab per floor. A floor is a plan of part of the building — a storey, a flat, a zone — with a background image and your devices arranged on it.
Floors are organisational, not electrical. Putting a device on the "First floor" plan changes nothing about how it works; it changes how easily you can find it six months later. On a project with 200 devices, that matters more than it sounds.
Add, rename and delete floors from the Project ribbon tab. See Chapter 17.
The information console
The strip along the bottom logs what iDM3 is doing, each entry timestamped: connections, uploads, errors. When an operation seems to have done nothing, look here first.
At the right-hand end is the connection state:
Disconnected
Not connected to a central unit
Connecting
Trying
Connected
Connected — you can upload and monitor
Disconnecting
Closing the connection
BadPassword
Wrong CU password
UpdateRequired
The CU firmware is too old for this version of iDM3
Error
The connection failed
Finding things fast
Add a unit
Project → Device manager
Put a device on a floor plan
Design workspace tab → Controls ribbon tab → drag an icon out
Define a reusable function
Functions → Function manager
Make a button do something
Functions → Add connection, then Wire manager
See every rule I have made
Functions → Wire manager
Control several lights at once
Managers → Group manager
Set up heating
Managers → System manager → Heat/Cool areas
Make something happen at a set time
Managers → System manager → System programs
Test without hardware
Simulation workspace tab
Watch live values
Managers → Monitor
Send it to the central unit
[☰] → Save to central unit
Change the CU's IP address
[☰] → CU configuration
Change iDM3's language
[☰] → Settings
The complete map of every menu item and button is in Appendix C.
Next: Chapter 5 — Tutorial 1: your first working project. Time to build something.
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