Overview

Today we'll explore the Quantum Q-server interface and its many features.

Before you start make sure that your Q-server is setup. If it isn’t checkout our Q-Server setup tutorial.

Toolbars

On the left side of the Home page you'll see a vertical column of icons, this is the Toolbar. From here you can manage various tasks such as clients, apps, firmware ,gateways, services, and a library. We'll go into more detail of each task shortly.

Open

At the top of the screen you'll notice four icons with specific functions, this is the Header Bar and from here you can launch the dashboard, manage your account settings, log out, or see your notifications. In the middle of the screen there are several tiles with information about your server as well as shortcuts to related online content.

Open

Settings

Now let's quickly look over the settings.

System Info

The system info gives you general information about your Q-server you'll notice that the serial number is tied to your Quantum Cloud account.

General Settings

The General Settings allow you to change your pin code and select your country, time zone, and unit of measurement.

If you decide to change your pin code just make sure that you have a way of remembering it, otherwise you will have to factory reset your Q-server.

System Actions

System actions allows you to perform hardware related tasks on your system: blink allows you to easily identify the server when you have more than one server on the network, then there's Software Update, Firmware Update, Server Restart, and Factory Reset. I suggest looking at the documentation before using any of these actions, because some of these actions can result in data loss.

Location Settings

Under the location settings tab, you can manage the locations available to select in your system like the rooms in your home.

Cloud Settings

Cloud settings provide the status of your Quantum Cloud account that you created during your account registration. Connecting to the cloud allows you access to all features of the Quantum system. If your Q-server is not logged into your cloud account you can do so here.

Advanced Settings

Finally, under advanced settings you can turn on or off the Server's developer mode, confirmation dialog, and beta client option.

Now that we've gone through an overview of the home page and settings let's explore the pages listed on Toolbar in greater detail.

Clients

Let's start with the clients icon on the Toolbar.

This page is where you'll be able to manage all paired and unpaired clients. These clients include the Quantum Builder Base and other smart devices such as those connected through Samsung Smartthing's gateway. You'll notice that there's already a connected client called proxy - this device is built into the Q-Server and acts as an access point between it and the Builder Bases. The current proxies use bluetooth 4.2, and Bluetooth 5.0 support will come in the near future.

To use a client they must first be paired to the Q-Server. To pair click on the unpaired tab at the top of the list then click the actions button on the device you want to pair and select pair from the drop down menu.

Once the client is paired, a confirmation window will appear.

You can edit the client by clicking the action button. From the edit menu you can give your client a name and location, as well as view information about the device. Once you're done editing, click save and you'll see the device in the list with the name you've just given it.

There are many options available under the actions menu.

If you have multiple builder bases you can identify them by clicking the “Identify” button, which will cause the client to blink red and green; “Upload” allows you to upload selected firmware from your device; and “Make Demo App” will create a demo application based on the firmware you have uploaded to the builder base - this is a pretty great feature to quickly make simple applications based on what hardware you're using.

You can also “Unpair” the device from the server and it will be moved to the unpaired tab. When you click the “Debug” option you will see the device inspection page where you can verify communication between the device and its hardware.

Application Builder

A great feature of the Q-Server is that it enables you to create and manage your own Apps. To do this click on the Apps icon on the taskbar.

For more in-depth tutorials on using the Application Builder feature we have dedicated videos on our youtube channel. Let's start by clicking on the “Create New” button - the system will have you name your App, once you’ve done this click “Create”.

This will take you to the App Builder Canvas where you can start building your own program. At the top you'll find the command bar. Here you'll find buttons to return to your Applications Page, to save the app you working on, and to even start and stop your App.

On the left hand side of the page we have the object panel. Objects are organized into five different categories: Hardware, Interface, Code, Services, and Misc. Simply click on each category to expand and see the different objects that lie within.

You can also search for objects by using the dynamic search bar at the top.

The grid in the middle of the screen is what we call the canvas. This is where your objects are placed to build an application. To start building apps find an object in the Object Panel and drag it onto the canvas, add as many objects as your app requires.

At the bottom of the canvas you'll notice the Canvas Status Bar this displays context sensitive information every time your mouse hovers or clicks on any object on the canvas.

At the top of the Canvas lies the Canvas Action Bar, here you'll see your application name. You can click the edit icon next to the name to edit it.

To the right of the name field, are contextual buttons which are available to you depending on which actions take place on the Canvas. They include the following functions: Undo, Redo, Keyboard Shortcuts, Copy, Paste, Select All, Deselect All, Center Canvas, and Delete.

Firmware Builder

Next let's look at the Firmware which you can find on the Taskbar.

A Firmware is a file that tells the Client which devices are connected to it and to which port they are connected to. The Firmware is compiled on the Quantum Cloud and then uploaded to a specific Client.

The firmware lets you assign pieces of hardware to certain objects in your application to make it do something. You can either create your own custom firmware by clicking the create new button or by uploading existing firmware files to your client. We will cover this concept in greater detail in a separate tutorial.

For now, let's continue with the two panels in the middle of the page; the panel on the left lists each firmware file that is on your system. Selecting one of the files will show its details in the panel on the right.

Now let's have a look at the drop down actions available for firmware items. To access the actions button, click on the three dots that are to the right of the firmware file name.

“Upload” allows you to select the client you want to upload the firmware file to; “Edit” lets you delete or change the settings of the hardware drivers in your firmware file. Each firmware driver has different configuration options, we'll go over these in a future tutorial video; the “Rename” feature is used to rename a firmware file after it has been created; “Duplicate” allows you to make a copy of the firmware file; the “Export” option will export your firmware as a .json file, you can then share these files with other people in the Quantum community; “Delete” is the final action option, this deletes the firmware.

Gateways

The next icon in the toolbar is the Gateways page.

The Gateways page is used to set up and manage an integration with external platforms. Our current gateways include Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue, and Ikea Tradfri. To add a gateway click the “Add New” button, this will take you to the Gateway section of the Library which lists all of the different integrations that we support.

Services

Next we have the Services page.

The services page is where you can set up and manage an integration with external services. To add a Service click the “Add New” button where it will take you to the Services section of the library. We currently have the Twilio SMS and IR Database services.

Library

Finally, we have the the Library page.

The Library is where you can download new Applications, Firmware Files, Gateways, and Services.

Now that you have a better understanding of the Quantum Server interface it is time for you to go out and make something!