Layout

Tab Layout — Edit Mode

The Layout tab is where you design your touchscreen control surface. It has two modes: Edit (form-based) and JSON (raw import/export).

Layout editor (top) — page selector, page title, grid dimensions, and the list of widgets on the current page

Layout editor (bottom) — Page PIN Lock sub-panel and the live preview grid

Pages

Venue Commander supports up to 8 pages (numbered 0–7), each with its own grid dimensions, widgets, and optional PIN lock. Page 0 is always public; pages 1–7 can be PIN-locked. Use the dropdown to switch between pages.

Grid Layout

Set the number of Columns and Rows to define the grid. Widgets are placed at specific column/row positions within this grid. Up to 48 widgets of each type per page (OSC, Shelly, Home Assistant, and gang widgets each have their own pool).

Widgets

Widget Types

Grid sizing per widget type: labels, toggles, buttons, toggle-buttons, info, and gang toggles default to 1 column; faders default to 3 columns. You can override with the column-span and row-span fields.

Adding a Widget

Click + Add Widget to open the widget editor:

Widget editor — fields adapt to the endpoint type (OSC, Shelly, Home Assistant, or gang)

The widget editor adapts its fields based on the type of endpoint you've picked. Common fields are always shown; endpoint-specific fields appear as needed.

Common Widget Fields

OSC Widget Fields

Shown when the selected endpoint is an OSC endpoint:

Shelly Widget Fields

Shown when the selected endpoint is a Shelly endpoint:

Home Assistant Widget Fields

Shown when the selected endpoint is a Home Assistant endpoint. The available actions are filtered by the entity's device type (light, switch, media_player, cover, fan, input_number, scene, script, automation, input_boolean).

Home Assistant Widget Presets

Common combinations per device type:

Gang Widget Fields

Shown when the widget type is Gang Toggle or Gang Toggle Button. Gang widgets control an entire group of Shelly devices as one — no endpoint selection is needed since the gang definition already specifies which devices to control.

Gang widgets display a coloured border indicating the liveness of the gang members:

• Green border — all members are responding.
• Amber border — some members are responding (partial liveness).
• Grey border — no members are responding.

Audio Board Widget Presets

When the optional audio board is connected, audio-specific widget presets become available:

Preview

The bottom of the Layout tab shows a Preview grid so you can visualise widget placement before saving.

• Save Layout — saves without restarting (display shows old layout until restart).
• Save & Restart — saves and reboots to show the new layout immediately.

JSON Import / Export

JSON mode — export / import layouts as text

JSON mode lets you save and load layouts as text files:

• Export Current Page — downloads the active page's layout as a JSON file.
• Export All Pages — downloads all pages as a single multi-page JSON file (including any per-page PIN locks).
• Import / Update Preview — paste or edit JSON in the text area, then click to validate and preview.

Single-page format

{
  "cols": 6,
  "rows": 2,
  "widgets": [
    {
      "type": "fader",
      "label": "Ch 1",
      "osc_addr": "/ch/1/mix/fader",
      "col": 0, "row": 0,
      "col_span": 1, "row_span": 2,
      "endpoint": 0
    }
  ]
}

Multi-page format

{
  "pages": [
    {
      "page": 0,
      "name": "Main",
      "cols": 6,
      "rows": 2,
      "widgets": [...]
    },
    {
      "page": 1,
      "name": "Engineer",
      "cols": 4,
      "rows": 3,
      "pin_lock": {
        "timeout_min": 30,
        "pins": ["1234", "9999"]
      },
      "widgets": [...]
    }
  ]
}

The pin_lock block is optional on each page. An empty "pins": [] clears any existing PINs. Leaving pin_lock out entirely leaves existing PIN settings unchanged on import.