Tutorial: using CDJ with arbitrary remotes & devices

I just spent a couple of hours trying to get a universal remote to control a couple of devices through the Slink-e. It seems like a general problem, so I thought I'd document & share my experiences.

The problem: Map arbitrary IR input codes from a remote to arbitrary output functionality.

Isn't this in the help files: kinda; some of the details are glossed over. it took me a lot of looking around to figure out some of the fine points. I tried to write what I wish I'd had: a step-by-step tutorial.

But this is obvious: not to all of us, Colby. ;)

First off you need a remote that's spitting out IR codes of a known type. If you have one with a company's name silkscreened on it, spiffy. If it's a universal remote that learns other remote signals, teach it the signals from a remote of a known type. If it's a universal remote preprogrammed with certain device types, then go to http://www.nirvis.com/device.htm and tell it to emulate a device from one of the companies listed.

Next, you need to tell CDJ how to tune in the particular dialect of IR that this remote is spraying: Pioneer, JVC, Sony...? Go to View..Options and click on the "Devices" tab. Click "Add", and click "Browse for Device File". Go find the .CDE file for your IR dialect under "\slinke\device files". Note: if there's more then one CDE file for your dialect, you want the one named after the company (eg jvcir.cde or common1.cde), not the one named after the device (eg hkavr101.cde).
If there's not a CDE file there or at http://www.nirvis.com/device.htm, then your remote's particular dialect isn't supported.

Now, hopefully, your remote and CDJ can communicate. The next step is to determine what the remote is saying. This is an interactive proces. To do this, you're going to create a device file for that particular remote. Open up a new file "foo.CDE" in notepad. Start out the file with this info:
desc=JVC Amplifier
name=amp
include=dialectir.CDE
where "dialectir.CDE" is the CDE file you discovered in the prior paragrah. Now, open up CDJ. Point your remote at the Slinke and push a button a bunch of times. Make sure View...Slinke Data is active. In the view box, you should get something like this:
nomatch:ir0(panasonic)[110101010101010110011] for each button press. "panasonic" will be the dialect that you loaded; the digits will be a unique ID corresponding to that particular button. Compare the digits from repeated presses of the same button. If they're not the same, you have the wrong dialect.

The string of numbers that makes up a remote code starts out with a prefix common to all buttons on that device, then the good stuff. To figure out what the prefix is, press a bunch of buttons on your remote and compare the resulting strings of digits. The first N digits will probably be the same:
111010
111110
111000
those N digits are your prefix (here, 111). Highlight them, right click, copy. Go back to foo.CDE (in notepad, remember?) and type "prefix=111" where you paste in your prefix instead of 111. Then type "suffix="

Now repeat this process for each button on your remote:
1) push the button ("rec")
2) copy the resulting mess of digits
3) paste the digits into a newline under the "suffix" heading
4) delete the prefix (that you just determined) from the start of the numbers (so 111010 becomes 010)
5) type (same line) ":rec" (where "rec" is the name of the button)

This process gives each unique code a name that you can refer to in the next step. Now would be a good time to save foo.CDE.