Help with Volume & Power

I recently had to start from the beginning and set up my SmartRemote again. it was pretty straight forward and I was able to avoid a lot of mistakes I made first time round but I'm struggling with volume control & power control. I have a Sony TV, Sky Q (UK satellite box) ATV, Shield & Kodi CoreELEC. The Sony TV is the device I'm trying to get to control Volume. Kodi CoreELEC just worked as it should as soon as it was installed as does the  Sony TV driver. All the others are installed via drivers apart from Sky which is connected via an IP2IR

So in a nutshell when I press volume up or down nothing happens except for the Kodi CoreELEC. and the Sony TV - below is an extract from my log 

What am I doing wrong, any ideas?
 09/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · Server.doCommand - AV|{{active_cabletv_{{clientname}}}}~Volume~Up from sr209/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · Server.doCommand - AV|64~Volume~Up09/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · CableTV.doCommand - Cmd=[64~Volume~Up] Client=[sr2]09/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · Server.doCommand - Control|iTachIP2IR IR 3~SendIR~Q~Volume Up from09/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · GenericIR.doCommand - Cmd=[iTachIP2IR IR 3~SendIR~Q~Volume Up] Client=[Internal]09/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · GenericIR.TX >>> - iTachIP2IR:sendir,1:3,1,36000,1,1,96,32,16,16,16,16,16,32,16,32,32,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,32,32,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,32,16,16,32,32,32,16,16,16,16,16,16,32,32,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,360009/12/2025 12:45:33.45 · DEBUG · GenericIR.RX - iTachIP2IR(85) [completeir,1:3,1]

 

Did you establish on a per room basis (in that room's Activation macro) which devices are to be controlled for volume and power?
I haven't looked at your macro...
Are you trying to change the volume by commanding the cable box? Unlikely that's the right device...more likely it's an AV receiver or preamp, or TV etc.

i've been in to the room and changed the default macro to this

// The device in the room that controls volume and mute. Uncomment to override default!
SetVariable|{{activeroom_{{clientname}}}}_avamp_id~AV|63!

No response to volume presses

I'm trying in this case when I'm in CableTV to get the Sony TV (AV|63) to handle volume up or down requests

I can see a problem: You are replacing "{{activeroom_{{clientname}}}}_avamp_id" with "AV|63". There are actually two variables here, "clientname" and "activeroom _xxx" (xxx being the current string value of that clientname). The variable assignments need to happen one at a time.

In other words, first set clientname to the client's name (say xxx). You then set activeroom_{{clientname}} (which now becomes “activeroom_xxx”) to your “AV|63” string.

But wait! There more! Setting that variable combination to "AV|63", and then doing

AV|{{activeroom_{{clientname}}}} when the contents of {{activeroom_{{clientname}}}} is "AV|63" will result in a string:

AV|AV|63

which is invalid syntax.

What I do in this situation is to make note what the code looks like now, so that I can restore it later. I then replace the source string “AV|{{activeroom_{{clientname}}}}” with the simple string “AV|63”. This then uses the direct command to your Sony TV. Test it again. If it starts working, you know the issue is in those variable assignments. If it still does not work, then you know the issue is with the Sony TV and the command you are giving it.
 

Thank you for your help, The good news is it is now controlling the devices volume. The bad news is I have no idea what I did. Can I ask you where you picked up your knowledge. Ive had my smartremote for 2 years nearly and I still feel like a complete rookie

I am a retired software engineer.

The use of placeholders in strings can be a difficult to comprehend, especially when Allonis also uses nested placeholders. The string

{{activeroom_{{clientname}}}}

has a nested placeholder, and will be processed twice, first to replace the inner placeholder {{clientname}}, with the value of variable "clientname" (say "xxx"). The string then becomes:

{{activeroom_xxx}}

Then processed a second time to replace {{activeroom_xxx}} with the value of variable "activeroom_xxx".

It is actually a very sophisticated programming technique, but hard to understand when one does not know what is going on. There is another recent thread here where the use of placeholders in another system's strings is also being missed. Placeholders are useful though as one can use one string/command that contain placeholders, and use that same string in multiple ways.

And that confusion is why I recommend in removing the placeholders and manually entering the actual string, until you have resolved the issue.

And if placeholders are not new to you, then I apologize for mansplaining.