CH5 Ecosystem Overview

The CH5 ecosystem contains the following tools and components:

  • Showcase App: Used to test and learn CH5 components from a web page interface without needing to install any software.
  • CH5 Core Components Library: Provides predefined and customizable building blocks and widgets in HTML5.
  • Communication API: Provides an API where front-end components communicate with Crestron devices and back-end programming.
  • Template Project: Provides a template that can be used as a starting point for creating a custom project.
  • Theme Editor: Used to modify and create custom themes.
  • Visual Studio® Code Extension: Provides common extensions that make working with CH5 easier.
  • Contract Editor: Used to integrate control systems with CH5 via SIMPL or SIMPL# Pro programming.
  • Developer microsite and component reference documentation
  • Support for Crestron touch screens and HTML5 Web XPanel.

CH5 consists of various technology components that, when used together, allow developers to create dynamic user interfaces for Crestron® ecosystems. These components are described in the following sections.

CH5 Applications

CH5 applications are provided by Crestron and are written in native, multithreaded code for each platform, which ensures that all non-UI functionality is as performant as possible.

The primary purpose of the CH5 applications is to host CH5 projects. This functionality includes:

  • Interfacing with CH5 projects
  • Providing an HTML rendering engine (the browser tab) to host CH5 projects
  • Providing a connection to Crestron control systems
  • Interfacing with platform features and services
  • Providing Join abstractions to the control system
  • Providing abstractions to the platform

CH5 Component Library

The CH5 component library is provided by Crestron. The component library contains many UI components, HTML attributes, and JavaScript® functions that are optimized to work well within the CH5 application.

CH5 Component Themes

The CH5 component themes are provided by Crestron, which supplies skins and layouts for CH5 components.

CH5 Projects

Developers create CH5 projects that are hosted in the CH5 application. CH5 projects are web applications that include the Crestron-provided CH5 component library and CH5 component themes. CH5 projects receive information (state) from the control system and send information (events) to the control system.

CH5 Template Project

The Crestron Template Project simplifies the development of CH5 projects. Pages and reusable widgets can be created via the command line or one-click NPM scripts (such as when using Visual Studio Code). By using these scripts, developers no longer need to edit the index.html file directly.

CH5 Theme Editor

The CH5 theme editor provides the source code and pertinent scripts to allow developers to create CH5 custom themes that are extended from the standard themes.