Crestron® SIMPL software provides all the tools necessary to configure, program, test, and debug an integrated control system application. SIMPL provides the link between Crestron systems hardware, user interfaces, and equipment to be controlled.

Configuration
Select the control system, user interfaces, network devices, and controlled equipment required for the installation. These hardware components can be assigned port addresses, network IDs, and IP addresses. SIMPL also allows for communication parameters to be set and can specify which device is connected to a specific card or network control module. Required UI projects can also be defined for the system.

Programming
Select the logic symbols the system will require, assign signals to those symbols, and connect the signals to other symbols or devices as determined by the program logic. SIMPL includes a wide variety of symbols that are constantly being expanded to support virtually every possible application.

Testing
Test and debug a SIMPL program using the SIMPL Debugger tool, which is available in Crestron Toolbox™ software.

For even greater flexibility, the SIMPL installation package includes SIMPL+® software, which is a development tool that allows advanced programmers to create and compile custom control modules using a procedural language similar to C. SIMPL+ modules can be added to a SIMPL program or user module (much like a logic symbol) to extend functionality or solve a specific control problem.

Auxiliary Software
The Crestron Database and Device Database are required in order to program in SIMPL. These databases provide a definition of the Crestron devices and a collection of support files that SIMPL consumes to allow adding Crestron modules and third party devices to programs. These databases can be installed using the Crestron Master Installer tool.

• Device Database: The Device Database represents data for the general programming applications, providing device model definitions for all Crestron devices, symbol definitions for logic symbols and configuration files used by the SIMPL compiler.
• Crestron Database: The Crestron Database is a large collection of information that is accessed by various Crestron software packages, including SIMPL, D3 Pro®, and SystemBuilder™ software. The Crestron Database contains hundreds of Crestron logic modules that have been precoded, tested and debugged at Crestron. These dedicated modules can be plugged into a program and used to automatically generate all the proper control codes for third-party device functions. Even beginning programmers can control very complex equipment using Crestron modules. The Crestron Database is continually expanded, so that it supports practically all AV equipment on the market today.

Additionally, the Crestron Database also delivers third-party IR driver files that control AV equipment such as TVs, DVD and CD players, sound equipment, security systems, and conferencing equipment. This database also delivers third-party device definition and support for other control formats such as RS-232 and TCP/IP.