feat(tci): add mic_level handler (bridge existing setMicLevel to TCI)

[nigelfenton]

Summary

Adds a mic_level command to TciProtocol, bridging the existing TransmitModel::setMicLevel(int) setter to TCI clients. Until now mic_level: commands sent over TCI silently no-op'd — handleCommand's dispatcher had no entry for them.

3 files changed (+36 / -1):

File	Change
src/core/TciProtocol.h	Declare cmdMicLevel(const QStringList&, bool)
src/core/TciProtocol.cpp	Dispatcher entry, cmdMicLevel body (cloned from cmdDrive), init-burst line
src/models/TransmitModel.cpp	setMicLevel now emits micStateChanged + equality guard (see below)

The TransmitModel::setMicLevel change (behaviour change — calling it out explicitly)

setMicLevel previously updated m_micLevel and emitted commandReady toward FlexLib, but never emitted micStateChanged — the signal the mic-level slider binds to (PhoneCwApplet.cpp:667 → :728, also MainWindow.cpp:2420). This was invisible until now because nothing called setMicLevel from a non-UI path; the slider's own onValueChanged was the only entry. Once cmdMicLevel started calling it programmatically over TCI, the gap surfaced: the radio + internal state updated, but the UI slider froze.

Fix mirrors setSpeechProcessorLevel / setRfPower: equality guard + emit the state-changed signal before commandReady. Without it the TCI handler is functionally half-broken (no UI feedback), so it belongs in this PR.

cmdMicLevel

Near-exact clone of cmdDrive — global verb (no per-trx; mic is whole-radio), accepts spec form mic_level:N; and legacy TRX-prefixed mic_level:0,N; (trx ignored). Init burst gains a mic_level:<value>; line so clients learn the current value on connect.

Split out

The unrelated /MANIFEST:EMBED CMakeLists build fix that was previously bundled here is now #3237 (separate PR, reviewed against the Windows toolchain matrix independently). This PR is purely the mic_level TCI feature + its required UI-signal fix.

Verified — three platforms

• Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, Qt 6.4.2): live test — sent mic_level:0,30/60/90 over TCI, AE mic slider tracked each value. Confirmed end-to-end: parse → dispatcher → setMicLevel → micStateChanged → UI repaint.
• Windows (MSVC 14.50, Qt 6.10.3): builds + launches (with fix(cmake): pair /MANIFESTINPUT with required /MANIFEST:EMBED #3237's CMake fix locally).
• macOS (Apple Silicon, Qt 6.11): builds clean.

Test plan

• Live mic_level slider-tracking verified on Linux
• Builds on all three platforms
• CI matrix (auto)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[nigelfenton]

Live smoke test — passed ✅

Verified on linux-aether (Ubuntu 24.04, Qt 6.4.2, built from feat/tci-mic-level-handler @ 6dabac51). AE launched fresh, TCI server bound 40001, no Flex attached (not required — setMicLevel updates m_micLevel in-process before commandReady goes out to FlexLib).

Test method: Python websocket client sent three discrete mic_level: values, AE's built-in TCI traffic monitor (Network Diagnostics → TCI) logged each inbound, and the MIC slider on AE's TX panel visibly moved to match.

01:54:26.310   ▶ mic_level   mic_level:0,75
01:57:42.999   ▶ mic_level   mic_level:0,30
01:58:33.444   ▶ mic_level   mic_level:0,60

(Excerpted from tci-monitor-20260528-015924.log; rx_smeter lines interleaved are unrelated AE S-meter telemetry.)

After each command, AE's MIC slider in the TX panel settled at the sent value. Result: handler works end-to-end — TCI parse → dispatcher → setMicLevel(N) → m_micLevel updated → UI slider re-rendered → commandReady emitted toward FlexLib.

Both inbound formats accepted as designed:

• Spec-shorter mic_level:N; (1 arg)
• Legacy TRX-prefixed mic_level:0,N; (2 args; trx index ignored since mic is global)

Init burst also confirmed emitting the current mic_level:<value>; on TCI connect (newly-connected clients see the right value immediately).

Ready for review.

[nigelfenton]

Updated — additional fix in 19a95f5a

Initial smoke test (commit 6dabac51) appeared to pass but was actually a near-miss: the first mic_level:0,75; happened to land on a slider that was already sitting at 75, masking the real bug. Subsequent :30; and :60; commands left the slider stubbornly at 75.

Root cause: pre-existing latent bug in TransmitModel::setMicLevel — it updates m_micLevel and emits commandReady toward FlexLib, but never emits micStateChanged, which is the signal PhoneCwApplet's mic slider listens to (PhoneCwApplet.cpp:667 → :728 m_micLevelSlider->setValue(m_model->micLevel())). The bug was invisible until now because nothing called setMicLevel from a non-UI path — the slider's onValueChanged was the sole entry, and the slider already knows its own value.

Once cmdMicLevel started calling setMicLevel programmatically, the gap surfaced.

Fix (19a95f5a, 3 lines):

void TransmitModel::setMicLevel(int level) {
    level = qBound(0, level, 100);
    if (m_micLevel != level) {
        m_micLevel = level;
        emit micStateChanged();   // ← added
    }
    emit commandReady(QString("transmit set miclevel=%1").arg(level));
}

Pattern matches setSpeechProcessorLevel (line 539-547) and setRfPower (line 366-374) — both bound-numeric-field setters do the same if-different guard + signal emit before commandReady.

Live re-test on linux-aether — passes ✅

Sent mic_level:0,30; after rebuild → AE's MIC slider visibly moved from 75 to 30. PR is now genuinely end-to-end verified: TCI parse → dispatcher → setMicLevel(N) → micStateChanged → UI repaints → slider tracks the sent value.

Updated PR scope

• Original: 32 lines in TciProtocol.{h,cpp} (the TCI handler itself)
• Added: 3 lines in TransmitModel.cpp (the latent setter-doesn't-notify bug)

Both fixes are intrinsically linked — without the second, the first is functionally broken from any non-UI caller.

[nigelfenton]

Bonus fix in 2aa0347e — Windows manifest link flag

While building this PR locally on Windows (Visual Studio 18 Build Tools, toolset 14.50.35717), the link step failed with:

LINK : fatal error LNK1220: 'MANIFESTINPUT' requires '/MANIFEST:EMBED' specification

CMakeLists.txt:1062-1065 passes /MANIFESTINPUT:<path> to MSVC's linker but not the paired /MANIFEST:EMBED. Per MSVC docs the former is only valid with the latter — older toolsets accepted it with a warning, newer ones reject it. CI presumably uses an older MSVC so the issue's been latent.

One-line fix (4 lines including comment) added the missing flag. After this, the AetherSDR.exe Windows build links cleanly + the binary launches without crash (smoke-tested).

PR scope now: mic_level TCI handler + setMicLevel signal emit + Windows manifest build fix. All three are intrinsically linked to "make mic_level testable on Windows" so they belong in one PR.

[nigelfenton]

Three-platform build verification — all green ✅

Platform	Compiler / Qt	Binary	Result
Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, x86_64)	GCC + Qt 6.4.2	AetherSDR ELF, 259 MB	✅ links clean, live mic_level test passed (slider tracked 30/60/90)
Windows (Win11, MSVC 14.50.35717 / VS 18.x Build Tools)	MSVC + Qt 6.10.3	AetherSDR.exe, 54.9 MB	✅ links clean (CMakeLists fix required — see PR commit 2aa0347e), launches to main window
macOS (26.5, Apple Silicon)	Clang + Qt 6.11.0 (Homebrew)	AetherSDR.app, 45.6 MB arm64 Mach-O	✅ links clean (warnings only — duplicate library flags, pre-existing)

The CMakeLists.txt change is gated by if(MSVC) so it's a no-op on Linux/macOS — zero regression risk on the non-Windows platforms.

Ready for review.

[aethersdr-agent]

Thanks @nigelfenton — the TCI bridge itself is a clean clone of cmdDrive and the init-burst line is the right shape. Just a couple of scope/disclosure concerns since two of the four files changed aren't covered by the PR body (which says "32-line diff across 2 files"):

CMakeLists.txt — unrelated MSVC link-option fix

The /MANIFEST:EMBED + /MANIFESTINPUT change has nothing to do with mic_level and isn't mentioned in the PR description. It's a reasonable fix on its own merits (the comment about LNK1220 on newer MSVC toolsets is plausible), but it should land as a separate PR so the build-system change can be reviewed against the Windows toolchain matrix independently. It also looks like it may overlap with whatever's going on in #3225 ("Embed DFNR model and set Store identity") which just merged — worth confirming there's no conflict with the manifest handling there.

src/models/TransmitModel.cpp — setMicLevel now emits micStateChanged

This is actually a behavior change, not just a refactor:

• The new equality guard is fine and matches the pattern of setActiveMicProfile / setMicSelection etc.
• Adding emit micStateChanged() is necessary (otherwise the AE UI mic slider wouldn't reflect TCI-initiated changes — PhoneCwApplet.cpp:667 and MainWindow.cpp:2420 both bind to that signal), so it's the right call — but please call it out explicitly in the PR description. Reviewers shouldn't have to chase down why a model setter changed in a "dispatcher entry" PR.

cmdMicLevel body — looks good

Indexing is safe (early-return on empty, then [0] if size==1 else [1]). Stashing the unbounded lvl into m_pendingNotification means a client sending mic_level:0,200; will see a notification echoing 200 even though the radio got 100, but that exactly mirrors cmdDrive/cmdTuneDrive — same pre-existing quirk, not yours to fix here.

Nit on init-burst symmetry: drive/tune_drive use txTrx in the format string even though they're global verbs (legacy form). mic_level correctly uses the spec form with no trx. That's the right choice — just noting that strict-spec clients will now see one new global verb in an init burst otherwise dominated by the legacy TRX-prefixed form. Fine.

Recommend splitting out the CMake change and updating the description to mention the TransmitModel signal addition; the TCI work itself is good to go once those are sorted.

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[nigelfenton]

Thanks for the thorough review @aethersdr-agent — both points actioned:

1. CMake fix split out → #3237. The /MANIFEST:EMBED change is now a standalone PR so it can be reviewed against the Windows toolchain matrix on its own. Force-pushed this branch to drop the CMake commit — #3234 is now purely the 3 mic_level files (TciProtocol.{h,cpp} + TransmitModel.cpp).

On the #3225 overlap you flagged: this branch was cut from 44eaef7c (the #3225 merge commit itself), so the CMake fix sits on top of the Store-identity changes — no conflict, different part of the file. Confirmed upstream main still lacks /MANIFEST:EMBED at line 1064, so the fix is still needed.

2. PR description updated to call out the TransmitModel::setMicLevel change explicitly — it now has its own section explaining why the micStateChanged emit is necessary (TCI-initiated changes wouldn't reflect in the UI slider otherwise) and that it mirrors the setSpeechProcessorLevel / setRfPower pattern.

Good catch on both — agreed the build-system change didn't belong here, and the model-setter change deserved disclosure rather than making a reviewer chase it down.

Also noted (and agreed, not changing here): the unbounded-lvl-in-notification quirk mirrors cmdDrive/cmdTuneDrive exactly, so it's pre-existing and out of scope.

[aethersdr-agent]

Thanks @nigelfenton — both follow-ups look good. Re-reviewed against current main:

Scope split (CMake → #3237): ✅ Confirmed. The right call. As a separate PR #3237 can be reviewed against the Windows toolchain matrix on its own merits (LNK1220 wording, MSVC toolset version gates, etc.) without coupling to a TCI behaviour change. And as you noted, the branches don't conflict — different parts of CMakeLists.txt.

Description disclosure of the setMicLevel change: ✅ Reads well. The dedicated section makes the cross-file behaviour change discoverable, the "invisible until now because nothing called it from a non-UI path" framing explains why it didn't surface earlier, and the parallel to setSpeechProcessorLevel / setRfPower makes the pattern defensible.

I re-read the current TransmitModel.cpp:517-522 on main to sanity-check the claim:

void TransmitModel::setMicLevel(int level)
{
    level = qBound(0, level, 100);
    m_micLevel = level;
    emit commandReady(QString("transmit set miclevel=%1").arg(level));
}

Confirmed — no equality guard, no micStateChanged emit. The fix to the if-different-then-emit-then-command pattern is correct, and setSpeechProcessorEnable at :529-537 already establishes the exact same idiom in this file.

On the unbounded-lvl-in-notification point: agreed, out of scope. cmdDrive (TciProtocol.cpp:514) does m_pendingNotification = QStringLiteral("drive:%1;").arg(pwr); with the raw input pwr rather than the model's clamped value — pre-existing, consistent across all three cmdDrive/cmdTuneDrive/cmdMicLevel. If we want to fix it later, it's a separate cleanup PR across all three (and arguably the cleaner shape is reading back from the model after the queued setter runs, not echoing the input).

Scope now feels right: 32 lines TCI handler + 3 lines model signal fix, both intrinsically linked. LGTM from my end — handing back to a human maintainer for the merge call.

73, Jeremy KK7GWY & Claude (AI dev partner)

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[jensenpat]

Thanks Nigel for TCI protocol support for Mic gain