Boeing 747/787 Autopilot Commands

Has anyone had ANY success getting the AP commands on the 787 and 747 working on external buttons? I have tried multiple codes with SPAD.NEXT and nothing. I have tried for example AP_VS_HOLD and it does nothing and so on. Also on the Battery on/Off on the 747 and standby power knob I can not get coded. Any suggestions?

Anyone here use SPAD.neXt that might be able to help the OP?