Could this be done with a midi controller?

Recently ive been looking into getting a midi foot controller like this one here:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PEAK-MIDI-FCB4N2-v2-0-PROGRAMMABLE-MIDI-FOOT-SWITCH-CONTROL-CONTROLLER-PEDAL-/170834278848?pt=AU_Instrument_Accessories&hash=item27c68439c0

I'm not exactly sure how they work but a friend of mine told me a while ago, say for instance i used 4 pedals, I could have all four of those pedals behind my amp and leave the midi controller by my feet and control all of the pedals via the midi controller. is this possible? is this exactly how they work? if i could do that with one of these then i am definitely in!!

The midi controller is only half the equation.

You still need a midi controllable bypass unit the patch the pedals in to.

See:
http://www.voodoolab.com/gcx.htm

or

http://www.rjmmusic.com/minieffectgizmo.php