by Jay on Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:17 pm
Here is the instruction set. (You said it ran one time?)
xSeer– the Homeseer 2 plugin for xlobby
Unzip the included file into your xlobby plugins folder. You should end up with a folder under your plugins folder named xSeer.
Because the plugin utilizes the .NET remoting capabilities of HS2 you will need a couple of files from the Homeseer speaker application. Install the Homeseer Speaker application on your xlobby PC. Copy Homeseer2.dll, Scheduler.dll and HS2Util.dll from the speaker folder to the xlobby installation folder (wherever xlobby2.exe exists.)
Next copy the xSeer.dll file into your Homeseer2 folder. You'll need to restart Homeseer after this step.
The only other thing to ensure is that you have a valid username and password for the speaker application. Configure the speaker application to use a login, and test it out. As long as the speaker app can successfully connect you should be ready to proceed to setup the plugin from inside xlobby.
Configuration:
Go into the plugin configuration section of the xlobby setup.
Specify the Homeseer server, username and password for the plugin to use, these are required.
There are 2 other configuration options as well "HS Reporting Device" and "connect on Startup." The HS Reporting device is a device in Homeseer where xSeer will post status messages. For example I created a device with the house code/unit code of X1, xSeer then updates the device string of this device with connection/disconnection messages as well as a "heartbeat" message indicating that the plugin is connected. The connect on startup check box simply tells the plug-in to connect when it is started.
Here is a run down of what the plugin provides.
Variables:
plugin>xseer>[device location and name]
example: plugin>xseer>living room table lamp
Provides a text representation of the device string or device status. Device string is provided if it is not empty, otherwise the device status is shown.
plugin>xseer>image>[device location and name]
example: plugin>xseer>image>living room table lamp
Provides an image based of device name, device type and status. The plugin will look in the current skin folder for an xSeer folder, if found it will use images from that folder. Otherwise it wil use images from the plugin\xseer\images folder. The plugin will look in these folders for the most appropriate image. It will first look for an image named [device location device name device status].[ext]. So for example it would look for "living room table lamp on.png". If not found it will look for [device type device status].[ext], again an example would be "lamp module on.png". Finally it will look for a device status image, [device status].[ext]. Simply "ON.PNG" for example. Valid file types are .PNG, .JPG, .GIF and .BMP.
plugin>xseer>connected
This provides the information on whether the plugin is connected to Homeseer.
Commands:
Connect_HS
opens the connection to Homeseer.
no parameters
ExecX10 [device],[command]
Used to issue X10 commands from Homeseer.
[device]- House code unit code to act upon
[command] - ON, OFF, Toggle, Dim, DDim, Bright
With the exception of toggle, these commands use the same parameter as the HS scripting function of the same name.
examples:
Turn on device A1
command: Exec_X10
variables: A1, ON
Turn off device A1
command: Exec_X10
variables: A1, Off
Dim device A1 by 10%
command: Exec_x10
variables: A1, DIM, 10
Dim device A1 to 50%
command: Exec_X10
variables: A1, DDim, 50
Brighten device A1 by 10%
command: Exec_X10
variables: A1, Bright, 10
Toggle device A1 on or off depending on current state
command: Exec_x10
variables: A1, Toggle
Set_Device_String [device], [new string]
Sets the device string of the specified device
[device] - this can be either the house code\unit code or device location\name
[new string] - device string, xlobby variable can be used if the string is prefixed with "xlvar:"
examples:
Set the device string of device B2 to "Away"
command: Set_Device_String
variables: B2, Away
Set the device "Living Room Now Playing" currently playing xlobby track
command: Set_Device_String
variables: Living Room Now Playing,xlvar:audioplayer>now>%trackname%
Trigger_Event [event name]
Triggers a Homeseer event
example:
Run the homeseer bedtime event.
command: Trigger_Event
variables: Bedtime
Run_Script [script name], [function], [paramters]
Implements the Homeseer RunEx function
[script name] - name of the homeseer script to run
[function] - entry point of the script
[parameters] - any additional parameters the script needs
example:
Run the script "Wake Up.txt"
command: Run_Script
variable: WAKE UP.TXT
Disconnect_HS
Closes the connection to Homeseer.
no parameters
Known Issues:
Homeseer must be running prior to starting xlobby for the plugin to connect correctly.
The warning “ In event #64 callback for plug-in xSeer, object removed, error: Can not establish a connection to the remote host "_gtcp://aca5a9a5acf846aa99ca0d089d81b47f". Source: Microsoft.VisualBasic” will appear in the Homeseer log if you shutdown xlobby. This is caused because xSeer doesn't tell Homeseer to remove it's call back function when it shuts down. When Homeseer next tries to inform the plugin about changes it finds the callback function is missing and then removes the callback. The message is harmless and can be ignored, and should not appear in the next version.
If Homeseer shuts down while xSeer is connected and you have a screen open in xlobby that displays homeseer variables, xlobby becomes very slugish. If you change to a screen without variables xlobby response returns to normal. Once Homeseer is restarted, xSeer will reconnect and response returns to normal.
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Dimming
For those that may need a reference to set up the xlobby event, it's new event, then select plugin:xseer, command:Run_Script, Variables:Scriptname.txt,main,devicecode,DimORBright,DimLevel.
My example is:
Code: Select all
XlobbyPluginDim.txt,main,]28,Dim,5
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Events, HS-Xseer group:
just make sure in the Event Manager:Events:Command screen that you don't go to the "X10" command but go to the "plugin->command", select the XSeer plugin and select the "Exec_X10" from the drop down menu. Then enter arguments. Like D9,Dim,50.
