Jowaldo's Skin - Beta 2.1 - UPDATED for resource manager

[jowaldo]

It's almost too easy
Arthur

Thanks for the complement... that was the whole goal of redoing it... and I got few new tricks up my sleeve that will be in the next release

Sounds GREAT! I like the x10 stuff Jowaldo. I just picked up that firecracker deal but don't have too many x10 units yet!

Yeah I bought that started kit a few weeks ago, and have already got a few more lamp modules, and a keychain clicker (so i can turn my lights on as I come to the house) and I just ordered a switch to replace one of my wall light switches, and I'm prob gonna order a thing to replace some of the wall outlets too.

[gravy]

boy, you're on your way! now if only we can get Stephen to gix the "close PPC client" bug..

[Aaron]

gravy,
I highly suggest looking into Homeseer software if you want some really cool and functional X10 (and most other home automation support) software. It is by far the best on the market... right out of the box!

[rhinoman]

Gravy,

To close the PPC client set the button ID: clientexit

It works fine.

[gravy]

Gravy,

To close the PPC client set the button ID: clientexit

It works fine.

No Kiddin? hmmm now does that winky smiley mean i'm in for a surprise... won't know till I try it!

Thanks Rhino

[gravy]

gravy,
I highly suggest looking into Homeseer software if you want some really cool and functional X10 (and most other home automation support) software. It is by far the best on the market... right out of the box!

Thanks Aff - I'll check into that!

[jowaldo]

I"ve been looking more into that, and its nice with the right equipment cuz you can see the status of lights and etc... Only problem is, I'd like to see this in xlobby, and getting it to control the lights works, but I don't know how xlobby could pull the status info...

anyone have any ideas?

[galtigor]

Well there's two ways to manage it that I can think of but they depend on your setup:

Internal state management....

Or Query a third party tool

If you use internal state management your assuming that Xlobby is the only thing controlling the state of x10 devices. You just need to keep track of the last action taken by the user and update any buttons or graphics appropriately. This can be prone to error however if someone else in the house flips a light switch or uses some other software to control x10. In some ways it's moot however because some x10 devices (like plug in modules) can't be queried directly for status anyway. So if the state changes (wife flicks a switch) you'll never detect it. So even when using third party software like Home Seer it doesn't always know the status.

The second type would rely on an external api to find out what's hapening with x10. Home Seer and Premise 2.0 are the best two packages out there and I've used and written code with both. Premise is a little easier to work with as it has full COM support while Home Seer has a good web interface and is cheaper. There's also Girder which (I think) can also recieve feedback from x10 devices using the x10 plugin. The problem with this method is that you've got to buy outside software (extra cash) to do it. Also if a new version of the software comes out anything you might have done might not work.

My approach is to seperate the two. I'm using Premise for home automation and XLobby for the HT. So in XLobby I've only got it controling the lights in the theatre. I leave the rest of the house up to Premise (lights, HVAC, sprinkler, alarm, etc..). To do this I've just built a web page in XLobby to take me to the Premise web interface page that relates to the theatre. I'm sure Home Seer could work in the same way.

Just my two cents...

Greg

[jowaldo]

Yeah at least for now I think I'm going to keep it simple, and just have simple on/off dim/bright buttons on xlobby that just send simple commands and not worry about it knowing the on/off status.

[Aaron]

Homeseer has a free plug-in for Girder (includes Netremote functionality). So if someone builds a girder plug-in for Xlobby... you're there.

Yes, on its own Girder can do x10 but it is all based on the coding you do or borrow from others... homeseer has a 100x better OOB (out of box) experience.

Have not used Premise. Homeseer is $150 and the Personal (read as: VERY limited!) version of Premise 2.0 is $199. With Premise Personal, I could never possibly do the stuff I do with Homeseer. It look like the Dealer version is more flexible but who knows how much that costs!

[Arthur]

Jowaldo,
A small question, I installed the new exp. version of xlobby. It seems to work a bit better then the former version (I had a problem with th ebackspace key sending you back to the main menu, this is solved now)
But, it removed some of the colors of fields, well in fact it removed all colors, except the buttons. So now I would like to now which color codes do you use for:
dark blue,
light blue,
green.

That's about it I think.

Arthur

[gravy]

Jowaldo,

FYI - I found an event mapping error for albums with tracks that span multiple pages - the event "Next page" and "previous page" was used instead of "Next track" and "previous track". Peeps that click the down arrow are taken to the next album, rather than the next page of tracks for the current album. (man, does this make any sense?)

Not a big deal whatsoever - an easy fix, but wanted you to know for your base image.

[jowaldo]

Jowaldo,
A small question, I installed the new exp. version of xlobby. It seems to work a bit better then the former version (I had a problem with th ebackspace key sending you back to the main menu, this is solved now)
But, it removed some of the colors of fields, well in fact it removed all colors, except the buttons. So now I would like to now which color codes do you use for:
dark blue,
light blue,
green.

That's about it I think.

Arthur

Yeah I already fixed all the colors, and am just waiting for steven to fix a font bug in the resource manager that is keeping from releasing an updated version... hopefully he'll fix that soon, and when he does I'll post it asap

[jowaldo]

Jowaldo,

FYI - I found an event mapping error for albums with tracks that span multiple pages - the event "Next page" and "previous page" was used instead of "Next track" and "previous track". Peeps that click the down arrow are taken to the next album, rather than the next page of tracks for the current album. (man, does this make any sense?)

Not a big deal whatsoever - an easy fix, but wanted you to know for your base image.

Thanks for the heads up... I'll fix that for future versions

[ricoceleron]

Great job on your skin jowaldo!!
I loved it so much that i already translated it in french but i need your permission to post it on the french forum and french site...
hoping you will say "yes"..thanx for your great work and looking further for your next releases!!