Homeseer plugin

[fletch]

Edit: The plugin can now be downloaded from
http://xseer.fletchnet.us
Instructions are there as well.

____________________________________________________________

I'm writting a plugin that will allow direct Homeseer control from xLobby. At this point I hope to have something stable and ready for testing in the next week or so. I'm hoping to find a couple of pre-beta testers. I'd like to stress though that this is an early test stage, and would prefer that you not run it against your primary systems (Homeseer or xLobby.) If you're interested send me a email through the forum.

If you don't have a test environment, but have suggestions as to what functionality you'd like to see. Post a reply here so the group as a whole can debate the merits. And I'll see what I can add.

By the way, before anyone asks the plug-in will not work with Homeseer 1.x. It uses interfaces provided HS2 that are not available in 1.x. Sorry.

Aaron

[Bill Lott]

A direct plugin for Homeseer is great news! I would be happy to test. I am an avid user of Homeseer and xLobby and have limited success with the xAP plugin.

lottbill at bellsouth dot net

[Jay]

yes.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

It doesnt very well fit in this thread... but im gonna be as rude as usual and ask away...

Im planning to purchase x10 equibment now and im wondering, what kind of package should i get softwarewise? one without software? or one with some particular software? I mean i was thinking to get one without soft, cause im sure there some freeware around there, and on otherhand im not one of those people who need to start sucking their thumb when they hear somebody mentioning c++... However this thread made me to think, if theres plugin coming out soon, should i anyway purchase package with homeseer? is that soft worth of its price? is it targeted to people who can expand capabilities of it, or dummy end-users? is it somekind of de-facto standard? or does some other software hold this position?

[fletch]

P3rv,

From a software perspective Homeseer is good, is it the best? I'm not sure. To be honest I haven't checked into others very deeply or recently. You might want to check over at http://www.coccoontech.com, there's a broad range of opinions over there as to which packages are available and their merits. But I will say this about Homeseer, it is very flexible and extensible. It has a open plug-in architecture and built in scripting capabilities. So if you are willing to write some code, you can probably make it do what you want. They released a completely re-written version of the software this time last year, and for the last year have been dealing with alot of growing pains related to that. But I think many of those issues may be a thing of the past (at least lets hope so.) One of the nice things about the product is that since it is so extensible, it will or can support many new technologies relatively quickly. For instance although it was designed around X10, it currently supports Z-Wave, UPB, Insteon and probably others as well. As for the price it is alot more today compared to when I bought it, more than double in fact. So I guess if you asked me, should you get Homeseer, my answer would be an emphatic maybe. I suspect you can get Homeseer to do what you need. And I doubt you'd face any problems you couldn't over come software wise. So it might be a good choice, but also think you should look around at the other options. I've been using homeseer for about 5 years now, so alot has changed since I first looked around. How's that for a wishy-washy response?



Jay,
Send me an email using the button on the bottom of this post, and I'll get back to you in regards to testing this plug-in.

Aaron

[fletch]

I've sent out the first test version of this plug-in to those of you who sent me an email. If you didn't get it, check the email address you have listed in your profile and send me another email. Thanks again for your help with this.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Thanx for analysis, it and finally reading some parts of "smarthome hacks" i bought long time ago, made me conclude to try out free software offerings first, and mayby consider homeseer later. I just ordered small starter set (without software) of x10 pieces to put those into test. Its just 200€ sounds quite high price for software which just passes few messages around...

[duff]

Any news?

[Jay]

Fletch, my HS issues are fixed. Happy to test now. Still have my email addy?

[fletch]

Jay,

You have mail.

Duff,

Testing has been slow, I've had about 8 people request the plugin. But have only heard back from 2 of them. One person wasn't able to test it at the time it was originally sent out because of an unidentified problem with his Homeseer setup. He has since gotten it cleared up and I anxiously await his feedback. The other person has installed it and has had positive experiences up to this point. I want to add a few more features and then get them tested before I post the actual plugin for general usage. But so far I'm pleased with the results I've seen and what has been reported back to me. My biggest problem so far is finding the time to work on it, but I'm sure everyone has the same problems. 24 hours in a day is about 6 too few. Anyway let me know if your interested in try out the plug-in.

Aaron

[Jay]

Fantastic so far - right outta the box.

I love the device status feature - plugin>xseer>[device location and name] Which shows whether a device is on or off.

The is a XL question but is there a delimiter where I can type,
"Outside Music is |?| plugin>xseer>Grounds Outside amp", for example?

[fletch]

Jay, glad to hear it's working for you. As for the question about a delimiter what about using 2 text objects. The first would contain the static portion of the line ("Outside music is ") and the second containing only the variable (plugin>xseer>Grounds Outside amp.) If properly placed it would look like one line. The biggest problem with method though is if you needed static text to follow the variable section. Unless both variables are the same length it becomes obvious.

Aaron

[Jay]

yup, got it. I ended up sandwiching the status call between the on and off buttons for each event pair and it's obvious what is on and off.

Just added xseer to a fat client; bulletproof, as well. You sure this is a Beta?

[Jay]

I had installed HubGUI and the mi4 xAP (HS) plugin. As your docs make no mention of these, can I assume that I can kill them? Looks that way. I guess your plugin also functions as a xAP hub?

[fletch]

Actually it does not use xAP at all. So it has no need for a xAP hub. The connection it uses for Homeseer is through .NET remoting and is the same connection utilized by the homeseer speaker app. That's why it required the .dll files from speaker app.

Aaron