Meedio HouseBot Connector Feedback

[acheslow]

Please post your feedback on the Meedio HouseBot Connector pre-beta release here.

[Richard Naninck]

Just downloaded, installed en tested the new connector. This opens up a whole new world of fun.



I created some library items to see how it works. I can control my heater now and see temperatures.



I tried expanding my properties beyond prop3 to prop4 and prop4-desc, but prop4 doesn't show up in Essentials. What do you mean by the line below which is in the readme:



QUOTE:

You may also create add, edit, or delete custom library tags to organize devices according to your preferences -- such as by category, by location, etc. You can setup media library Views to organize your devices the same way that you would organize music, video, or other media library sections.

UNQUOTE:



I would really like to go beyond trhee props since my Receiver already has 22 properties.



Now I need to figure out how to start a movie in Essentials while using my HouseBot theme. I will put more of my findings here if I have them. It's getting late (2.22 AM)

[Richard Naninck]

Is there a way to control HouseBot tasks from Essentials? I would like to be able to execute certain tasks from Essentials. As a workaround I could translate these tasks into vb scipts and then change the script device State to Running.

[Richard Naninck]

Just linked some Essential Jump Point buttons to HouseBot Theme buttons and I am able to control all of my Essentials GUI by using my HB PDA Theme. That's it for today. I have seen enough and I am pretty confident this (pre) beta already satisfies lots of my needs. Now I will be able to select Receiver Tuner Presets from an Essentials Library and I can select my Essentials weather plugin from HouseBot. It works both ways! Super job and very happy it finnaly got released even if it is still in beta phase!

[acheslow]

Regarding views, check out that section of the documentation at http://meedio.com/WebHelp/ml_views.htm. Basically you can define custom categories to use for grouping devices. For example, you could have a view that shows all your devices grouped by type (i.e. "lights" or "HVAC" or "audio equipment") and then by location (i.e. "basement", "first floor"). You can add any categorization scheme you'd like.



To get past the 3-property limit in this version you can just create additional items in the media library. So you could have one item named "Receiver" with properties A, B, C, and a second item also named "Receiver" but with properties D, E, F.



In this version you cannot control tasks directly but you could create a null device with properties to trigger tasks, similar to your script device idea. For instance, say you create a null device "TaskManager" with a property "Trigger1". You could then setup a task such that "If TaskManager.Trigger1 = On Then..."

[dlmorgan999]

Thanks for releasing this Alan!!! I've only done a bit of testing so far but it has already provided the main feature I wanted - the ability to control Essentials from HouseBot. So far it seems very reliable.



I also created a couple of HouseBot items to be displayed in Essentials and that seems to be working correctly as well. I will probably do more testing on it tomorrow and I'll report any interesting findings.



-- Dave

[Richard Naninck]

Alan,



Thanks for your reply. I know how views work, I just wanted to read that I could create extra props in stead of extra views.

So I made some extra views with the same names, but they will always show up with a max of three props where I would really like just one view with all available props.

Before I put lots of work in this can you give a short roadmap of features to come:

You write that it does not yet allow HB to access the media libraries, that's fine, but you don't write anything about the extra props. Will future versions get past these three props?

So in short: I would like to know what's planned for the final release so I can stick to expirimenting in stead of building large views and having them to remove again after some other features have been implemented. I will just test to see how tasks behave from Essentials using a script, but I will wait for the final release if you say that tasks will be supported in the future.

I really like playing with this new plugin!!!! It gives a very good understanding of the possibilites and strengths of having these two packages communicate.



- What is the difference between Location and location in the views except that the Location with the capital L something can be selected from a directory and the other one is in the tags?



- Can't get images to display in the views!



Feature requests:

- Have unlimited props in a device

- Be able to control properties (in Essentials) on the fly in stead of having to OK them from a view

- Be able to put more devices in one view so I can control my garage door which is set in a generic serial device and show the status of this garage door in the same view which is set in a null device

- Control Tasks

- Control the media libraries from HB AND add extra commands to such an action. So if I select a movie from the media library in HB, I would also like to be able to start a task or script that powers my receiver and plasma etc etc.

- Make the Essentials views easy themable.

- Certain release dates if at all possible.



Nice Job!

[BigBen]

Hi,



I have been able to add a light and control the power state. But how do I control the Dim level ? I can see the dim level but I am not able to control it.

[acheslow]

Thanks for your reply. I know how views work, I just wanted to read that I could create extra props in stead of extra views.
So I made some extra views with the same names, but they will always show up with a max of three props where I would really like just one view with all available props.

Lets say you have a device with six properties, A,B,C,D,E, and F. Define item1 in the media library with prop1=A, prop2=B, and prop3=C, and define item2 in the media library with prop1=D, prop2=E, and prop4=F. In the Views tab define a view and put props in the mode column. The example .mlf file should have included a view named All which was setup like this. When you run Meedio Essentials and select this view you should see all of your devices listed and all 3 properties for each device. Maybe you mean that within the view you would like all 6 properties listed under a single device instead of the two?

Before I put lots of work in this can you give a short roadmap of features to come

I would if it were finalized but it's just in our heads right now and still needs some work. We need to finish Meedio TV first before we'll have the time to solidify this, which is why I went ahead and released what we've got now so you wouldn't have to wait.

What is the difference between Location and location in the views except that the Location with the capital L something can be selected from a directory and the other one is in the tags?

You can see the difference between the location tags if you edit an item in the configuration tool. The Location field at the top of the dialog box is used to store the file location of media items and is not relevent in this case. The location tag in the list of the custom tags at the bottom is just a custom tag I defined to be able to categorize devices by their location in a house. You could just as well use something like "Floor" or devise your own new categorization scheme.

Can't get images to display in the views!

Yes, this hasn't been implemented yet but needs to be.

Feature requests:
- Have unlimited props in a device

Agreed

- Be able to control properties (in Essentials) on the fly instead of having to OK them from a view

This can be tricky. Some properties that toggle between multiple values (play, record, stop) you would not want set until you press OK.

- Be able to put more devices in one view so I can control my garage door which is set in a generic serial device and show the status of this garage door in the same view which is set in a null device

You should be able to do this now. For example, if you created a custom tag called 'Room' and defined your serial device and your null device with the value 'Garage' in the 'Room' tag, then you could create a view grouped by 'Room' which contains both devices, and anything else where Room=Garage. Again, I'm not sure we're both talking about the same thing when you refer to a 'view'?

- Control Tasks

Agreed

- Control the media libraries from HB AND add extra commands to such an action. So if I select a movie from the media library in HB, I would also like to be able to start a task or script that powers my receiver and plasma etc etc.

Agreed, although you can kind of do some of this now. You can't directly access the media libraries but you could create a button in the Meedio HouseBot theme which executes a task and in that task you could control your receiver and plasma, and send Meedio Essentials a message such as 'video.play'.

- Make the Essentials views easy themable.

Not sure what you mean by this. You can use or create any theme already.

- Certain release dates if at all possible.

I wish there was such a thing as a 'certain' release date

Nice Job!

Thanks!

I have been able to add a light and control the power state. But how do I control the Dim level ? I can see the dim level but I am not able to control it.

You should be able to select the dim level and then use the left/right arrows to change the value. When you click OK the new dim level will be sent to Meedio HouseBot.

[BigBen]

Allan,



I am not able to select the Dim level, only power state

[acheslow]

Can you double-check that the value of your property tag is exactly the same spelling as the name of the property in Meedio HouseBot? For example, it may be 'Leviton Dim Level' instead of just 'Dim Level'. Also can you confirm that you can control the dim level from within Meedio HouseBot directly?

[Richard Naninck]

Alan,



My bad, I was talking about views where I meant Items. I would like unlimited props in one item. So an item could contain all of my 22 props of my receiver device. And also in one item I would like to be able to select more than just one device. This way I could combine my Genereic Serial Receiver Device which controls my receiver together with my Null Device Receiver which displays the status of all these items.

So in one item I could have the control prop (Serial Device) to open and close my garage door and in the second prop I could display the actual status which is really a Null Device.

I guess you know what I meant in my previous posting. I also know that I could combine stuff in HouseBot itself, but I would like to keeo my HB setup clean and have the flexibilty in Essentials to do the above.



Thanks for the extensive reply!

[BigBen]

It is exactly the same, indeed Leviton Dim Level, and yes I can dim from within Housebot

[heff]

Can someone tell me what the syntax for the system.jump is.



Have tried several but can not get it to work. also I assume it is a meedio message not a comand.





Help please.



Heff

[heff]

Also does anyone know how to send up, down let, right to meedio and select as well I guess.



Ta



Heff