Re: More homeseer level issues.

[Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a little 'chestnut' of a topic.  I am unsure if it is HomeSeer
or the plugin but it is very annoying as it doesn't seem to work very
well.      I experience it too and some recent users of my C-Bus gateway
have raised it as well.  I wouldn't rely on the UI of HomeSeer to give
you the whole picture though.  The issue is that HS has one 'display'
field for status and yet the status aspect of richer devices often have
more (eg level, text or displaytext in xAP) . Additionally taht status
field can display graphics , enumerated values and provided text.  There
are also issues like - can a device have a non zero level but be
considered OFF or indeed a zero level but be ON  .   What should such a
device display in 'status' ... ON or 0 ?  Some of this I believe comes
from HS's X10 legacy. Quite what HS chooses to display seems  a bit
unpredictable, and has been the subject of many workarounds with the
plugin.  It also varies  because HS updates it devices directly when it
actions a command cf receiving an incoming 'event'.     I see this in
several plugins (not just xAP) and also all three xAp plugins seems to
have varying results.    What I think you will see is that the 'last
updated' field does update correctly every time you receive an event and
if you test or script based on device status (there are several
accessible values here) then the script does pick up the correct value
and will run correctly.  Also the 'on update' events are fired correctly.

Obvioulsy it would be so much better if the HS web UI always
displayed the expected state and a post to the HS list I once read in
relation to another plugin with similar issues produced a response from
HS that there were NOT any known issues internally within HS that were
causing this and it was more likely a misunderstanding or usage of the
plugin API that was the cause.  I'll leave J to comment further on
whether he thinks there is a way around this - or at least improving it
. I can send messages - just as the one below showing state=ON
Level=100/100 and the device still shows OFF in the HS web UI although
it has been updated (last updated has changed).

One thing t.... your level= parameter is incorrect  below - it has
no denominator and one must be supplied in all event messages (they are
not mandatory in cmd's)

ie Level =100/255 or whatever

Kevin

Ian Davidson wrote:
> Hi Kevin,
>
> Thanks for checking this, I'll wait a while and see if anyone has the
> answer I've got plenty other bits to be doing.
>
> I have another question which you may be able to answer.
>
> My device works fine and can be controlled via HS. When it receives
the
> ".cmd" msg it actions it and also sends out a
".event" msg. Up until now
> the .event msg always just matched the ".cmd" msg from HS. I
have now
> added local control for the device. When the local control is used to
> change the state of the device again a ".event" msg is sent.
However the
> status shown in HS remains the same and is not updated. I have
refreshed
> the screen etc but no change. I'm quite certain that status updates
> would have been written into the plug-in so I'm presuming I have also
to
> set another part of HS up to achieve this?
>
> When locally triggered this is a ".event" msg generated.
>
> xap-header
> {
>     v=12
>     hop=1
>     uid=FF341201
>     class=xAPBSC.event
>     source=gforce9.test.study:Virtual.1
> }
> output.state
> {
>     state=On
>     level=100
> }
>
> The device was off and then locally turned on. HS still shows the
device
> as switched off.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ian D
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xAP_developer@xxxxxxx
> [mailto:xAP_developer@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Kevin Hawkins
> Sent: 04 August 2007 16:31
> To: Ian
> Subject: Re: [xAP_developer] More homeseer level issues.
>
> Paradoxically - If I set the device to say 50% from the mcs plugin
> (Level=50%) then my mcs device actually shows 52% in its status
display
> and my 'James' based device updates and shows 50%  .  If I set the
> device from J's plugin to 50% (Level=52/100) then the device shows as
> 52% in J's plugin and 50% in mcs's status display.     I know the mcs
> one is based on HV's internal state (not updated from the xAP event
> message) and J's is updated from the event message.
>
> K
>
> Kevin Hawkins wrote:
>
>> I hadn't used HS for a while but have downloaded and installed it
and
>> I'm seeing the same Ian.  The xAPBSC.cmd issued by HS is slightly
off
>>
> in
>
>> its level  it seems ...   I wonder if its something to do with HS
>>
> being
>
>> X10 based and X10 supporting just 16 levels (or is it 32) .
Perhaps
>>
> the
>
>> 'level' that is sent is recovered from an internal variable only
>>
> storing
>
>> 16 levels or something.   I'll have to defer to James..
>>
>> I have also been playing with Michaels (mcs) new .Net plugin for
HS2.
>>
> I
>
>> tried it with that and it correctly sends 50%  (as a % not as
50/100
>>
> but
>
>> that is not important - both are valid).   I have a couple of
other
>> issues with this plugin however so I cant recommend you use it
just
>> yet   You might get accurate and more dependable functionality
from
>>
> his
>
>> VB6 plugin though , although I'm sure James will be able to fix
this
>> issue fairly easy too - as it's so reproducable.
>>
>> K
>>
>>     Kevin
>>
>> Ian Davidson wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi Kevin
>>>
>>> Yes the status column on the status page within homeseer.
>>>
>>> Using the pull down box on the same page to set a level to say
50%
>>>
> for
>
>>> an X10 device the status column says 50%. If I do the same for
an XAP
>>> device it says 52% and the Xap message generated (cmd) also
contains
>>>
> the
>
>>> 52%. I had got devices set up with a level "out of
65535". Just in
>>>
> case
>
>>> this was an issue I deleted all the devices and re-detected
the Xap
>>> devices and re-assigned new devices numbers with the level set
for
>>>
> "out
>
>>> of 100". The error is still the same.
>>>
>>> The error is still there even when I disable my event
messages.
>>>
>>> This is the xAPBSC.cmd message sent from homeseer when I used
the
>>>
> pull
>
>>> down box and selected 50%.
>>>
>>> xap-header
>>> {
>>>     v=12
>>>     hop=1
>>>     uid=FF411100
>>>     class=xAPBSC.cmd
>>>     source=mi4.homeseer.sbs-server.Master
>>>     target=gforce9.test.study:Virtual.1
>>> }
>>> output.state.1
>>> {
>>>     id=01
>>>     level=52/100
>>> }
>>>
>>> It seems as though this is something that happens as the
device is
>>> created as it happens straight away.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Ian D
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: xAP_developer@xxxxxxx
>>> [mailto:xAP_developer@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Kevin Hawkins
>>> Sent: 03 August 2007 19:46
>>> To: Ian
>>> Subject: Re: [xAP_developer] More homeseer level issues.
>>>
>>> Hi Ian,
>>>
>>> You mean the value displayed in the status column Ian ?
>>>
>>> This value is calculated and updated by the returned .event
message
>>>
> from
>
>>> your endpoint - could you post an example of the xAPBSC.cmd
message
>>>
> that
>
>>> HS sends when you click the % setting and also the resulting
>>> xAPBSC.event message from your device .
>>>
>>> What resolution is your device - ie how many discreet steps of
>>> brightness ? Setting a 16 level device to say 60% could never
work
>>>
> for
>
>>> example..
>>>
>>> 9/16 = 56.25%
>>> 10/16 = 62.5 %
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>> Ian Davidson wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As I have mention the missing messages and old values
problem is
>>>>
> fixed
>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> and xap messages appear every time now.
>>>>
>>>> One strange thing remaining is when setting the level on
the status
>>>> screen most of the values are slightly out like this:
>>>>
>>>> Changed to Goes to
>>>>
>>>> 0 0
>>>>
>>>> 10 10
>>>>
>>>> 20 19
>>>>
>>>> 30 29
>>>>
>>>> 40 39
>>>>
>>>> 50 52
>>>>
>>>> 60 61
>>>>
>>>> 70 71
>>>>
>>>> 80 81
>>>>
>>>> 90 90
>>>>
>>>> 100 100
>>>>
>>>> Now I know it is only slightly out and a couple of percent
of
>>>> brightness wouldn't make a difference, however I am using
the BSC
>>>> level value on different channels to perform different
functions.
>>>>
> One
>
>>>> of the functions is a recall preset function i.e. level=10
recall
>>>> preset 10. So if the level is out even by one it will
recall the
>>>>
> wrong
>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> preset. The non xap devices in HS function correctly it is
only the
>>>> xap devices which show this effect.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Ian D
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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