xPLHal Version 1.4 Released

[John B]

Hi all,

The latest version of xPLHal is now available for download. There are many
enhancements to functionality and usability, including support for an
all-new
plug-n-play architecture known as the xPL Determinator, which makes it easy
to
control your home just the way you want to, without needing to do any
programming or scripting.

The changes include:
- Enhancements to user interface, including a new toolbar and new icons
- Integrated xPL Traffic Monitor, including advanced filtering capabilities
- xPL Devices can now be sorted by vendor, device or instance
- After updating the plug-in library, it is no longer necessary to restart
xPLHal Manager
- New option on the Properties screen to turn off automatic creation of
blank
scripts
- Support for the xPL Determinator (see below)
- Enhanced events wizard

Introducing the xPL Determinator
Until now, users wishing to run their homes using xPLHal required a degree
of
VBScript programming skills. Following user feedback, we are pleased to
announce
the availability of the xPL Determinator. The Determinator is a powerful
processing engine with graphical, user-friendly screens and wizards. It's
job is
to process incoming xPL messages and take appropriate actions, based on
user-defined logic.
The arrival of the Determinator means it is possible to use xPLHal to run
your
entire home without needing to write a single line of code!
You may still need to use VBScript for more advanced tasks like reading the
news
headlines and processing RSS news feeds, but for actual control logic, it
is
just a case of following a simple wizard.
Users also no longer need to be familiar with the underlying xPL protocol -
they
don't even need to know anything about xPL schemas. xPLHal automatically
detects
every xPL device in your home and makes use of it's plug-in library to
determine
the capabilities of a device. This leads to a truly plug-n-play experience,
whilst maintaining the simplicity of the xPL protocol itself.
The combination of the graphical xPL Determinator and the expanded plug-in
library brings xPLHal firmly into the end-user domain, with yet more
user-oriented enhancements planned in future releases.

If you already have xPLHal installed, just download the xPLHal update file
from
Tony's site at www.xplhal.com.
Stop your xPLHal service, copy over the new files, then start the service.

If you are new to xPLHal, there is a complete installation package
available on
www.xplhal.com.

The xPL Determinator is a brand new technology, and as such we're keen to
get
some user feedback on anything we might have missed, or anything we could
do
better.

Regards,

John