Device discovery for control/sensor schemas

["John B" <home-automation@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Many of the recent xPL apps are making use of the sensor/control schemas,
as these make it much easier for devices to interoperate.

However, there is no way of finding out a list of valid devices that a
particular xPL connector supports.

If we take DMX as an example, we can send a message like:

control.basic
{
device=3
type=dmx
current=255
}

This will set channel 3 to level 255.
But how do we know what channel 3 actually is?
Or even if channel 3 exists at all?

We should be able to be given a list of all known DMX channels, and a
friendly description of what is connected to them.

The same issue applies to things like the C-Bus connector - you shouldn't
have to remember the C-Bus group address of the light(s) you want to
control - you should be able to be presented with a list of all detected
devices.

The question is: Should each xPL connector be responsible for maintaining a
list of "friendly" device names, and mapping them to actual
device names, so you'd be able to send something like:

control.basic
{
device=lounge_lights
type=dmx
current=255
}

Or should it be up to a controller like xPLHal to store this information
and do the mapping between friendly devices and actual devices?

I have a couple of ideas on how we can progress this, but I'd be interested
to hear other peoples suggestions on this one first.

Regards,

John