RE: Re: xPL announcement/description protocol -- was xPLDiag

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

Hi Ian,

> Let me turn the question around - why would you prefer to not
> use the xplhal server (or it's equivelant) as a cache of the
> xPL network state?

I think it's a great idea to reuse the xPLHal server - there are only
two issues here:

1. You would need to have xPLHal installed somewhere on your network.
2. xPLHal is only currently available for Windows.

If a version of xPLHal could be developed for other platforms, it could
easily use the same XHCP implementation, so a front-end application
would be able to talk to xPLHal on any platform, and retrieve
information about the network state.

IMO it is far more efficient for xPLHal to keep track of the network
state, and for front-end apps to just pull this info back via XHCP - it
avoids all potential issues around flooding the network with hbeat
responses etc.

But are we happy to make xPLHal (or something similar) a requirement for
an xPL network?
(or at least for an xPL network that wants to make use of front-end
apps)

Regards,

John