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

["Ian Lowe" <ian.lowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for that John.

>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.

Indeed - that's the reason I was asking Gerry about implementing xplhal
on top of the xpl4java framework..

> 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.

I think this is my grand vision(tm) - I see a variety of xplhal
implementations, ported across to just about any system, including the
possibility of an embedded version for people who prefer a homevision
style installation,  with a whole multitude of xplhal manager and front
end applications using the services provided by the underlying network.

> 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.

I agree completely - I might have said this already, but I think that
when you and Ian J produced xplhal manager was a defining moment for xPL
- the concept is so powerful.

> 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)

I am - I see xplhal as being pretty much the brains of the whole
platform. Programmers can, of course, implement simple point to point
functionality between devices... But the real smarts appears when you
have scheduling, scripting, message rewriting, determinators...

And for that, you need xplhal. You might use it in hardware, on mac, on
linux, on windows,   hell, running on a toaster if it supports java or
linux, but you will want that functionality there.

Ian.