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

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

Hi Ian,

> Xplhal manager is the first XHCP client, but could easily be
> implemented on Linux, Mac OS, whatever, and talk to an xplhal
> server somewhere on the network.

Not strictly true :-)

The first XHCP client was in fact xPLHal Web Access - a web-based
ASP.NET application that talked to the xPLHal server via XHCP:

http://www.xpl.myby.co.uk/info/xplhalweb/

For a good while, this was the only way to manage xPLHal.

And then Ian J came up with the idea of a Windows GUI app instead of a
web-based interface, as this would offer us greater flexibility in terms
of the UI, and the rest, as they say, is history!

I must admit that I still have xPLHal Web Access installed - it's great
for providing remote access to your xPLHal installation - though it's
fallen a long way behind what can be done in the Manager.
(e.g. no support for determinators)

But it does illustrate the point that as many front ends as you like can
be created to talk to xPLHal - and likewise as many versions of xPLHal
could be created - as long as they all speak XHCP, they will all
interact seamlessly.

Regards,

John